Rastas repeat as rec league champions

“We’re totally fine. I really believe we’re totally fine”

For the first time in my 14 years of covering local softball I can now say, without question, the same thing that has been said to me over and over again by players and fans during my career.

You should have been there.
I should just leave it at that because what I witnessed Tuesday night at Gothic Field was incredible. It was unbelievable. By the final two innings, it was dangerous.
It was the best slow pitch softball game I have ever seen. Maybe, just maybe, one of the best sporting events I’ve ever seen. Except for the Miracle on Ice, of course.
But other than that, pretty much everything else pales in comparison. Except for NC State’s win over Phi Slamma Jamma. But that’s it.
A bit over the top, maybe, but like I said, you should have been there.
It starts with the back-story.
The Rasta Hairnets were the defending rec league champions but had a “dubious” start to the 2011 season, losing seven of their first eight games.
They rallied to win their final four games and enter the playoffs the fifth seed out of six teams.
The Rasta uprising appeared in effect but hit a glitch, losing in the second round of the playoffs to KBUT and dropping into the losers bracket.
Never ones to give up, they continued to battle, taking down PooFest and Earth Station Radio for a rematch with KBUT.
KBUT had a hold on the Hairnets all season long but on a rain-drenched field last week, the Rastas handed KBUT a 14-0 shutout to earn a spot in the rec league finals and face the Whetstoners.
The Whetstoners had a slightly different season, though quite remarkable in and of itself. They were new to the league this year but it was just a matter of time before they would gel with the talent they had. They entered the playoffs the third seed and cruised through the post season rattling off three wins in a row to reach the finals.
It appeared they had gelled.
The big test for the seasoned veteran Rasta squad and the plucky rookie team the Whetstoners would come on Tuesday, though. All the Whetstoners needed was one win, while the Rastas had to pull off two in a row for the title.
The first game was a complete wash, with the Rastas’ backs against the wall and the Whetstoners having a game to give away, which they did.
A scattered Whetstoner defense—I counted nine errors before I put my pen down—and an explosive Rasta offense, paced by two homers from Reed Betz including a grand slam, resulted in a 21-2 blow-out, forcing a second game to determine the champion.
A coin toss determined the home team for game two and while the Whetstoners reportedly won the toss, they reportedly opted to bat first.
I liked the idea, strike first and with extreme prejudice.
For all intents and purposes, the plan appeared to be working like a charm.
Alex Mattes-Ritz crushed a two-run shot in the top of the first inning and the Whetstoners erupted for seven more runs in the top of the third inning, peppering the shallow parts of the outfield, aka the vortex, with base hits.
Mattes-Ritz drove in another run with a triple, Barb “Wire” Winter blooped a RBI single to shallow right and Dan Camp stroked a two-run home run over the right field fence for a 7-3 lead. At this point the Rasta fans were strangely quiet while the Whetstoner fans, the Whetstonians, perhaps having changed to a different strain, turned completely insane.
James “the Beard” Newton dropped another base hit into the vortex and then scored when Tessa Frederick slapped a two-RBI double to left.
Molly Arment closed the top of the third with another RBI hit to the vortex and the Whetstoners had a 10-3 lead.
Despite the obvious swing in momentum, Rasta Hairnet player/co-owner Dan Loftus remained calm.
“We’re totally fine,” said Loftus as he walked by the press box. “I really believe we’re totally fine.”
At which point he immediately grabbed the cooler full of tri-color Jell-O shots and called the entire team in for a social.
With the sweet sting of alcohol-infused Jell-O fresh in their mouths, the Rastas cut the lead down to three in the bottom of the third.
Josh Egedy and Nicky O’Connor tapped base hits and Betz cleared the bags with his second three-run dinger of the night.
The Whetstoners returned the favor in the top of the fourth, scoring five more runs to build a 15-7 lead.
But the Rastas came charging right back in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Matt Gutter and O’Connor connected for base hit RBIs. Beth Hanson tapped a RBI single, Loftus popped an error-assisted RBI single and Aaron Tomcak pulled the Rastas to within one run with a two-RBI single.

The Whetstoners added an insurance run in the top of the fifth inning to stay on top 16-14, but the Rastas came right back in the bottom of the fifth to tie it 16-16.
The two teams then turned up the defense in the sixth inning with Gutter pulling off the catch of the evening, chasing down a screaming line drive for a diving sno-cone grab in left field.
At this point, the streetlights had come on as darkness was settling in with the teams notched in a 16-16 tie.
Whetstoner Renee Newton singled and scored and Carson Elliott drove in a second Whetstoner run with a base hit for an 18-16 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.
Todd Eggebraten singled and then reached second on a sacrifice hit by Kelly Winner. Gutter took a walk and the Rastas used the man walk, woman walk rule to load the bases for Betz.
Betz delivered with a game-tying two-RBI single but some heads-up defense by the Whetstoners caught a Rasta runner dangling off of third base and tagged her for the final out, sending the game into extra innings.
At this point, it’s dark, as dark as I’ve ever seen it with a softball game still going on, but the two teams were determined to finish it no matter what.
When a game goes into extra innings, each team is given a runner on second to start and every batter steps to the plate with a 3-2 count. One pitch and that’s it.
It’s about as intense as it can get. Add in the fact that it’s the championship game and, like I said, pitch-black dark and all bets were off as to who would take it.
Once again, the Whetstoners put runners in scoring position and brought two in when Mattes-Ritz doubled to left field with no outs. But the Rastas defense clamped down to keep it at two and stepped up to hit in the bottom of the eighth inning, down 20-18.
The lead-off Rasta struck out but a single by Loftus and a walk loaded the bases for Scott Tyree.
Tyree drove the first and only pitch he would see—or could see, for that matter—straight up the middle but somehow, some way, Elliott pulled it down on the pitcher’s mound.
He turned to first for the double play to end the game but the toss was dropped and a Rasta runner snuck home from third to pull within one run.
Sarah Smith stepped to the plate with two outs, down 20-19 and a 3-2 count. Elliott delivered the pitch and Smith held her ground as she watched the ball fall just outside the strike zone for the walk, loading the bases for Tomcak.
It was obvious that the one pitch Tomcak would see, if he could see it, would be a strike, so Tomcak had no choice but to swing. He did and, as far as I could tell, he punched the ball to the gap in right center for the game-winning two-RBI single and another Rasta’s rec league title.
Incredible, unbelievable and, like I said, you should have been there.
Cheers Koltys!