The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Turnin’ and burnin’
A little over halfway through the regular season and some teams are maintaining their dominance while others continue their rollercoaster rides.
The Meatsticks and the Eldo both fall in the latter category. The Meatsticks came into the fourth week of the season with a record of 2-6 and faced the second-place Eldo team at Gothic Field Monday night.
By the game’s end, I was left wondering: How is it that the Meatsticks have just three wins so far?
Meanwhile, the Eldo has been on a major rollercoaster ride as well, en route to their 5-3-1 record—flirting, at one point, with the top of the rec league standings in just their first year of existence. It’s good to see the patrons of the “sunny place for shady people” getting a little time out in the sun.
They started out suffering a crushing at the hands of the Whetstoners. Turned around to crush perennial rec league powerhouse the Rasta Hairnets. Edged out a couple one-run wins and then battled through 10 innings to end up tying KBUT 29-29.
But the All Star Break (i.e., the Fourth of July) offers teams a chance to renew themselves for a late-season run and the Meatsticks kicked it off on the right foot with a 17-13 win over the Eldo the week of the break.
The Eldo broke the seal in the top of the first inning when Patrick Henry Cashion stepped to the plate to crush a solo shot to straightaway center field.
The Meatsticks fired off three runs in the bottom of the first, opened by Joe Wright’s incredible skills that pay the bills, base running. Wright slapped a base hit to the gap in right center and when the ball slipped through to the fence, he hit the afterburners, bound for Broadway the hard way. As he was headed for home, his afterburners flared out sending Wright bumblin’ and stumblin’ but he made it home for the solo inside the park home run (ITPHR).
A walk and a double from Stephen Graham put two runners on and Elise Wages drove them in with a two RBI sacrifice hit and a 3-1 Meatsticks lead.
The Eldo provided a glimpse into why they are near the top of the league standings in the top of the second inning with a six-run rally.
Andrea Rybarz led off with a single and two more base hits loaded the bags for barefoot Brian McLain. McLain drove two runs in with a double up the middle and then Zach Marquis cleared the bags with a towering home run that reached town hall for a 7-3 Eldo lead.
The Meatsticks recovered to pull back to within one run as Courtney Bock cracked a two-RBI triple and Wright tagged a RBI double.
The Eldo responded as the bottom of their batting order led off with key base hits to put ducks on the pond for the top of the order. Rybarz and Jake Kozel led off with back-to-back base hits. Gabriella Lukasantz drove Rybarz in with a sacrifice RBI and McLain and Marquis connected for RBI doubles to rebuild a four-run Eldo lead.
The Eldo tacked on another run in the top of the fourth inning and the Meatsticks looked destined for just another night of drinking.
Reeves Hewlett had other plans though, sparking a six-run Meatsticks rally with a lead-off infield single.
Wages singled to put two on for Anthony Slominski, who delivered with a two-RBI double. Two more hits put runners on for Graham; he cracked a three-run shot on a rope over the left field netting to give the Meatsticks a 12-11 lead.
The Meatsticks defense then shut the Eldo down in the top of the fifth inning and tacked on two more runs for a 14-11 lead heading into the sixth inning.
Krystal Ramsey and Ashley Lynn pulled the Eldo back to within one run, tapping RBI base hits but the Meatsticks were not to be denied as they carried the momentum through the bottom of the sixth inning and into the seventh inning.
Hits from Kendall Pearson, Dusty Ostrand and Betsy LeClair provided the Meatsticks three insurance runs and their defense did the rest, including a diving grab from Slominski in left field to seal the 17-13 Meatsticks win.
