Late game rally paces KBUT to victory

“Is everybody a little warmed up, stretched out or
at least had a beer?”

A couple of rec league heavy hitters squared off in the 2013 season opener at Pitsker Field Tuesday night. The Whetstoners are the defending champions and KBUT is a perennial contender and despite the fact that it was opening day, they both came out ready to play.
Well, sort of.
The Whetstoners were a few women short of a full squad at game time but they were in full force by the second inning.
KBUT looked to exploit the holes in the field in the top of the first, spraying a series of base hits to score three quick runs. In fact, the only thing that held them back from making it much worse for the Whetstoners was a couple of untimely strikeouts.
Or, Rich Driscoll was so masterful on the mound that he struck out two batters to hold the KBUT offense in check to buy time for his team.
The Whetstoners responded in the bottom of the first as Barb Winters singled and scored on a triple by Alex Mattes-Ritz and Renee Newton tapped a sac hit RBI.
Grant McFarren wheeled home on a single by Carson West in the top of the second inning and then KBUT erupted for four more runs in the top of the third.
Josh Elmer started things off with a RBI single followed by an error-assisted two-RBI double from McFarren and a silky smooth RBI single by Lindsay Records.
The Whetstoners chipped away at the KBUT lead on RBI base hits by James Newton and Sonja Greenough and backed their bats with some Stoner defense, retiring the side in the top of fourth inning.
Unfortunately, the Whetstoners came up empty in their next at bat and KBUT took the opportunity to pour it on again in the top of the fifth inning.
Nick “Trill” (which according to the urban dictionary means true and real) Hill, the reigning King of Soul and rightly adorned in his crown for the game, pulled off a big hustle infield single. Liz Ewing drove him home with a base hit, Records tapped another RBI hit and West put KBUT up 11-5 with a single to center field.
The Whetstoners made their mark on the league last year with numerous come-from-behind heroics and they proceeded to rattle off another one to open the 2013 season.
Down 12-6 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, the Whetstoners rallied hard to pull themselves back into contention.
Newton and Greenough led off with back-to-back singles and Zach Matthias loaded the bases for Molly Arment. Molly came through with a RBI single, Michelle Gerard followed suit to drive home another Stoner and the McKenrick brothers, Scott and Chuck, combined for three more runs, tying the game 12-12 heading into the seventh inning.
KBUT was far from done though as they came right back to score six runs in the top of the seventh inning. John Hopper opened the scoring with a RBI double. Additional extra base hits from West, Amelie Kastning and Meredith McNamara further stoked the KBUT fire and by the time the dust settled, they were sitting on a comfortable six-run lead.
By this time the Whetstoners were done knocking just one base hit in their final at bat to eventually fall 18-12 to KBUT.