KBUT pummeled by Psycho Rocks in town league softball

The Garage Street Journal

by Than Acuff

Despite a solid roster and quality players, something was amiss among the KBUT players Thursday night as they fell to Psycho Rocks 21-7 at Tommy V Field. Granted, Psycho Rocks is one of the top teams in the Tuesday/Thursday league, sitting in second place with a record of 10-2 but KBUT is not far behind in fifth place and have the capacity to knock anyone off.

But Thursday night they were noticeably distracted. Perhaps it was the fact that KBUT, community radio for the entire Gunnison Valley, is about to kick off their summer pledge drive on Monday, July 31 and all energy is currently being directed toward that.

Or, perhaps, it was the Yeti “Tribe” camping down the first base line lubing their chains and stoking up their stoke for a weekend of stoke.

So, you went with the 2×10 gearing a couple of years ago. Then you switched to the 1×11. Now there’s a 1×12, a 1×13 gearing set up in the works and I’ve even heard there may be a return to the bio pace crank. Remember that, the ovalized front chain ring?

“Like walking on water.”

In the end it all pays off for us because as people continue to dump money into the latest and greatest in bike technology, badass bikes are soon outdated, irrelevant and, therefore, on sale. I think it’s called trickle-down economics.

But, as usual, I digress.

Back to the game. Wait, one more thing.

So, there are a couple of guys, both of whom happened to be playing against each other Thursday night at Tommy V Field, with a podcast.

Will Mixon of Psycho Rocks and Shawn Harrington of KBUT, along with someone named Slank (?), have a podcast going called The Garage Street Journal on iTunes providing stories of the strange and informative, both locally and nationally.

At any rate, the two teams squared off Thursday night and, as I mentioned so much earlier, it was a bit lopsided.

Psycho Rocks started off uncharacteristically slow, failing to score a single run in the top of the first inning but soon started to find their groove by the second inning with the middle of the order doing the damage. Claire Bartholomew provided one of the smoothest swings I’ve seen all season to stroke a single, followed by a double from Will Mixon. KBUT retired the next hitter but Dakota Wiggins cleared the bases as he found one of many massive gaps in the Tommy V outfield for a three-run inside the park home run (ITPHR) and a 3-0 Psycho Rocks lead.

KBUT managed to push a run across in the bottom of the second inning as Harrington singled and scored, but irresponsible base running and silent bats soon quashed the KBUT offense.

Psycho Rocks then tacked on another three runs as Kyle Townsend doubled down the leftfield line, Cody “Bo” Mixon scored Townsend with a double and Bartholomew knocked two more runs in with a single for a 6-1 Psycho lead.

KBUT continued to muddle their way through the game, scoring just one more run over two innings. Harrington crushed a stand-up triple and scored off a single by M’lissa Story but Psycho Rocks added two more runs to their lead with a two-run ITPHR from Townsend and then blew the game wide open in the top of the fifth.

Bo started it off with a double, at which point KBUT player/manager Scott Stewart decided enough was enough and made a call, hoping to rally his team out of their funk.

“Turn the music on and shotgun a beer!”

Unfortunately, things went from bad to worse despite the advice, as Psycho Rocks proceeded to rattle off eight base hits and a couple of walks to score 10 runs. Will scored his brother Bo with a single. Wiggins cracked a two-RBI double to centerfield, Matt Roettger popped up a high fly two-RBI single and Townsend doubled down the left field line for a 14-2 Psycho Rocks lead. Rosa Greeley singled to drive in another Psycho Rock and Bo and Bartholomew combined for two base hits and three RBIs for an 18-2 lead, forcing the umpires to enforce the 10-run rule to put an end to the pummelage.

The pounding did serve as somewhat of a wake up call for KBUT as they clamped down on defense and put together a smidge of offense.

Christen “Silver Queen” Lindeman led off with a single, snuck all the way to third on a base hit from Harrington and scored on a RBI walk by Tyler Lucas. Katie Harper drove in another run with a single and Ed Dujardin looked to score more KBUTters with a line drive to the gap in right center but Amanda Brack chased it down to make a running grab look routine, silencing the KBUT bats.

Psycho Rocks added three more runs for good measure, thanks again to Townsend and Bo, but KBUT had a little more left despite the 17-run deficit. Stewart wheeled home from first base off a hit by Kat Harrington, Sonny Burges tripled to score Kat and Lindeman singled for one more KBUT run but Psycho Rocks had seen enough and retired the next two batters for the 21-7 win.