Talk of the Town wins comp league season opener

Four teams? Only four teams!?

It turns out we celebrate the arts more than we celebrate sports, as it appears that live music is more important than competitive softball.
That’s the theory at least as to why there are only four teams in comp league this year. Comp league games are on Monday and Wednesday nights, the same nights as Alpenglow and Live! at Mt. Crested Butte. As a result, people would rather see live music than play ball.
Oh well…
Nevertheless, there are four teams full of locals committed to the game of slow pitch softball and God bless ‘em for playing.
On Monday, June 9, the comp league season kicked off as last year’s runners up the Stash, or Stashme as they’re now known, faced perennial slowpitch softball enthusiasts and gateway to the local singles scene, the Talk of the Town at Gothic Field.
And no season opener would be complete without the national anthem and the ceremonial first pitch. Brent Laney and Kat Hassebroek provided a stirring duet of the national anthem with both teams lining the first and third baselines. Once the tears were collectively wiped away, Lynelle Stanford, the new Crested Butte town clerk and former softball star, took the mound to deliver the first pitch.
With the ceremonies done—and done well, by the way—the 2014 season officially opened and fans were, or the fan was, treated to some quality slow-pitch softball.
Stashme hitters opened with twitchy bats as the first two players to the plate popped out, but Scott Sanders and Kate Schmidt brought the Stashme bats back around to connect for back-to-back base hits and a run.
Mike Neustedter followed with a single and scored on an infield single by Kat Long and Mark Bortolin tapped a RBI single for a 3-0 Stashme lead.
The Talk of the Town were near worthless in their first trip to the plate but their defense, led by Dave McGuire on the mound and Tom Consentino at short, managed to hold off the Stashme offense through the next two innings.
The official first highlight of the season came in the bottom of the third when Eric Johnson sent a deep fly ball to centerfield. Schmidt chased it down at the warning track but it popped out of her glove and into Drew Stichter’s glove, who happened to be backing up the play.
Who does that? Backs up a play in the outfield in the first game of the softball season. Well, Stichter does, and did.
Chanda Cossel followed that defensive highlight with some pure comp league offensive hustle in the top of the fourth. Cossel stepped up and delivered a near-perfect powerbunt three feet in front of home plate. McGuire charged in on the ball to fire to first but Cossel’s hustle made the difference as she beat the throw, diving into first. The effort paid off as she eventually scored on a base hit by Pete Basile and Stashme was sitting on a 4-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth inning.
Then the hitters on both sides started finding their power at the plate. Kelly McGuire led off with a triple to centerfield and Consentino followed that by jacking a two-run shot off of Town Hall. Chris Kindred joined in on the power surge with a two-run crusher over the netting in centerfield and with all of that brawn on display, you knew Eric Turbo Ervin had to get his share, driving a solo shot over centerfield to put the Talk of the Town on top 6-4.
Stashme had some pop of their own to provide as Sanders stepped up in the top of the fifth for a solo shot, but the Talk built on their lead on base hit RBIs from Dave McGuire, Consentino and Shannon Costello to go up 10-5 heading into the sixth.
Basile cracked a ground rule RBI double and Sanders struck again with a towering three-run shot to pull Stashme to within one run, but the bats fell silent on both sides and the Talk squeaked by with the 10-9 win.