The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Cellar dwellers square off at Gothic Field
There’s just too much in the names of the two teams alone to let it slide.
Let’s start with the Twaddles.
The team is sponsored by Dr. Sherri Niccoli, local OB/GYN (the very OB/GYN who delivered my daughter) and one can only imagine what the name Twaddles could possibly mean.
Team member and Twaddles’ biggest fan, Laura Jane “Joy Warrior” Wrzesinski, assured me that the name has nothing to do with any part of the female anatomy.
Then there are the Mustache Bashers. Again, it could involve some x-rated reference that ultimately involves the female anatomy but that’s not for me to determine.
All I know is that on Monday, August 8, the Mustache Bashers “faced” the Twaddles at Gothic Field to open up the 2011 competitive league playoffs.
With Twaddles coming into the playoffs seeded eighth and the Mustache Bashers seeded ninth, it was sure to be a battle of epic proportions from the bottom of the standings.
Furthermore, the Bashers were fresh off an upset win over the Wine-Os, while the Twaddles were looking to bounce back from a two-game losing streak.
As Twaddles player Ian Baird relaxed in the shade prior to the game, ready to flip the switch to his game face at any moment, Bashers player/manager Eric Dishmon was busy finishing off the remnants of his Shark Attack. A Shark Attack is a margarita in a tube, an adult Flav-O-Ice.
To each their own.
As it turned out, at least in the first inning, the Shark Attack was just what Dishmon needed. After taking a 1-0 lead on a single by Nick Catmur, Dishmon followed with a crushing three-run shot over the left field fence to put the Bashers up 4-0.
Twaddles responded in the bottom of the first as Baird flipped the switch and cracked a lead off double and then scored on a single from Barb “Barbfly” Peters. Peters, by the way, made her way to the game from the Mountain Man Rendezvous, only to return to take down her teepee—talk about commitment to one’s team.
Gabe Martin cracked a two-RBI single to cut the Bashers’ lead down to one but got nabbed stretching for an extra base.
The Twaddles defense retired the side in the top of the second and returned to the plate to add four more runs, led by Peters once again with a two-RBI double-triple and take a 7-4 lead.
Twaddles were about to then blow the game wide open with two on and one out, but the Bashers defense gunned a runner down at home to stop the bleeding.
The two teams traded runs through the next two innings. Emma Vosburg drove in a runner with a double and Willy Coburn smacked a solo inside-the-park home run for a couple of Basher runs.
Martin tripled and scored on a sacrifice RBI from Meredith Casciato and Tyler Williams drove another Twaddle home with a single, and at the end of four, the Twaddles were sitting on a precarious 9-7 lead.
Rhett Yarborough anchored the Twaddles defense to hold the Bashers scoreless in the top of the sixth inning and two more RBI base hits from Peters (maybe the entire team should make a point of prepping for the post-season with some hatchet throwing at the Rendezvous) and Williams gave Twaddles a couple of much-needed insurance runs heading into the top of the seventh.
The Bashers threatened some late-game heroics, aided by some late-game errors by the Twaddles defense.
Catmur roped an RBI single to pull the Bashers to within three runs with two on, one out and Dishmon stepping to the plate.
Unfortunately, the full effect of the Shark Attack had worn off as Dishmon managed to knock an error-assisted RBI single rather than tie the game with another three-run home run.
Nevertheless, the Bashers were closing in with one more shot. Once again the stage was set down 11-9 with two on and two outs and Coburn up at bat, but the tension proved too much as Coburn popped out and the Bashers fell 11-9, sending them to the losers bracket with Twaddles advancing to face the number-one seeded Airheads on Wednesday night.
