Talk of the Town remains undefeated in comp league

Lo hicimos!

Last week I had an opportunity to share my bratwurst experience, having completely masticated one thanks to a fledgling local business that set up shop at Gothic Field.
This past Monday I headed to Gothic Field to watch the Talk of the Town face Twaddles, a team sponsored by Gunnison Valley ob/gyn Dr. Sherry Niccoli, thus giving me an opportunity to write at length about how incredible Dr. Niccoli is. Now, don’t get too confused—I ain’t got no woman bits, so its not like she tended to me specifically. Rather, she was instrumental in bringing my daughter into this world three and a half years ago.
Dr. Niccoli is married to a local rancher and when it came to getting my girl out, it took a fair bit of her medical training as well as some good old-fashioned calving techniques (no disrespect to my wife—she worked damn hard too).
Sure, Izzy ended up a bit bruised and battered from the battle but she wasn’t being too cooperative when it was “go time” and suffered the consequences. As it turns out, that stubbornness appears to be manifesting itself currently as my “little princess” believes she knows what is best when it comes to clothes, food, activities, etc. and likes to tell me when I’m wrong.
“No Dad, that’s not the yogurt spoon!”
“No Dad, that’s not the Cinderella underwear!”
“No Dad, that’s not the noodles bowl!”
“No Dad, not that cup, the Minnie Mouse cup!”
“No Dad, that car seat is for little girls, I’m a big girl!”
“No Dad, I don’t like that toothpaste!”
“No Dad…”
And in the interest of just getting through the day and keeping her as confused as possible, I like to randomly mix in the idea of consequences for actions with random acts of “F*** IT.”
Truth is, if I tell her she can’t watch Dora if she doesn’t eat her dinner, she doesn’t care, and still doesn’t eat her dinner. As a result, I, or my wife, have to, God forbid, read to her rather than have her zone out for 30 minutes and learn Spanish from a cartoon character.
Ayudame!
Abre!
Lo hicimos!
Abuela!
Espera!
Etc.!
How about Cierra la boca! Dora.
FYI, terrible twos is a misnomer. The battle doesn’t really start until the age of three.
Nevertheless, we are laying a solid foundation for raising yet another spoiled “only child” in this world. Yes, she is the center of the universe and, yes everything in the world is hers, so get used to it.
Where was I?
Right. Softball.
So instead of going through the nightly no dinner=no Dora, yogurt spoon, Minnie Mouse cup, noodles bowl, Cinderella underwear, toothpaste, “No Dad” bulls**t, Monday night I headed to Gothic Field to catch the Twaddles/Talk of the Town comp league showdown.
The Talk of the Town comp league squad is on fire through the first three weeks of the season racking up an undefeated record of 5-0 to remain at the top of the standings. They’ve scored the most runs so far of any team, 99 total, while giving up the second fewest runs of all teams.
Granted, most of their run total came from their opening blow out of the upstart Community Schoolers and four of the Talk’s five wins are against teams that have sub .500 records, but the first step toward a season of success is to win the games you’re supposed to.
Twaddles, on the other hand, is struggling with their identity once again. They got talent, no question, it’s just what to do with it that continues to confound them. They’ll get there, eventually, and they’ve got the regular season to do that, ultimately peaking when it matters most: the post-season.
The Talk came out charging, racking up six runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Talk batting order did what any batting order is supposed to do.
The top of the order got on base. The meat of the order, Eric Ervin, Kelly McGuire and Brent Laney, drove them home with base hits. And the bottom of their batting order capped the rally when Jen Kindred tapped a two-out single and Robbie Vandervoort drove two more runs in with an error-assisted triple for a 6-0 Talk lead.
Twaddles answered, scoring two runs in the top of the second inning. Barb Winter led off with a single, Vann Taylor drove her home with a triple down the third base line and Hannah Furr tapped a RBI single. Primed with two runners on and no outs, Twaddles then stumbled as the next three batters struggled, stopping the Twaddles offense in their tracks.
The Talk tacked on four more runs with Kelly and Laney connecting again for back-to-back two RBI doubles. Ervin added to the pummeling in the bottom of the third inning crushing a three-run shot over the left field fence and the Talk of the Town was sitting comfortably on a 14-2 lead.
As the game wore on, Twaddles gained some momentum piecing together bits of offense with some solid defense. They held the Talk to two runs over the next three innings while scoring three runs of their own. Furr, Judd Mesaris and Jessica Johnson swatted base hits to load the bases. Mikey Strauch came off the bench to step to the plate cold and deliver with a two RBI double to left.
A succession of Talk fielding errors then opened a small window for a Twaddles comeback in the top of the seventh inning.
Rhett Yarborough cracked a stand up double and scored when a high fly ball from Jimmy Hensley dropped in right field for a single. Mesaris drove another Twaddles run in with a sac fly RBI but the Talk refocused on defense to get the necessary outs and shut the door for good on the 16-7 win.