The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Bashers mashed in finals
It was a good run for the Mustache Bashers but it ended Wednesday evening as they ran into the hottest team in local softball, the Rent-A-Gades.
The Bashers were running on a wing and a prayer through the playoffs. After losing in the opening round of the post-season, they rallied through the loser’s bracket to reach the finals.
The Rent-A-Gades, on the other hand, ran roughshod through the playoffs, winning all their games and reaching their potential when it mattered most.
Their paths crossed in the finals and while heart can go a long way, at some point you also need talent, or at the very least an entire team.
Wednesday night the Bashers were missing a woman and forced to play a player short. While players such as Nick Catmur, Kyle Anderson and Emma Vosburg can make up for that loss with their wheels in the outfield, it didn’t matter. In fact, the way the Rent-A-Gades were hitting, even a full squad would not have made much of a difference—perhaps in the final score, but probably not in the final outcome.
The Bashers’ miracle run was intact through the first three innings as Rhett Yarborough opened the game with a solo shot over the right field fence. The Rent-A-Gades came right back in the bottom of the first inning, scoring three runs off three hits. Jeff Banford and Heather Duryea singled and Josh Schumacher cleared the bags with a towering three-run shot over the left field netting for a 3-1 lead.
After a quiet second inning, the Bashers tied it up in the top of the second when Gabe Martin flared a two-RBI double to right, and things were looking good until the bottom of the fourth inning when the Rent-A-Gades started rolling.
Schumacher led off with a triple and scored on a double by Peace Wheeler. Nathan Lacy shook off his golf swing to send a two-run home run to left field and a slew of base hits, capped by a three-run home run from Jerry Heal put the Rent-A-Gades up 13-3.
It wasn’t over yet though for the Bashers. Down but not out, they combined base hits by Dalynn Trujillo, Katherine Oliver and Vosburg and a walk to score three runs.
The game was really put out of reach in the bottom of the fifth. Just as the Bashers were looking to rise back up, the Rent-A-Gades smacked them down, with authority.
Duryea, Schumacher and Peace Wheeler all singled to load the bases. Lacy pushed Duryea home with a sac fly RBI, Kari Roberts cracked a two-RBI double and Andrea Schumacher and Justin Wheeler combined for two more runs to put the Rent-A-Gades up 18-6 heading into the sixth inning.
Some Basher defensive mayhem allowed two more Rent-A-Gades runs to score in the bottom of the sixth inning for a 22-7 lead. The Bashers finished with two more base-hit RBIs to squeeze blood from the turnip but it was all for naught as the Rent-A-Gades collected a series of pop flies to cruise to the 22-9 win and the 2014 comp league title.
See you next year?
