If there were a Cy Young Award for slow-pitch softball, as in baseball, Gary Knight would be an annual contender.

It's hard telling what makes Knight, 40, shine brightest in his shin guarded armor. Is it the best arch this side of McDonald's? A smorgasbord of pitches (knuckle, curve, screw)? Sharper aim than William Tell? Unflinching bravado?

Answer: All of the above, says Thunder-N-Lightning manager Roy Groome.

"I'd go to war with him any day," Groome said. "To pitch these days, you can't fear nothing. That's Gary."

Knight's special deliveries are a top-drawer reason why TNL is among the top local outfits with a 20-3 record entering this week.

Strategy: Flipping at 20 mph, there's only so much a slow-pitch hurler can do. Here's how Knight explains it: "I like to get ahead and make them hit my pitch."

Because of home-run limits, the pitching rubber has become no-man's land. Attacking the middle with laser-beam liners and shin busters has become vogue.

The 6-3, 215-pound Knight, who wears shin guards, a wrist guard and a heavy-duty cup to the slab, says, "Bring it on."