The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Rematch of 2025 final
by Than Acuff
Here we go. Or here they went?
Time is relative and even more so with a weekly paper because as you’re reading this, the Wednesday league final between Mountain Colors and the Lords of Dirt already happened.
But how did they get there and what’s at stake?
The Lords of Dirt got to the finals by winning all three of their playoff games without a hiccup averaging 23 runs per game while only giving up an average of 11 runs per game.
Mountain Colors, the defending Wednesday league champs, had a slightly tougher road to the finals. After dropping their first playoff game to the seemingly hot CB Extreme squad, they played the next four games with their backs against a wall. Win and advance, lose and get lost. Remarkably, they did the former and sealed their spot in the finals with a 16-1 win over the Bearcats on Wednesday, August 5.
The Bearcats had suffered a loss the previous week and manager/player Robbie Vandervoort looked to simplify the game for his team as they prepared for Mountain Colors.
“See the ball, catch the ball, throw the ball,” was his advice.
And the Bearcats seemed to heed Vandervoort’s mantra through the first inning to take an oh so brief 1-0 lead thanks to a double by Kate Schmidt and an RBI single by Amber Knight in the top of the first inning.
But Mountain Colors cracked open a can of their newest color, Whup Ass, in the bottom of the second to rattle off 10 runs.
Ben Hayes and Isabel Lucas started it off with base hits and scored, Brice Koval doubled and scored on a base hit by Sarah Broadwell and Tim Mahan pushed another run home with an RBI single to centerfield. Hunter Lucas then singled to load the bases, and Sam Reaman cleared all but one of the bases with a three RBI triple for an 8-1 Mountain Colors lead.
Mallory Zimmerman, Hayes and Lucas continued to spray the field with hits scoring three more runs to reach the 10-run rule limit.
The Bearcats licked their wounds and returned to see the ball, catch the ball, throw the ball defense to hold Mountain Colors scoreless through the third and fourth innings but they forgot one other key part, hit the ball. Or rather, hit the ball where they’re not which proved harder than it sounds as the Mountain Colors defense was everywhere. With Hayes chasing and diving for fly balls in the outfield while Zimmerman and Reaman locked down the left side of the infield, the Bearcats managed just four base hits and no runs.
After a tepid time at the plate for Mountain Colors in the bottom of the fifth inning scoring just one run, they dipped back into the can of Whup in the bottom of the sixth inning as Reaman and Zimmerman knocked base hits to lead off and scored on hits from Hayes and Rhett Yarbrough. Koval then knocked in another run with an RBI double and Broadwell put one last brush stroke on the wall with an RBI single to finish off the Bearcats 16-1.
As for what’s at stake. Either a repeat title for Mountain Colors or revenge for the Lords of Dirt.
