The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Just in case you hadn’t heard
Well the comp league came to a close last Wednesday night and while the Stash was on a run, they hit a wall in the finals as the Nuts & Honeys handed them a 21-12 beat down.
The Stash came into the finals battered and bruised with Barb Peters out with a dislocated shoulder and Kate Schmidt recovering from softball induced black eye. Fortunately, Sarah Fruendt was on hand so the team could put a full roster together and Schmidt wouldn’t miss a championship game, especially given the rally the Stash was on.
The Stash closed the regular season winning their last three games to finish the season in first place but fell to the Mustache Bashers early in the playoffs to drop down to the losers bracket. They strung together a couple wins to climb their way out and meet the Nuts & Honeys in the finals.
The red-hot Nuts & Honeys, that is. After a couple stumbles toward the end of the regular season, they posted a perfect record in the playoffs to cruise to the finals.
But their excitement at the prospect of winning a title had them popping out numerous times through the first three innings while the Stash built a 3-1 lead.
Allison Gipple pushed the first Stash run across with a RBI single and Will Dujardin and Mike Neustedter each cracked solo inside the park home runs (ITPHR).
The Nuts & Honeys bats settled down by the bottom of the fourth inning as Scott Hargrove singled and scored on a triple from Erik “Sideshow” Ulstad, and Jocelyn Wallace tied the game 3-3 with a RBI single.
Ulstad then provided some defensive highlights as he snagged a ground ball down the third base line and fired across the diamond from the ground to deny Dujardin a base hit.
Base hit RBIs from Neustedter and Pete Basile put the Stash back on top 5-3 but the Nuts & Honeys hitters caught fire in the bottom of the fifth to generate 14 runs.
Daniel Hargrove led off with a double, Katherine Long singled and Hailee and Mike Stanley combined to drive in two runs. Ulstad and Wallace rattled off back-to-back RBI base hits, Roland Mason pushed another run home with a RBI single and Daniel returned to the plate to score two more Nuts on a double to left center. Rick Barnard punched an opposite field two-RBI triple and when the dust cleared, the Nuts and Honeys were on top 17-5 heading into the sixth inning.
Rather than pack it in and hand it over to the Nuts & Honeys, the Stash responded with a rally of their own to make it a game.
Mark Bortolin got the Stash rolling with a RBI single, a walk loaded the bases and Dujardin doubled to score two more Stash runs. Base hits from Barb Winter and Schmidt further fueled the Stash comeback as Neustedter, Gipple and Tony Wildman all pushed runs in before the Nuts & Honeys could shut it off.
The rally pulled the Stash to within five runs with one more inning to go. All they had to do was hold the Nuts & Honeys in the bottom of the sixth and put together one more rally to make it a game.
But, the Nuts & Honeys would have none of that, as Daniel led off with a solo ITPHR. Hailee cracked a two RBI double to centerfield and Ulstad capped the outburst with a RBI double to put the Nuts & Honeys on top 21-12 for good and seal the 2013 Crested Butte comp league title.
