Talk of the Town wins season opener

Colorado License Plates

[  by Than Acuff  ]

Good to be back down the first base line at Pitsker field with green valleys climbing up to snowcapped peaks as the backdrop for Crested Butte town league softball.

But before we go there…

I am a huge fan of the new Rockies uniforms, designed as a shout out to the Colorado license plate. That said, Colorado should go back to the 1958 license plate design with a skier (Dick Durrance?) on it.

And finally, a big shout out to the CBCS graduating class of 2022. No doubt I will be seeing some of them on the local fields as the years go by, just like I see my fair share of CBCS graduates from past years on the fields now. That said, pick me up and toss me and my chair in the closest dumpster if I am still covering softball when 2030 graduates start playing. Unless I’m in a hover chair. Wait a minute, call Elon Musk, “hover chairs” at sporting events. It’s scary how accurate the Jetsons were.

Speaking of CBCS graduates, they were in full force Tuesday night when the Bangers faced the Talk of the Town in the season opener at Pitsker field. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the Bangers have a direct line to the CBCS, so much so that they should change their name to the Titans. In fact, every player on the team is either a Titan or related to a Titan or coached the Titans. 

Meanwhile, the Talk of the Town remains the Talk of the Town, built for years around the Ervins or people married to the Ervins or friends of the Ervins, and how could you not be, they’re friendly people.

It was all Titans, I mean Bangers, most of the time through the first five innings as their bats were relatively hot, relative to the air temperature, while the Talk of the Town remained their own worst enemy with a handful of rally-crushing base-running errors and some rally-enhancing fielding errors. But hey, it’s the first game of the season.

Case in point was when a squib hit by Mikey Weil turned into a two RBI double, those two RBIs compliments of previous errors. Joseph Stock then connected for a two RBI triple to the gap in right center and Sophie Hall pushed another Banger home with a single for a 6-1 lead. It was bound to get worse too had it not been for Dave McGuire’s stretching grab between first and second base to end the inning. Just like he’s been always doing for the past 40-plus years. The kid’s still got it at age 60. Even more so, as you will see, if you keep reading.

Stock and Hall combined again in the top of the fourth to score two more runs and when Slater Weil stroked a solo single walled bat, warning track power inside the park home run, the Bangers were up 10-3 and in the zone…ish.

Then things got a little loose.

Robbie Vandervoort, birthday and all, brought some hope back to the Talk team with a double and scored on a single by Kelly McGuire and Dave pushed home another Talk run before another base running error quashed the team’s effort.

 But the Talk wasn’t done and saved their best for last… call… much to the chagrin of umpire Pip Bailey’s bladder, as if a bladder is capable of chagrin.

Garrett McBride got the Talk back on track with a double in the top of the sixth inning, Courtney Bock followed with a single of her own and the next three Talk runs walked home as the Bangers’ pitcher struggled. Kelly, Eric Suazo and Dave tacked on three more runs with base hits and, suddenly, we had ourselves a game as the Talk were down 12-11 heading into the seventh inning.

Hits from Abbey McGee, Carey Willette and Adrienne Weil pushed two insurance runs home for the Bangers to go up 14-11 but in the end, it wasn’t enough.

The Talk bats remained hot in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game 14-14 until Dave stepped to plate with 40-plus years of experience in the local leagues, to drive in the game-winning run sealing the 15-14 Talk of the Town win.