Meatsticks smack down Eldo in softball

“His mother was a mudder, loves the slop”

by Than Acuff

Soooo, how about the weather? Monsoonal, I think, is what they call it. Well, monsoonal weather came so very close to throwing both softball schedules into disarray with the playoffs just two weeks away.

Yet, this recent monsoonal flow did nothing to slow down the Eldo and Pita’s Meatsticks Thursday evening as the intrepid warriors of local softball refused to call it, waiting for a break in the weather. And then, like a blessing from the gods above, the rain stopped and the two teams were rewarded for their commitment. The rake came out to tend to the puddles in the infield and the two teams emerged from their dugouts to warm up and grab the coolers from their trucks.

Play Ball!

Though the game plans for the two teams differed somewhat as they took the field at Tommy V. While one player/manager discussed field conditions and how that might affect base running and fielding, the other player/manager had his take on the situation.

“Today’s not the day to get hurt. Today’s the day to get drunk.”

Ultimately, those two different approaches played out as the game progressed and what started out as a somewhat sloppy exchange of base hits and runs with neither team taking hold of the game soon disintegrated into a complete blow-out.

Eldo player/manager Patrick Cashion got things going in the first at bat of the game driving a double, as he often does, into the gap in right center and then scored on a sacrifice RBI. But that was it for anything early out of the Eldo as the Meatsticks clamped down and then opened it up in the bottom of the first inning.

Scott Sanders led off with a triple and then walked home when Drew Stichter (“Hit it like it owes you money”) crushed a two-run home run over the right field fence. Thomas Mclean followed with a solo inside the park home run, Emily Crooks singled and scored off a triple from Cody Sexe and Callie Aspinwall scored two more with a single to shallow center for a 7-1 Meatsticks lead.

The Eldo put together a push to claw back into the game in the top of the second inning. Mel Yemma, Joey Reed and Kate Killian (remember Killian’s Red? Stuff was HORRIBLE) all singled to load the bases for Josh Stewart. Stewart popped up a sacrifice fly to score two of the three and Cashion scored the third with a double to right to pull the Eldo to within three runs of the Meatsticks.

But the Meatsticks, being the Meatsticks, went to the long and short ball to tack on five more runs. Ben Sexe tripled off the fence in left and scored on a single from Sanders. Heather Duryea tapped a slippin’ single and the Stichter cleared the bags again with a three-run home run. Jessica Johnson and Crooks each singled for another run to build a 12-4 Meatsticks lead.

The Eldo had a little more left in them to counter with three more runs as Jake Meyer led off with a stand-up triple. Ryan Huning pushed him home with a double, Reed scored Huning with a single and a RBI double from Stewart had the Eldo back within striking distance, down just 12-7 heading into the bottom of the third inning.

The Meatsticks then opened up the first of what would be three cans of whup on the Eldo to put the game out of reach. Aspinwall started the scoring off with a RBI single and then jogged home when Bryan “Adams” Densmore crushed a two-run shot over the fence in center. Two more singles set up Sanders, who drove them home with a double off the fence in left center and Stichter and Mclean each doubled to score two more runs for a 20-7 Meatsticks lead.

Things went from bad to worse for the Eldo as their bats fell silent and the Meatsticks tacked on seven more runs, including a two-RBI triple from Duryea for a 27-7 lead, and some hustle from Crooks who not once, but twice, got dirty covering herself in mud, stretching and sliding for extra bases.

The Eldo offense continued to struggle, failing to score a single run once again and the game had reached its time limit—but for one reason or another, call it a love for the game, the two teams continued to play.

That decision allowed the game to go from worse to downright cruel as the Meatsticks scored 10 more runs. The final straw came when Sanders jacked a three-run home run for a 37-7 lead and the Eldo decided enough was enough and the game was called for good.