The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Stick a fork in it
by Than Acuff
The plan was concocted 347 days prior and came to fruition on Wednesday, August 12 as the Lords of Dirt exacted revenge upon the Mountain Colors Stir Sticks to take the 2026 Wednesday league title.
Last year, Mountain Colors stormed onto the scene in their first year, winning it all including a 12-4 triumph over the Lords of Dirt in the title game. That’s when Lords player/manager Rob Holleran decided he would hit the transfer portal to gather a few more players to get back to the final and win it.
The plan worked swimmingly through the regular season and continued into the post season as the Lords of Dirt knocked out four wins in a row to reach the title game.
Meanwhile, Mountain Colors had to scramble a bit to return to the finals and defend their 2025 title. After losing early on in the post season to the flash in the pan CB Extreme team, they dropped to the loser’s bracket playing with their backs against the wall as another loss would end their season. They persevered, stayed the course and made it through setting a perfect stage for a championship game with dogs running amuck and the bleachers at full capacity at Gothic Field.
Mountain Colors wasted little time flexing early on building an 8-3 lead after two innings. Base hits from Tim Mahan and Mallory Zimmerman set the stage for Sam Reaman and Ben Hayes to drive in runs and Rhett Yarbrough tacked on a two RBI triple for a 5-0 lead.
While the Lords’ 2026 string of player transfers struggled to find their bats early, Katie McKernan and Bryce W. Miller picked them up with base hits and scored on a two RBI double from Holleran. Reaman, Isabel Lucas and Hayes combined for three more Mountain Colors runs to build the initial five-run lead but once the bottom of the third inning rolled around, the Lords of Dirt dug in and started scoring.
Tom Harken, one of the latest additions to the team, lit the fire with a big hustle double and then scoring from second on a base hit by Holleran showing the speed of a man half his age. CJ Hoover and Kelly McGuire tapped base hits to score another run and load the bases and Robbie Cushman and Morgan Holleran proved that the bottom of the Lords’ batting order is just as potent as the top stroking RBI base hits to pull the Lords of Dirt within two of Mountain Colors.
Lords of Dirt pitcher Dave McGuire found his groove by the top of the fourth inning to get three of the top batters for Mountain Colors to fly out and ground out and the Lords returned to the plate for a little flex of their own.
It started once again with hustle as Miller beat the throw to first for a lead off single. Harken earned his off-season signing bonus with his second base hit of the game and then Holleran stepped to the plate. After an opening double to the gap and another double off the netting in his second at bat that game, Holleran put a little more lift in this time to send a three-run home run over the fence in right centerfield for the Lords of Dirt first lead of the game. Augmented four batters later by an RBI triple from Cushman for an 11-9 Lords lead.
Mountain Colors held the Lords of Dirt in check though as Hunter “Hunnah” Lucas led off with another single down the third base line. Elliot Manning followed with another single, Dayna Regan moved the runners with a sacrifice hit and then Prawit Durgan pushed them home as a little loose field work (that’s AI speak for clusterf***) led to a two RBI double tying the game back up 11-11.
A leaping grab at the warning track by Mountain Colors outfielder Brice Koval robbed John Dreher of a lead-off hit and looked to keep the momentum in Mountain Colors favor but, the Mountain Colors had some defensive mayhem of their own that led to an RBI double from Harken and a two RBI double by Dave and a 14-11 lead.
Suffice it to say, neither team could put the other away as Mountain Colors came back in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game. Zimmerman and Reaman each knocked base hits and then scored thanks to hits from Hayes and Hunter and when Hoover uncharacteristically bobbled a ground ball, Mountain Colors scored a third run to tie the game back up 14-14 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.
Revenge is a dish best served cold and that’s what the Lords of Dirt did building a lead that would last in their next to last at bat.
Side note, my eighth grade English teacher Tom Dixon pounded into our brains that clichés are lazy, so I had to use one because, lazy is as lazy does. Lazy does it. The lazy bird gets the next worm.
Kelly kicked off the Lords’ last push with a lead off single, Morgan added a singe to put two on and Dreher than exacted his own revenge as he decided the best way to avoid another catch by Koval was to simply smash it out of the park for a three-run home run and a 17-14 lead that would remain bringing the title back to the Lords of Dirt.
