Mark your calendars: fire vs. police

Remember in sixth grade when you got a chance to play softball with a bunch of middle age teachers as a rite of passage for middle school? I waited six years for that opportunity to trash talk my mentors.

Rancho's police officers and firefighters will be doing something similar -- playing each other in what Fire Chief Peter Bryan stressed as a "non-professional softball game" at The Epicenter Saturday. Gates open at 6 p.m.; game starts at 7 p.m. Bryan and Police Chief Joe Cusimano brought their bats to the City Council meeting last night to announce the game but disappointingly did not engage in an ounce of trash talk.

The game is free but donations are welcomed. Proceeds will benefit the Loma Linda University Children's Hospital and the Rancho Cucamonga Community Foundation.

Councilman Dennis Michael, a former fire chief, encouraged the public to watch, "fine professional officers beat up on fine professional officers."