The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Dropping the kids off at the pool
During their inaugural season last year, PooFest maintained they could beat everyone in all areas of the game of softball except for one—runs.
They carried a similar mentality into this year and things were looking bleak early when they lost by 10 runs to their fellow cellar dwellers, the Gray Hares.
Last week though, PooFest underwent a transformative paradigm shift when they defeated the Couch Petitos. Their next game was a bye so, for all intents and purposes; they were on a two-game non-losing streak when they faced the Rasta Hairnets at Tommy V Field Tuesday night.
The Rastas, on the other hand, are entrenched in second place all season, just two games out of first place, and were looking to rebound off a loss last week.
PooFest opened Tuesday night with their psych game, playing reggae in their dugout in an effort to drain the Rastas of their irie power.
The attempt proved fruitless at first as Rasta Kevin Reinert opened the scoring with a solo inside-the-park home run (ITPHR) in the top of the first inning.
Wendy Norris led off for PooFest with an opposite field double looking to spark an early surge but the effort was soon flushed by the Rastas as they ended the inning with a double play.
The Rastas added a second run in their next at-bat when Emmy Jervey drove a run home with a base hit, but PooFest came back in the bottom of the second as Janna Hansen tapped a RBI single to score Liz Vehlow.
Two-time chainless race champion Roman Kolodziej (pronounced Kolojay) proved his speed is more than just gravity-fed, knocking his first of two solo ITPHRs that night to put the Rastas on top 3-1 in the top of the third inning.
The Rastas tacked on two more in the top of the fourth inning and it looked like the PooFest’s non-losing streak would end at two this year.
Like I said though, there’s something different about the new and improved PooFest and they showed it in the bottom of the fourth, rattling off four runs to tie the game.
Billy Rankin led off with a single and scored on a two-run ITPHR from John Bukaty to deep left field.
Vehlow and Hansen connected for base hits and Ryan Baldwin and Kim Frayer pushed them home to tie the game 5-5 at the end of four.
Kolodziej crushed his second ITPHR to put the Rastas back on top, but base running errors and the work of PooFest infielder Levi Littrell held the Rastas to the lone Kolodziej run.
Reinert took matters into his own hands in the top of the sixth inning, leading off with his second ITPHR of the night. Phoebe Clift singled and scored and Arliss Merrell knocked his second RBI hit of the game to put the Rastas on top 9-5 with one out.
But before the game could get out of hand, Littrell came up with a big play at short and veteran pitcher Ed Benner, we’re talking 39 years in the local leagues, fanned the final hitter to end the Rastas rally.
PooFest pulled back to within two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning as Vehlow and Adam Freed drove in runs on base hits.
Benner worked his magic on the mound again in the top of the seventh to strike out two more Rasta batters as PooFest held the Hairnets scoreless, setting the stage for a PooFest comeback in their last at-bat.
Littrell led off with an error-assisted base hit and scored on a triple from Fred Garth. Then, PooFest pulled off the impossible, at least in softball, a squeeze play. Granted, it may not have been intentional, but that’s how it played out.
With Garth on third, Leanne Canty power-bunted dropping the ball between the pitch and home plate. As the ball trickled out, Garth got on his horse, sprinting for home to score the game-tying run and force extra innings.
Reinert put the Rastas back on top in the top of the eighth with another two-run ITPHR but, once again, the PooFest paradigm shift is in full effect.
Down 11-9 in the bottom of the eighth, PooFest rallied as Rankin led off with a single and a walk loaded the bases.
Bukaty struck again tying the game 11-11 with a two-RBI double and then scored the game-winning run on a single by Freed to finish the Rastas off 12-11.
PooFest is now on a legitimate two-game winning streak with the playoffs just a week away, and they could shock the world, or at least the rec league softball world, in the post season.
