Pitas hands Kochevar’s first loss of season

ITHSO oofdah

by Than Acuff

Well, that was a beat down of epic proportions. No, not the game Tuesday, July 7 at Tommy V Field between Pitas and Kochevar’s. Actually, that was too, but I’m talking about the U.S. game against Belgium Monday night of course. 

In this humble sportswriter’s opinion (ITHSO), two things happened, among others of course, but I’ll keep it to two.

First, as the underdog you need some things to pull off an upset. Your goalie to stand on his head, everyone to play at their best and an extra motivating issue.

We had that when Folarin Balogun got a red card that was incorrect. Nevertheless, while the players did not agree with the call and subsequent red card, they accepted it, took the punishment like adults, especially Balogun, and moved on.

Unfortunately, one of the most corrupt leaders in the world called one of the most corrupt organizations in the world with a demand, no doubt a cash in hand demand, and the organization capitulated giving that key motivating element to our opponent. There went our rally cry, our competitive edge, our grittiness as underdogs as it was handed to Belgium on a silver platter. And they used it.

Second, we’re good but not great, and we won’t be. Not until we pump the brakes on the runaway freight train of cars filled with cash that is youth soccer here in America. Until then, we will keep pumping out talented, but entitled, soccer players in our suburb-centric pay-to-play format who grow up riding in SUVs to tournaments and stopping at Raising Cane’s after the game, win or lose.

I do that with my daughter, take her to Raising Cane’s or In and Out Burger, win or lose. But I don’t expect her to play at the highest level. Be confident, play hard, win with class, lose with grace and refs make mistakes. Let’s eat. Milkshake too? Hell yeah.

Oh, and our goalie did not stand on his head, and not a single player came close to playing their best. If he had and they had, we still would have lost but not like that.

“They were nervous. There was a lot of pressure.”

You think there wasn’t any pressure on Mexico playing at Estadio Azteca against England? Prior to the game, Mexico had lost just two of 89 competitive games on those hallowed grounds since its opening in 1966 and were playing a much better opponent. Yet they still played like they’d never eaten at Raising Cane’s in their life and went down fighting.

What am I forgetting… right, softball.

Kochevar’s came into the game against Pitas on Tuesday, July 7 undefeated. Six innings later, they were not as Pitas rattled off 41 hits to score 32 runs and win 32-9. Remarkably, Kochevar’s didn’t appear the least bit bothered and even fed me and saved me from my dystopian outlook on sports and the world.

And, in fact, if you remove the first three-and-a-half innings, Kochevar’s only lost 9-5.

But that wouldn’t be fair to Pitas because they were spraying, I mean just littering, actually more like vomiting hits all over Tommy V Field. It started slowly with Roland Mason and Emily Crooks knocking in two runs in the top of the first.

Kochevar’s responded as Andrew Arnold led off with a double and scored on a single by Ashley Huse. John Dreher and John Duffy then combined to drive in another run and Isabel Lucas put Kochevar’s out front 3-2 with an RBI single.

Then Pitas unleashed, erupted and exploded over the next couple of innings. Margie Black opened the can of whup ass in the top of the second inning with a lead off double, Thomas McLean doubled as well, and Rosa Mixon pushed them home with a single to rightfield. Will Mixon singled and Rhett Yarbrough doubled to score another Pita run and Heather Duryea tapped a two RBI trickle single. Then, once Ben Hayes, Mallory Zimmerman, Jason Chamberlin and Black all smacked base hits, Pitas was up 12-3 and had reached their 10-runs per inning limit.

But it wasn’t just their offense as their defense was on point as well led by a running, diving and chest-sliding grab by Ben Hayes to rob Heather Theiss of a weird area base hit. And he did all that without grabbing his ankle, knee or shoulder or rolling over several times in “pain” following the play unlike soccer players. But, like I said, I’ll get to my remedy for that next week.

Pitas tacked on two more runs in the top of the third inning and then turned an inning ending double play to hold Kochevar’s to a lone run thanks to a sac fly RBI from John Dreher.

McLean would bring the biggest bat to the plate for Pitas in the top of the fourth inning connecting for a two RBI triple to go with RBI base hits from Crooks, Chamberlin, Rosa, Yarbrough, Hayes and Zimmerman for a 23-4 lead.

Kochevar’s took a hit off Pitas’ can of whup in the bottom of the fourth inning to score three runs as Lucas, Mark Krause and Kristin Tyson all connected for RBI hits, but Pitas took it back to score nine more runs including a towering two-run home run by Hayes over the rightfield fence for the 32-9 win.

Of note, despite the commanding lead, or decimating deficit depending how you look at it, players from both teams continued to attempt full layout grabs on defense. Granted, Hayes was the only one that pulled it off, but Krause was the only one that tried it on the crushed granite infield. Full commit.

And if we lived in the suburbs, everyone would certainly get to eat at Raising Cane’s.