Bangers run over Irwin Tuckers

Climate refugees

[  by Than Acuff  ]

Look, I know it’s hot where you come from, Texas, Oklahoma, the Front Range, and you like to keep your car idling where you live but you’re here now so stop doing that. You see the irony, right? It’s nice here for a number of reasons and it’s not nice where you live for a number of reasons and one of those reasons may have something to do with large vehicles left idling.

So just stop it. 

Would it be wrong to tag idling cars with a paintball or two?

“Hey, c’mon, they’re nice people.”

I didn’t say they weren’t nice, I just said they shouldn’t leave their vehicles idling. 

You know who else was idling? The Bangers, through the first couple innings of their game against the Irwin Tuckers last Wednesday before they put all eight cylinders of their softball machine to work to eventually pull away for a 28-18 win.

Irwin has been sitting at the bottom of the Wednesday league standings all season long but opened the game last Wednesday evening at Gothic Field like a playoff contender building an 11-2 lead through two innings.

It all started with hits from Alec Sterkel, Courtney Bock and CJ Hoover to kick things off and drive in their first run. Alex Gass knocked in another run, and Rob Layton stroked a two RBI double to the fence in left center for a 4-0 lead.

The Bangers were held hitless through their first at bat and the Tuckers remained on the throttle in the top of the second inning scoring five more runs. Luis Aguirre led off with a single, Becky Steffens smashed a powerbunt single and Sterkel and Bock came through again with base hits to score Aguirre and Steffens. Hoover pushed Sterkel and Bock home with a double off the fence in centerfield and lo and behold but the Tuckers were up 9-0.

The Bangers bats did respond in the bottom of the second inning when Carey Willette singled and scored on a triple by Ashley Huse. Huse then scored when Jimmy Hensley popped a sac fly RBI but that was it for the Bangers, their idling now at a sputter.

The Tuckers tacked on two more runs in the top of the third inning when Sterkel knocked a two-run inside the park home run (ITPHR) and here I thought maybe, just maybe, here was an Irwin Tuckers team that was just starting to peak with the playoffs about to start.

Alas, I was wrong.

Thanks to a remarkable two-out rally, the Bangers pulled back to within one run in the bottom of the third inning. Geordie VanMarter led off with a triple but sat there as the next two batters both popped out. Then, the Bangers caught fire. Lis Collins hit an RBI single, Willette an RBI double and Huse an RBI single to push three quick runs across. Hensley then singled and scored on an RBI single by Gracie Willette. Slater Weil connected for an RBI single as well and Erin Hensley, who knocked a two RBI double to centerfield. VanMarter finished what he started hitting an RBI single and the Bangers were now down just 11-10.

This was a turning point for the Irwin Tuckers. While they managed just one base hit in the top of the fourth inning, they did stem the Bangers tide in the bottom of the fourth holding them to just two runs. The Tuckers then showed some signs of life as they scored three runs in the top of the fifth inning to remain out front 14-12, possibly holding off a Bangers’ comeback.

But the Bangers pulled off another two-out rally. The Bangers scored one run but gave up two outs and were on the precipice of flaming out when Adam Collins and Lis put together a mother-son RBI combination. Willette blooped an RBI double to shallow left field and then Huse golfed a two RBI triple down the right field line. Jimmy stroked an RBI single and came out of the play hurt, but rather than the worldwide soccer sensation of using “magic spray” to recover, a simple chug of a beer provided the needed magic recovery. Gracie and Weil each then knocked base hits to score Jimmy and the Bangers were out front 19-14.

The Irwin Tuckers then started to fizzle and were left hitless in the top of the sixth inning while the Bangers just kept on Banging. VanMarter led off with a solo ITPHR and after a couple of more batters, Carey delivered a three-run home run over the netting in leftcenter for a 23-14 bangers’ lead. Several more Bangers joined in the hitting fun to knock four more runs in as they took a 28-14 lead into the seventh inning.

The Irwin Tuckers managed to score a few more in their final at bat as Steffens singled and scored and Mickey Elliott and Elise Cothern knocked in three runs with base hits, but that would be the last of it as the Bangers took the 28-18 win.