The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Someday Elevate will rise
by Than Acuff
Numbers can be deceiving, as we all know. And sometimes numbers can be right on. Take, for instance, Tuesday night’s game between the Brew Crew and Elevation at Pitsker Field.
On the one hand, you had Elevation, who have been circling the drain since their inception. They had a miracle run one season, last year I think it was, where they exceeded everyone’s expectations with a prolific post-season run. So, when I saw they were 3-1 this year, I thought the franchise had turned the corner for better times.
Those numbers were deceiving.
On the other hand, you had the Brew Crew, who came into the game 4-0 and were outscoring opponents by an average of 14 runs.
Those numbers were right on as the Brew Crew cruised to a 20-5 win over Elevate.
To be honest, I believed Elevation was for real following the top of the first inning. Jared Martin and CJ Hoover both slapped singles and Laura Henmann and Sohrob Nimrouzi pushed both runs home with base hits for a quick 2-0 lead.
The Brew Crew answered back with a two-out rally scoring four runs, but most of the runs came off of fielding miscues or some out-and-out hustle from one Gerry Heal, who not only doubled but also then scored from second base.
Still, things looked okay for Elevation and seeing how the game was at Pitsker, maybe the field and single wall bats alone would handcuff the Brew Crew. Boy, was I wrong.
The Elevation bats went silent as the Brew Crew bats caught fire in the bottom of the second and fourth innings. Hits from Annie Walker and Molly Keating primed the pump for the Brew Crew in the bottom of the second. Ian Baird walked to score two runs, Heal cracked a RBI single, and Tyler Williams golfed a RBI single to right for an 8-2 Brew Crew lead.
Elevation did connect for one run in the top of the third as Martin singled and scored on a triple from Hoover. They followed that up with some tight defense in the bottom of the third and hopes remained high until the Brew Crew unleashed in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Keating led off with a single up the middle and scored when Baird doubled. Heal connected for a two-RBI error-assisted hit, and Chris Wiig drove two more runs home with a single. Paul Moscatelli capped the rally with a RBI double and the Brew Crew was sitting on a very comfortable 14-3 lead.
Props out to Elevation though. As the Brew Crew bats remained hot in the bottom of the fifth spraying base hits all over the place, the Elevation defense continued to hustle diving for line drives to the gap and grounders down the lines. Rob Houston and Krystal Ramsey each cracked base hit RBIs, Williams jacked a two-RBI double high off the netting in left field and Andrea Rybarz roped a RBI double down the third base line for a 20-3 Brew Crew lead.
Elevation went down swinging as Hoover and Henmann each connected for RBI base hits in the top of the seventh but their fate was sealed much earlier in the game as they fell 20-5.
