The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Slow start leads to loss
by Than Acuff
The Avalanche had their toughest stretch of games this past week, squaring off against league leading Pita’s Meatsticks on Tuesday at Pitsker field and then lining up on Thursday at Tommy V Field to face the Brew Crew.
The week got off to a good start as the Avalanche looked to hand Pita’s their first loss of the season. Pita’s is looking unstoppable as they are well ahead of everyone in the standings with a record of 10-0 (as of press time Tuesday) and are cresting the 200-run total for the season. The Avalanche came oh-so-close to knocking them off but succumbed to a late-game rally by Pita’s to fall in extra innings.
A loss like that can have a devastating effect on a team and it did on the Avalanche—they forgot to even show up for the first four innings of their game against the Brew Crew.
The Brew Crew jumped out to a 13-0 lead with AC/DC playing at an almost intolerable level, which is hard because AC/DC rocks and should be played loud and proud. I mean, any rock band that can pull off bagpipes in one of their rockinest songs deserves credit. Not to mention a lead guitarist who struts the stage in a schoolboy outfit.
It all started for the Brew Crew with power and precision. Rob Houston led off the game with a single to center and scored on a double by Krystal Ramsey followed by a two-run inside the park home run (ITPHR) by Tyler Williams.
Houston struck again in the top of the second with a RBI triple to right field and the Brew Crew tacked on six more runs in the top of the third. Williams started it off with a solo shot, Gerry Heal tapped a two-RBI error-assisted single and Jill Pitt capped the six-run outburst with a two-RBI single.
A fly-out and two ground-outs by the Avalanche continued to keep them scoreless and the Brew Crew added three more runs as Kari Roberts, Ian Baird and Pitt (again) pushed three more Brew Crew runners home for a 13-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth.
Truth is, a 13-run lead is big, but not at Tommy V field with plenty of game left, and it looked for a little while that the Avalanche might just pull it off.
The Avalanche finally made their way through their batting order by the fourth inning as Sam Reaman doubled and scored. Nolan Blunck and Mallory Zimmerman combined for two more runs, Sam Robards cracked a RBI double, Ben Reaman did the exact same and Ralph Landi finished it with a RBI single to pull the Avalanche back to within striking distance, down 13-6 with three innings left.
The Avalanche then had the Brew Crew tied up with two outs and one runner on until an error allowed one run to score and Roberts drove a RBI single down the third-base line to knock the Avalanche back down.
Ramsey then provided another crushing blow to the Avalanche when she slipped on a line drive at third only to reach out with her glove to make the grab and end the fifth inning. Ben Reaman did provide one last blast for the Avalanche in the bottom of the sixth inning with a two-run home run to center but Williams stepped up in the top of the seventh inning to knock another two-run ITPHR and seal the 17-9 win for the Brew Crew.
