In the 1940s the Hammer Field Raiders of Fresno, Calif. won back-to-back ASA National Fast Pitch Championships in 1943-44. They are the only service team to accomplish this feat. Of course the Raiders had two outstanding pitchers, Private Al Linde, who already is a member of the Hall of Fame, and Sergeant Kermit Lynch. Lynch was a double-threat. He could beat you from the pitcher’s mound and at-bat. In fact, in the 1943 ASA national championship game in Detroit, Mich., Lynch beat the Sam Lombardo-led Detroit Bombers, 1-0, in the championship game before 5,000 people. Lynch shutout the Bombers on one-hit and drove in the game’s only run with a triple in the third inning—his team’s only hit. And he threw out Lombardo when he attempted to steal home plate in the last inning. Lynch finished the tournament 3-0 and had beaten Detroit earlier in the tourney, 2-0, as the Raiders finished the year 25-3. On the mound, Lynch had a devastating fastball, a sharp-breaking curve and a wicked change-up, and all thrown with pin-point control. He was known throughout softball as the “wonder pitcher.” And after teams played the 6-1, 170-pound Lynch, they wondered if they would get a hit off of him let alone beat him during his 13-year career which ended in 1950. He joined teammate Linde in the Hall of Fame on November 12, 2008 in colorful ceremonies in Oklahoma City during the ASA’s 75th diamond-jubilee celebration. Lynch passed away on October 21, 2017.
