Rent-A-Gades send KBUT packing

Fund drive a success, title drive falls short

By Than Acuff 

We’re getting down to the nitty-gritty in the Wednesday league playoffs with just three teams left in the mix, including the Rent-A-Gades who kept hope alive with a win over KBUT on Wednesday, August 9.

Of course, given the time frame of a weekly paper and the timing of Wednesday games, the Rent-A-Gades may have been eliminated by the time you read this but, given what I saw out of them last Wednesday, they may be battling the Lords of Dirt in the league finals on Wednesday, August 23.

We know for sure KBUT is done, and that’s too bad as they have that healthy mix of competitiveness, organization and fun that are, or should be, the core elements of adult amateur sports. You’re there to win, otherwise why show up, but not win at all costs. The Rent-A-Gades are equally healthy in their approach to softball, they just happened to be a bit healthier than KBUT on this particular evening at Tommy V Field.

KBUT did put up two quick runs but were never heard from again at the plate for the next couple of innings while the Rent-A-Gades were loud and clear on offense racking up 24 runs through the first three innings.

Katie Sauer led off the bottom of the first inning with a single and scored on a triple from Montana Wiggins, and Mark Krause then doubled the run total as he turned his base hit RBI into a two-run inside the park home run (ITPHR) showing remarkable wheels and base running acumen and benefitting from the expansive outfield at Tommy V.

Pip Bailey and Peace Wheeler-Schaefer tacked on two more runs with base hits, and Sauer finished what she started when she drove in two runs with a single to left for an 8-2 Rent-A-Gades lead. 

While a six-run lead so early in the game is nothing to worry about at Tommy V Field, it can get a little more worrisome if you struggle to score any runs in your next at bat while your opponent continues to rack up runs in theirs, and that’s exactly what happened. KBUT got shut down hard in the top of the second inning, including getting tossed out at home, and the Rent-A-Gades tacked on seven more runs with a two-out rally in the bottom of the second inning.

After a line out, a walk and a pop out, the Rent-A-Gades went beast mode on the basepath led by Kody Hawkins. Hawkins singled to score a run and then wheeled his way from first to home on a single from Kate Schmidt. Bailey and Wheeler-Shaefer each knocked RBI hits, Sauer continued to produce with an RBI double and Wiggins, Krause and Andrea Schumacher tacked on additional runs with base hits to turn an innocent six-run lead into a commanding 16-2 lead by the third inning.

Brett Biebuyck and Sonny Burgess did manage to each knock doubles for a KBUT rally, but they needed more than a run to make a comeback as the Rent-A-Gades continued to pummel the ball at the plate knocking nine base hits to score eight more runs for a 24-3 lead. 

There was still plenty of game left and certainly plenty of field, KBUT just needed plenty of runs which requires plenty of hits, which they got in the top of the fourth inning.

While Schmidt made casual work of a pop foul to retire KBUT’s lead off hitter, Jo Ellipsis followed with a single and scored as Nick Hight and Kelley Dole smacked singles. Biebuyck and Katie Harper each singled to score a run and load the bases at the same time, and Burgess and Kat Harrington cleared some of the bases with RBI hits. Brady Harper scored another KBUT run with a sac fly RBI, and base hits from Courtney Welsh and Shawn Harrington scored two more runs to pull KBUT within 13 of the Rent-A-Gades.

While still a long way to go, there was a bit of a momentum shift when Katie pulled off a triple bobble circus catch in left field for KBUT in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Rent-A-Gades did add three more runs to maintain some semblance of intent, but KBUT remained positive.

KBUT looked to keep it going in the top of the fifth inning until Jeff Snyder happened. With a runner on and the game still in reach, sorta, Biebuyck looked to knock a low liner through the infield. Instead, Snyder pulled off a shoestring grab, fired to first for the double play to close out the top of the fifth and all but end the game.

Some runs were traded through the sixth inning, and KBUT did put in one last hurrah in the top of the seventh to keep it interesting, but the Rent-A-Gades’ lead proved too much to overcome as they finished KBUT off 28-16 and kept their title hopes alive.