The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Boot and rally and Rally Twerk
By Than Acuff
The game, the whole game and nothing but the game. That is my pledge to you this week. Simply because what a game it was and it needs no transgressions, digressions or malapropisms.
The Eldo and Psycho Rocks (aka Mixon Sucks) squared off at Tommy V Field on Thursday, June 8, and what transpired was everything any fan could hope for in a local softball game.
It all started with some history as the two teams had met just two days prior with Psycho Rocks coming out on top. Fast forward 48 hours and it was obvious that the Eldo had all the intention in the world of righting the wrong from their previous showdown.
And that intention showed early as the Eldo built an early lead when Prawit Durgan singled and scored when Ashley “Smashley” Huse lived up to her nickname to crush an RBI double to deep centerfield. Mark Krause followed with an RBI double to left and Andrew Arnold added a third RBI double for a 3-1 Eldo lead.
Psycho Rocks wasted no time in flexing as they stepped to the plate in the top of the second to take the lead. Will Mixon (who apparently doesn’t suck) led off with a solo shot over the right field fence. McKinley Lenker singled and eventually scored off a high fly RBI single by Jason Keener, and Dayna Regan and Richard Paylor combined for two more RBIs on base hits for a 5-3 Psycho Rocks lead.
The two teams continued to trade runs through the next inning and a half, and we were tied up 7-7 heading into the top of the fourth inning when Psycho Rocks made their move. Alie Leiberman tapped an RBI double, Keener reached Broadway the hard way with a two-run inside the park home run (ITPHR) and an RBI double by Ben Hayes had Psycho Rocks up 11-7.
The Eldo answered back rather meekly scoring just one run and Psycho Rocks remained on point in the top of the fifth inning to score six more runs thanks to patience and discipline at the plate and on the base path.
Kyle Pendleton and Lenker kept it going with base hits and Dakota Wiggins and Leiberman drove them in with additional hits. Keener punched an RBI base hit up the middle, and then Rosa Mixon came through when needed most to keep the rally going, stepping to the plate with two outs to knock a two RBI single and scored off a base hit from Hayes to put Psycho Rocks up 17-8.
It was a gut punch for the Eldo but their determination and willingness to empty their gut carried them back from the point of destruction. Despite the lead-off hitter getting tossed out trying to stretch a double for home, they persevered and stayed on target.
Huse doubled and scored when Krause cracked a two-run ITPHR to deep left field. Kristen Tyson and Arnold combined for additional base hits and scored on a single by Joey Reed. Then the Bailey family came through as Ali looked off pitches to walk and then brother Pip pushed two more runs home stretching a double into a triple and then scored on the next hit leaving it all on the field, and some behind the dugout. Robin Yost and Marty McGrane finished off the two-out rally scoring two more Eldo runs with base hits and the Eldo had pulled to within one heading into the sixth inning.
Psycho Rocks tacked on a few insurance runs in the top of the sixth, but as the Beastie Boys song Sure Shot came through the Eldo’s speaker, the Eldo heeded the call of the New York trio “because you can’t, you won’t and you don’t stop” to pull ahead.
The top of their order came through again getting runners on base and scoring, and Reed and the Baileys stared down a two-out reality to push more runs across and the Eldo had pulled ahead 22-19 with one inning left to play.
Psycho Rocks had a little magic of their own left in the tank as Keener doubled and scored off a hit from Paylor and then Hayes stepped up with two outs to drive a two-run ITPHR to right leaving the teams all tied up 22-22 heading into the bottom of the seventh.
Rather than add additional tension to the situation, the Eldo wasted no time in winning the game as McGrane and Krystal Ramsey opened it up with back-to-back base hits and Durgan sealed the deal with a game-winning hit to centerfield for the 23-22 Eldo win.
