Secret Stash bats beat the Mustache Bashers 19 to 5

Not Bashing these Stashes

Under a brooding snow-filled sky the day before summer began, the Secret Stash squared off against the Mustache Bashers, looking to expand on their single victory of the 2011 softball season. By the end of seven quick innings they did just that, pounding out 19 runs in rapid succession to beat the Mustache Bashers by 12.
The Bashers took the plate first, hitting a promising triple to start off the first inning. Minutes later that promise was denied as a fly-out by Eric Dishmon resulted in the runner getting tagged out at third for the first two outs. Another pop fly and snag by the Stash brought the top half of the inning to a handy close.
Leading off for the Stash, Ed Dujardin managed to get on base and advanced to second with a hit by Briana Wiles. Charles Gano stepped up to the plate with authority and knocked out a double on errors, which brought Dujardin home and got the Stash on the scoreboard. This play set the tone for the rest of the inning as the Stash bats would not be silenced and the Basher gloves seemed to have holes in them. Terrann Wight drove in two runners on a single and Megan Loez smashed out an RBI on a full count after switching bats on the advice of Captain Tony Wildman. The inning ended with the Stash up 4-0.
The second inning saw the bats of the Bashers start to wake up with some solid hits, though no runs. Their gloves came out of naptime as well with some solid fielding to hold the Stash at 4-0 going into the third inning. During the top of the third the Bashers tried hard to get on base, but solid fielding by the Stash held them back, notably a sweet glove snag-and-scoop by pitcher Joe Walowski on a grounder hit by Kelli Hargrove to get her out at first for the final out of the inning.
Their confidence bolstered by their performance in the previous two and half innings, the Stash came out swinging for the fences in the bottom of the third, nailing in a total of six runs to close out the inning at 10-0. Charles Gano started it off for the pizza titans with a double on errors and was quickly sent home by John ‘JP’ Polzin on a homer. Joe Walowski knocked out a quick and easy double, and then got sent to third on Meg Loez’s bat with Will Dujardin smacking out another double to drive Walowski home and get second and third bases locked and loaded. Kari Roberts then stepped up to the bat and crushed an easy single, which drove Dujardin and Loez home on errors. Ed Dujardin dealt the final crushing blow of the inning with a double carrying Roberts all the way to home.
Despite their error-ridden third inning performance, the Bashers rallied strongly in the top of the fourth with Eric Dishmon giving the ball a good thrashing all the way out to the center field fence for a strong double, soon followed by Crista Ryan who brought him on home with a base hit. Pinch runner Kelli Hargrove came in for Ryan, advancing to third on a double and then sneaking in to home on a overthrow to first base, finally getting the Bashers their first two runs of the game. With a great snag on a drive hit to left field finishing the inning for the Bashers, the Stash brought Charles Gano up to bat. Gano, switching it up to hit lefty, promptly crushed the stuffing out of the first pitch with an out-of-the-park center field homer.
Up next was Terrann Wight who hit a slow grounder to the pitcher who scooped it up and ran it to first base for the out. Over the course of the inning the Stash would go through the entire lineup all the way back to Wight as the Stash knocked the ball all over the outfield, driving in six runs, including one run on a bases-loaded walk by Will Dujardin, leaving the score at 16-2.
At the top of the fifth Joe Walowski stepped off the mound to make way for Captain Wildman who quickly proved that he can still field with the best of them by scooping up a grounder by Kelli Hargrove and flicking it to Kari Roberts at first base for the out. Eric Dishmon again proved to have one of the strongest bats of the night for the Bashers with a drive to left field to bring in their only run of the inning, advancing the beleaguered Bashers to 16-3 on the night. The Stash came out with a promising homer in the bottom of the fifth inning by JP but was quickly shut down by excellent infield fielding by the Bashers, with the game heading into the sixth inning at 18-3.
The top of the sixth saw the Bashers pick up some momentum with a quick drive past the Stash’s shortstop for a double soon followed by a triple to drive in two runs, but some tough defensive fielding, especially by Stash third baseman Ed Dujardin who snagged a couple of fast drives and made good throws to first for outs, was ultimately too much for the Bashers as they only managed two runs on the inning. Seemingly determined not to let the Stash slip ahead any more, the Bashers took the field with authority, chasing down a hit and nailing a solid throw to first for one out and catching a fast line drive by Kari Roberts for another. Ed Dujardin slapped out an in-the-park homer on a fielding error and a subsequent error at third for the Stash’s sole run of the inning.
By the seventh inning it was clear that a miracle was necessary for the Bashers to come back from their deficit. Sadly, a miracle was not what they would get. While Eric Dishmon would get a solid triple, only to be tagged out in the following play, and Basher’s batting would bring Kelli Hargrove in to the plate one more time, the hot bats and quick fielding of the Stash would ultimately cut the Mustache Basher’s down to size, finishing the game out at 19-5.
The Secret Stash’s Captain Wildman gave a lot of credit to switch-hitting slugger Charles Gano, whose homer in the bottom of the fourth with the Stash already sitting pretty at 10-0 gave the team the momentum they needed to cruise through the rest of the innings. “It was Gano, you know?” Wildman exclaimed as the team left the field.
The Secret Stash, currently sitting in 5th in comp league play with a 2-2 record, will next square off against the Green Robin Ball Bashers on Monday, June 27 at Pitsker Field at 5 p.m. while the eighth-place 1-4 Mustache Bashers will face the Rent-A-Gades the same evening at 6:30 p.m. on the same field.