Zuni West Renegades opens post season with win

Here we go

By Than Acuff  

I like to make hasty predictions based on little research so here we go.

The Zuni West Renegades, aka Zuni West, will take the Wednesday league title. 

Wait, the Lords of Dirt will take the Wednesday league title.

Or maybe the Bangers?

Ok, if neither the Lords of Dirt nor the Bangers win the Wednesday league title, then Zuni West will win it. I guess it comes down to consistency, mental toughness and an ability to handle the high-stakes pressure of the post season. And the entire roster showing up at each game, that helps too.

Fact is, Zuni West does have a very good chance. They have all the elements for a title run and showed it when they opened the playoffs with a resounding 28-11 win over Butte & Co. last Wednesday, July 17, at Tommy V Field. 

It all started in the bottom of the first inning when Zuni West racked up 10 runs off 13 hits. The early scoring came from triples by Brendan McClarney and Johnny Green and singles from Kate Schmidt and Peace Wheeler-Schaeffer scoring three runs. The next two batters reached safely and then Jeff Snyder drove one in with a double to shallow centerfield and Krystal Ramsey pushed two more home with a triple.

The bottom of the Zuni West batting order came through scoring two more runs on three base hits and then McClarney and Schmidt returned to the plate to score two more runs on base hits for the early 10-0 lead.

Like I said though, early, and numerous times over the years, teams that have jumped out to a lead like that, early like that, often struggle to maintain that momentum throughout the game.

But not Zuni West. 

While they did have a relatively quiet bottom of the second inning scoring just one run off a double by Lauren Alkire, Butte & Co. bats remained silent. Yet, they still had something to cheer about as their second basewoman Ryan Carroll pulled off a backpedaling circus catch to help hold Zuni West to their one run.

Butte & Co. found some offense in the third inning to score five runs. Spencer “Big Cat” Nowell drove an RBI double to leftfield, Isabel Lucas and Andrew Arnold followed with RBI base hits as well and when Hillary Fujii dropped a two RBI single in shallow rightfield, Butte & Co. was making a run. Unfortunately, they also made a mistake running on a pop fly and Zuni West pitcher Mark Krause pulled it in and fired to first for a rally ending, soul crushing double play.

Still, they had pulled within six runs and things were looking good. But, like I said, consistency is key and while the Zuni West bats weren’t as explosive as the first inning, they kept tacking on runs here and there.

A solo inside the park home run from Robbie Vandervoort and an RBI double by Ben Somrak put Zuni West out front 13-5 and they held Butte & Co. scoreless in the top of the fourth inning, thanks in part to the work of Snyder at shortstop when he smothered a hot grounder and flipped a backhanded toss to second base to get the force out.

The subs then came in for both teams and that can go one of two ways, bad or good. For Zuni West it went good as they scored four more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Schmidt continued to shine in the number two spot of the batting order with a single and scoring on a triple from Green. Wheeler-Schaeffer connected for an RBI single and Ramsey came through with her second triple of the game to score two more runs for a 17-5 Zuni West lead.

Down but not out yet, Butte & Co. did muster some runs off hits by Lucas, Arnold and Fujii, and Carroll made another big play at second base, but time was slipping away and they needed something big soon.

It didn’t happen in the top of the sixth inning though and Zuni West took the opportunity to finish it off with another 10-run inning. Krause and Alkire scored three with a double and single respectively. Snyder and Ramsey each singled to load the bases and Vandervoort pushed two more runners home with a double. Six more hits resulted in five more runs and Zuni West was now up 28-7 heading into the seventh inning.

Butte & Co. did manage to score three runs in the top of the seventh but, by my math, they were still short 17 runs and fell 28-11.