The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“We win in every category but runs”
The recreational softball league regular season closed with what was the longest game of the season, which was especially brutal, considering it was the 6:30 game.
Other than the length of the game though, the match-up seemed an appropriate end to my coverage of the regular season simply because I had yet to see either team play.
PooFest, according to team spokesman Ryan Baldwin, is a fairly successful squad in almost every aspect of the game except one.
“We win in every category but runs,” says Baldwin.
Unfortunately for PooFest, runs are kind of important in the game of softball—unless you don’t care, which they don’t, so ultimately, in the words of Tripper from Meatballs, “It just doesn’t matter.”
If they tried though, which a couple of them do, but if they all tried, they would actually be pretty good, rather, okay with a record of 6-8 maybe, instead of 3-11.
But, as I said, since they have no qualms with 3-11, “It just doesn’t matter.”
Under Kochevars, on the other hand, sell themselves short with their name. They are by no means under-achievers—they just look at things, do things and perhaps drink things differently from most.
They are run by a hardnosed “coach” by the name of Brendan Waldron who works the tough love approach towards his team with extreme prejudice.
On Thursday night, his words of “encouragement” appeared to work as Under Kochevars closed the regular season with a 19-11 win over PooFest.
Six base hits in the top of the first inning by Under Kochevars led to a 4-0 lead. The top of the second inning was much like the first as Under Kochevars added five more runs to their lead.
Corey Mcanally and Kristen Giancola led off with a couple base hits up the middle. Mark Bortolin pushed Mcanally home with a bloop single. Under Kochevars women Katrina Birdsall and Jaylen Mussdmen provided a final one-two punch with RBI base hits pushing their team’s lead to nine runs.
Still, Waldron stayed on his team to keep their focus on the task at hand—a task that was voiced so eloquently by one Under Kochevar player.
“Let’s flush these turds,” he said.
PooFest rallied for one run in the bottom of the second inning as Randy Felix doubled and scored on a triple down the right field line by Ken Heidlauf.
The PooFest defense held Kochevars scoreless for the first time in the top of the third inning led by a 6-3 double play by Felix.
Unfortunately, their offense continued to struggle in the bottom of the inning and Kochevars tacked on four more runs in the top of the fourth inning led by a two RBI infield double by Mussdmen.
Kochevars third baseman Butch Hamrick then pulled off the play of the game to further clog the PooFest offense. Third base, the hot corner, requires deft reflexes especially at Gothic field where hitters are swinging double wall aluminum bats. Hamrick demonstrated said deft reflexes diving to his left to reach for a line drive and tucking his shoulder for the full roll coming up out of the dust with the ball securely nestled in the pocket of his glove.
PooFest got temporary relief from their offensive constipation when Wendy Norris tapped a single and Felix jacked a two-run shot over the left field netting.
Charles “Bondo” Bond Jr. slapped a RBI double and Mussdmen drove in two more runs with a single giving Kochevars a 17-3 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth.
But a five-run PooFest outburst pulled them back into the game sparked by a RBI single from Laura Mitchell. John Bukaty doubled to shallow left to score Mitchell and Jason MacMillan closed the inning with a two rbi single up the middle.
Felix added another run to the PooFest total going Broadway the hard way with an inside-the-park-home-run (ITPHR).
Hamrick added one last highlight to the Kochevars defensive film throwing his glove to stop a ground ball from skipping down the left field line in the bottom of the seventh inning and Kochevars closed the door on one last PooFest attack to hold on for the 19-11 win.
