The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Sooooo, this happened
By Than Acuff
I have been covering town league softball for a long time, some would say too long, and I have seen my share of one-sided games from the early days of the Hills Brothers knocking an absurd amount of home runs out of Pitsker enroute to 30+ run games in the early to mid-90s to just last week as Mountain Colors knocked 48 hits of all shapes and sizes to hand the Adult Softball Club (ASC) a 41-1 loss last Wednesday at Tommy V Field.
You read that right, 41-1.
One could argue I was, once again, at the wrong game as I happened upon the end of the KBUT/Butte & Co. game prior to the one I covered which KBUT won 7-6 in dramatic fashion. One could also argue that 77,302,580 people voted for the wrong person in the 2024 election.
Now, to be fair, there is a lot of green at Tommy V Field which can make for a lot of runs but still, 41? That may well be the most runs I’ve ever seen a team score.
It didn’t start out so bad for ASC both in their first game of the season new to the local softball league back in June and the start of the game on Wednesday. They started off the season falling to Eleven 13-12 so one would suspect that with a close loss like that, a win was in the future. And on Wednesday, after the leadoff hitter struck out and the next batter lined out, birthday boy Trey Peden stepped up to smack a solo inside the park home run (ITPHR) to the gap in right center and we had ourselves a game. But that was in the top of the first inning and that would be it as Mountain Colors retired the next ASC batter and then proceeded to rattle off 11 runs in the bottom of the first inning.
It started with a solo ITPHR from Brice Koval, despite still suffering from his effort in the recent adult soccer tournament, and went on from there with most of the runs generated by the women as Heather Cooper, Robin Yost, Olivia Ressa, Sarah Broadwell and Anna “Stacie” Carroll all connecting for RBI base hits.
Mountain Colors continued to use the vastness of the Tommy V Field outfield to rack up another eight runs in the bottom of the second inning highlighted by Carl Rickey who connected for a three-run ITPHR. But amongst all of that hitting, running and subsequent scoring by Mountain Colors, there were some positives for ASC, most notably ASC third basewoman Aubrie Davenport. In one instance, Davenport scooped up a ground ball and fired across the diamond to get the out at first and then closed things out scooping up another ground ball and having the presence to tag a Mountain Colors baserunner looking to stretch for third instead of throwing to first.
What else… oh yeah, John McGonigle hit a double in the top of the third inning but then Garrett McBride and Mallory Zimmerman both hit base hits and scored on a two RBI double by Elliott Manning, Rickey stroked another ITPHR for two more runs and Rhett Yarbrough and Carroll each knocked two RBI triples to help Mountain Colors to a 28-1 lead heading into the fourth inning.
But ASC is made up of Adaptive Sports Center employees and there is no shortage of positivity and providing positive experiences for others in that organization so they remained engaged and, well, as positive as one could be given the situation. Positive enough in fact for both Peden and Matt Hartnett to hit doubles.
Yet, Mountain Colors remained positive as well in their offensive output with Ben Hayes scoring three more runs for Mountain Colors with his effort in the bottom of the fourth inning and then Mountain Colors cracking the 40-run barrier in the bottom of the fifth with a couple more ITPHRs and RBI base hits from Cooper and Prawit Durgan. That said, ASC second basewoman Emily Walker did make a nice play on defense, so all was not lost.
With the score 41-1 heading into the sixth inning, the teams agreed to call it a game yet also agreed to give ASC one more at bat to get some batting practice in and wouldn’t you know it, things started to click as McGonigle and Anna Legere each singled, Hartnett smacked an RBI double and Jules Dunleavey tacked on another run with an RBI single, all of which was celebrated with some birthday cake following the game.
The regular season for the Wednesday league wrapped up July 10 with the playoffs starting Wednesday, July 23 with the league leading and undefeated Lords of Dirt looking to win their third Wednesday league title in a row.
