The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Will Elevation rise again for the post season?
by Than Acuff
A couple of years ago Elevation floundered through the regular season only to make a name for themselves in the post-season with a handful of upset wins.
This season may be a repeat of that prior accomplishment, though they’re not necessarily floundering this year, as it appears Elevation is on a little bit of a rally heading into the Tuesday/Thursday league playoffs. They edged out an 18-16 win over Bonez to reach the .500 mark last week and followed that up winning their final game of the regular season over the Trash Talkers on Thursday, July 27 to break the .500 mark and head into the playoffs on a two-game winning streak.
The Trash Talkers broke the silence of what was quite a subdued evening overall in the top of the first, as Kelly and Dave McGuire led off with back-to-back singles and Erik Turbo Ervin pushed them home with a towering two-RBI triple to shallow centerfield.
Elevation tied the game up in their first at-bat as Jared Martin singled and scored off a double to right field from Becca “Bean” Pavlik. Laura Henmann singled to move Pavlik to third and then Jessica Boman pushed Pavlik home with a double.
The Elevation defense held the Trash Talkers hitless in the top of the second and the offense tacked on two more runs to go up 4-2. Singles from Hannah Killean, Sohrob Nimrouzi and Jess Yabrow set up runners in scoring position and Pavlik came through once again with a two-RBI single to shallow centerfield.
Dave looked to get the Trash Talkers offense back on track as he flared a line drive deep in the corner of right field by Yabrow but he got the read on the ball and sprinted to the corner for the grab. The play pulled any remaining air out of the Trash Talkers and Elevation spent the next two innings scoring four more runs.
Henmann, Grant Spear and Boman all singled and Sean Thompson pushed two home with a single in the bottom of the third inning. Elevation continued with their template of base hits and scored runs in the bottom of the fourth inning as Pavlik and CJ Hoover knocked singles and then scored on a base hit from Henmann for an 8-2 Elevation lead.
Then, everyone at the field got a little glimmer of what’s right in the world amongst everything that is going wrong. Greg Hise grounded to short for a relatively routine out. Hoover made the scoop and the toss pretty much on target in time and the runner was called out. But, Elevation first basewoman Henmann came clean, letting the umpire know she bobbled the catch and Hise was ruled safe.
Hise would eventually go on to score but the karma was in Elevation’s favor, given Henmann’s act of honesty. Nimrouzi doubled to score a ninth Elevation run but the Trash Talkers were still in the hunt with a momentum shift coming from Turbo, who crushed a solo shot off of the Town Hall building.
Before things could unravel for Elevation, Hoover provided the straw that broke the Trash Talkers back in his very next at-bat in the bottom of the sixth inning. Pavlik singled and then Hoover stepped up to jack a two-run home run for an 11-4 Elevation lead.
Boman and Nimrouzi combined to score three more Elevation runs with RBI hits and while the Trash Talkers managed two more runs in the bottom of the seventh, karma, and momentum, were on Elevation’s side as they sealed the lid and finished the regular season with a 14-6 win.
