The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Yup
Yup, I missed some good games this post-season. One run wins with teams battling it out into the final at bat. My bad.
Monday night, I did get a chance to see some high potent action at Tommy V Field as the Mustache Bashers faced the Stash in the finals of the losers bracket with a spot in the comp league finals on the line.
The energy at Tommy V Field was somewhat subdued initially with players still recovering from the Ball Bash tournament over the weekend. But the Rent-A-Gades appeared the most punished from a weekend of ball and beers as their energy was nearly non-existent.
As a result, the Stash cruised through a 12-6 win over the Rent-A-Gades in the first game to remain alive in the losers bracket and take on the Mustache Bashers in the second game.
The Bashers have had quite a run in the post-season. After hitting a team low point in the final weeks of the regular season, they’ve rallied when it matters most, playing some of their best ball all season in the playoffs.
They hit a wall against the Nuts and Honeys, falling 10-5, but remained focused on the task at hand as they took the field against the Stash, reaching the championship game.
The Stash, while warmed up from their win in the first game, were dinged up as Stash standout Barb Peters separated her shoulder diving for a fly ball in right field. Unfortunately, with just five women on their roster that night, Peters would play the rest of the evening with her arm in a homemade sling.
The Stash built an early 3-0 lead on the Bashers in the first inning when Will Dujardin led off with a solo inside the park home run (ITPHR) and Allison Gipple knocked two runs in with a base hit before overrunning second base to get tagged out, ending the inning.
A stumbling triple by Gabe Martin and RBI single from Rhett Yarborough put the Bashers on the board in the top of the second but the Basher bats, with the exception of Katie Vandervoort, struggled through the first four innings.
Meanwhile, the Stash spent the next three innings building on its lead. Scott Sauders led off the bottom of the second inning with a 340-foot solo shot to straightaway center.
Barb Winter and Pete Basile connected for a couple base hits to push another Stash run home and Mike Neustedter drove a ball deep to the gap in left center bound for an ITPHR but Kyle Anderson got on his horse to chase the ball down and lay out for a diving grab at the warning track.
Martin and Brice Harrell drove in two more Basher runs with base hits to stay alive but Gipple tapped another RBI base hit and Sauders and Mark Bortolin each connected for two run ITPHRs to put the Stash on top 10-3 heading into the sixth inning, and a steady downpour soaking the players.
The Bashers finally recovered to show what got them this far in the post-season with classic Bashers total team effort. Vandervoort, Nick Catmur and Candace Sanders loaded the bases with a series of singles and Will Coburn nearly cleared the bags with a three RBI triple. Dalynn Trujillo scored Coburn with a sac fly RBI and Harrell capped the comeback with a RBI single to pull the Bashers back to within one heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.
Sensing the swing in momentum, the next at bat would be the key for Stash survival. Either they go down quietly in the bottom of the sixth inning, let the Bashers continue on their roll and watch their shot at a title slip away. Or, they push a few insurance runs in and regain their composure.
They picked the latter, as Dujardin reached first on a fielder’s choice and then scored on a base hit RBI from Pete Basile. Kate Schmidt loaded the bases with a single and Neustedter drove the final nail in the Basher coffin with a two RBI double to put the Stash on top 13-9.
Vandervoort and Catmur did their part to try to reignite the Bashers as Vandervoort tapped an error-assisted triple and scored on a double from Catmur, but the damage was done and the Stash turned the next two outs to seal the 13-10 win and earn a spot in the comp league finals.
