Airheads rise to 2010 comp league title

The Airheads closed their perfect post-season run with a 15-12 win over the Western Holistics Crackers Monday night at Tommy V Field, to take the 2010 competitive league title.

The win ended a three-year drought for the Airheads, and washed out the bitter taste of second place that had built up over the past two seasons.
After a regular season full of sunny evenings, the heavens opened up during the post season, eventually delaying the comp league finals.
Ultimately, the delay had an effect on both teams.
For the Crackers, the delay may have played a part in the loss of big hitter Pete Harvey for the finals.
Harvey has gone yard at Tommy V Field, and forces opposing pitchers to work around him each time he steps to the plate.
But he was unable to make the finals Monday night.
For the Airheads, it ended up costing the team financially. Star coed player Dalynn Trujillo and her family had a road trip to Michigan planned following the scheduled end of the playoffs.
The delay pushed the game back a week, leaving Trujillo to decide if she should stay or go.
Her teammates helped make the decision a lot easier as they pitched in to cover airfare for her, sending the family ahead on schedule in the car and leaving Trujillo behind to finish some softball business.
The Airheads opened the game retiring the Crackers one-two-three in the top of the first and taking a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
The Crackers cut the Airheads lead to one in the top of the second when Mike Stanley and CJ Hoigaard each connected for RBI doubles, but the Airheads responded driving in three more runs with a flurry of base hits.
Cole Stanford led off with a double and scored on a double by Dave White. Bruce Winchenbach dropped a double to send White home, and Lynelle Stanford flared a rbi double down the right field line to push the Airheads ahead 6-2.
The two teams stumbled through the next two innings, until the Airheads opened up a nine-run lead in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Trujillo tapped her second base hit of the night to drive in White (she would finish the game three-for-four with an rbi paying her team back with her play). Brian Murphy stepped to the plate with the bases loaded to score two more with a double, and Rob Houston capped the rally with an rbi single to right center.
The Crackers offense continued to sputter through the next two innings, with Mark Nesemeier providing the only runs on a two RBI single to center.
Meanwhile, the Airheads tacked on four more runs to build a 15-4 lead by the sixth.
But the Crackers are no slouches and no lead is safe at Tommy V. RBI base hits from Gail Barto and Hoigaard added two runs to the Crackers total, and the team’s offense woke up in the top of the seventh to threaten the Airheads title.
Nesemeier and Molly Keating slapped base hits and scored on a triple by Tom Consentino. Mike Stanley singled, Hailey Stanley walked and the bases were loaded with one out and the Crackers down by six.
Danielle Langlois walked to push another Crackers run in, and Brandon Snyder slapped an RBI double up the middle to pull the Crackers to within three runs.
At this point, the Airheads went above and beyond the call of duty. The Crackers had Robyn Estes on base as a pinch runner when it was time for her to hit. Rules, as they were explained to me, dictate that should be an automatic out. But the Crackers had two outs already and that would have ended the game.
Instead, the Airheads allowed the Crackers to replace her on base and have her step up to hit. The move could have cost the Airheads the game but, as karma would have it, it didn’t, and the Airheads turned the final out to seal the 2010 title.