Pitas OG destroys Steep Peeps in town league softball game

“Make America gay again”

by Than Acuff

There’s a term out there that I would have no idea about if it weren’t for my neighbors who split time between here and Boulder, and the internet. The term is heteronormativity. Hetero-what?

According to Google, which I use all of the time because I’m lazy and I believe most of the time because I am ignorant (wait, that’s how I would also describe the majority of Trump supporters… am I a Trump supporter?)

But I digress.

According to the Google searching, heteronormativity is the belief that people fall into distinct and complementary genders (man and woman) with natural roles in life. It assumes that heterosexuality is the only sexual orientation or only norm, and states that sexual and marital relations are most (or only) fitting between people of opposite sexes.

An offshoot of this would be heterocentrism. An example of heterocentrism is when insurance plans cover different-sex partners but do not provide coverage for same-sex partners.

According to my neighbor, who is a professor at CU Boulder, during a staff meeting one of his colleagues pointed out that the capitalization of words is a form of heteronormativity. Which brings to mind this classic example of how a lack of capitalization could somewhat skew the meaning of a sentence.

Here we go…

Help Uncle Jack off the horse.

Or, the alternative non-capitalized, heteronormative version, which when written, means something totally different.

Again, hetero-what?

I think I will keep capitalizing words as I was taught growing up but do believe health insurance plans should provide coverage for same-sex partners. The only problem is, gay or not, who can afford it?

In softball this week, it was time to check in on the hottest team in local softball, Pita’s OG, and the not-so-hottest team, Steep Peeps (aka the Scum Bunch) in their showdown Tuesday, July 5 at Gothic Field.

OG’s player/manager Drew Stichter scoured the free agent market over the winter and spring, amassing what may be one of the most powerful coed softball teams in a while. They got it all, power, defense, women, and the guys aren’t half bad either. They currently sit atop the league standings undefeated having knocked off the only other undefeated team, the Eldo, last week.

Steep Peeps? Well, they’re not half bad either… either. Unfortunately, they’re only half good, so far. As a result they are sitting at the bottom of the league standings and have scored the least amount of runs while giving up the most amount of runs. But like I said, I do believe it is only a matter of time before they shine. Not like a fine wine but there’s a win, if not a couple, in the near future for the Peeps. It just wasn’t happening on Tuesday against the OG.

Things started out okay for the Peeps as they dodged a couple of early bullets, the first one in the bottom of the first inning when Scott Sanders drove a line drive to the gap in right center bound for extra bases. Peeps outfielder Nate Meckes fumbled a fly ball earlier in the inning but more than made up for it reaching to rob Sanders of the base hit and then throwing to first base to double up on the runner.

“Double up, you know what I’m talking about.”

Ironically (I think) when Meckes stepped up to hit in the top of the second, Sanders robbed him of a base hit grabbing a line drive out of midair, stepped on second base and then fired to first base for a 6-3 triple play.

Touché.

It took the brother/sister Stichter combo to get the OG on the board in the bottom of the second inning as Maddie Stichter singled and scored when Drew Stichter tripled. Madi Cruse, who just might go yard this season given the right connection and right conditions, and Mark Bortolin each scored two more runs with hits and it appeared the game was on its way to being over at the OG was gaining steam. But the Peeps dodged their second bullet of the game giving up just one more run on a RBI hit from Gina Loftus (Loftus… Loftus… Loftus, where have I heard that name before… Dan Loftus has a sister?) before closing out the inning.

Then, the Peeps scored, not once but twice.

Carla Salinas and Regina Meckes each walked and Zach Baker singled to load the bases for Callie Aspinwall. Aspinwall scored one run with a single and Reggie Park doubled to push another run home and we had ourselves a game.

Then we didn’t as the top of the OG order came up to bat in the bottom of the third for the first of three five-run rallies in a row.

Heather Duryea led off the first rally with a double and scored on a double from Sanders. Maddie tripled to push Sanders home, brother Drew cleared the bases with a two-run inside-the-park home run (ITPHR) and Alice Krist capped the outburst with a RBI single.

Peeps player Ben McDill knocked a RBI double for one last run from the Peeps, literally, and then came the next two five-run waves from the OG.

Loftus and Brent Laney combined for a couple base hits, Duryea scored both with a single and Sanders cleared the bags his way by going Broadway, the easy way, driving an oh-so-meaty pitch over centerfield. Drew followed suit as he drove a solo shot over right center and off of Town Hall to put the OG on top 14-3.

Base hits by Cruse and Rhett Yarborough put ducks on the pond for Mark Bortolin, and he answered the call scoring both with a double to center, which is about when things went from bad to worse for the peeps as they lost a player to injury during that very same play as the ball hit off of her glove and then off her forehead.

Sanders and Drew struck again in the bottom of the fifth inning as Sanders cleared the centerfield fence again for a two-run shot and Drew knocked a two-run home run off of Town Hall for a 21-3 lead that would stick through the final two innings, leaving the OG still undefeated and the Peeps still searching for a win, which they will get… mark my words.