The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
There’s a Killebrewin’
By Than Acuff
Small world. It turns out there’s a relative of Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew playing right here in Crested Butte. Turns out Harmon is, or was since he has passed away, the great uncle of Butte & Co. player Lauren Killebrew, though she says she never met him.
Not only that but years ago when I was drinking at the Portal Bar in Somerset, an old guy, like way old, sitting at the bar said he hit against Satchel Paige in a game on the Western Slope “back when the negro teams used to travel around.”
While AI cannot confirm that fact, Satchel Paige and his team did play in Denver in the ‘30s and what does AI know. I’m gonna go with Portal AI, as in, Alcoholic Intelligence.
Speaking of alcohol, Zuni West Brewing faced Butte & Co. at Gothic Field last Wednesday in what turned out to be a back-and-forth battle before Zuni emerged victorious resulting in, my guess, free beer for the team, and a slow day at work on Thursday.
Butte & Co. fired the first shot, or several shots, jumping out to a 7-0 lead in the top of the first inning. After Ryan Carroll and Jack Collins each stroked base hits, Kristen Tyson walked to load the bases and Taylor Miller drove two runs in with a single off the outfield fence. A couple more base hits and walks scored a couple more Butte & Co. runs and when Andrew Arnold smacked a two RBI single to left, Butte & Co. was up 7-0 before Zuni could turn the final out.
Zuni did answer back scoring four runs off hits from Robbie Vandervoort, Emily O’cañas and a two RBI single from Bina Jones but things then quieted down for both teams at the plate until the top of the third inning when Butte & Co. tacked on three more runs led by the ladies. Tyson drew another walk and Hannah Strickland singled to put two on base. Gail Grimmett drove one home with a double and then Alden Watkins cleared the bases as he drove a ball to the gap and got on his horse for a three-run inside the park home run and an 11-4 Butte & Co. lead.
Then, just like that, Zuni found their bats and proceeded to erupt for a 10-run inning. It all started with Montana Wiggins and his classic hit and run for third base no matter what triple, and scoring off a single from Kate Schmidt. O’cañas remained hot at the plate with a two RBI single to left and three batters later a powerbunt single by Jess Noll loaded the bases for Ben Somrak. Somrak knocked two more runs in with an RBI double, Nadine Allen tacked on another Zuni run with a single and a couple of walks later set up Wiggins and Schmidt to drive in more Zuni runs with base hits capping the 10-run inning for a 14-11 Zuni lead heading into the fourth inning.
Killebrew came through for Butte & Co. with an RBI single and a two-run shot from Collins pulled Bute & Co. back to within one and the two teams traded single runs through the fifth inning as Zuni held their one-run lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.
Once again O’cañas came through for Zuni with an RBI single and Johnny Green found his home run swing to help build a four-run lead for Zuni with one inning left to play. Gus Hensley and Dan Oswald did provide some hope for Butte & Co. as Hensley doubled off the fence and scored on a single by Oswald before Zuni shut them down for the 18-15 win.
