Mountain Colors remains in the title hunt with win

See you next summer Elkhorn, pledge to KBUT

by Than Acuff 

With just one week left in the Wednesday league playoffs, it’s time to bid adieu to those teams who will now have Wednesday evenings off.

First and foremost, the Inglorious Batters. While my intention was to catch up with them in the post season, close losses to both the second-seeded Bearcats and the third-seeded KBUT team sent the Inglorious Batters packing. Team manager/player Grant Robbins maintained at the start of the season that they always start off slow but finish fast, but their finish came too fast.

Then there’s KBUT. After quite the season in which they finished 6-1, they fell to Butte & Co to open the post season to drop to the loser’s bracket. Nevertheless, they recovered to win their next two playoff games but eventually lost to the post season dark horse CB Extreme to end their season. That said, be sure to pledge to KBUT during their summer pledge drive. You may not like what the DJ plays all of the time, but they are the voice of the valley and, as we all know, public radio is under attack. As are some of our friends and neighbors, health care, the climate, public lands, science, reality, etc., etc.

ASC is also gone as is Toad Property Management and Butte & Co. And as of Wednesday, July 29 so too are the Bangers as they fell to Mountain Colors at Pitsker Field.

The Bangers put in a valiant effort to open the game. Mallory Zimmerman and Sam Reaman combined for two doubles to score one run for Mountain Colors in the top of the first inning, but the Bangers answered back in the bottom of the first as Carey Willette doubled and scored on a single by Ruby Laemmel down the third base line.

Defensive highlights then dominated the conversation, and my coverage, through the next two innings as both Bangers outfielder Owen Berv and Mountain Colors outfielder Ben Hayes pulled off circus catches to deny extra base hits.

That said, Mountain Colors did manage to score a couple more runs in the bottom of the third inning as hits from Brice Koval and Zimmerman set up Reaman for a two RBI double to right field and Dayna Regan singled and scored on a base hit from Prawit Durgan.

Durgan’s effort on the mound kept the Bangers batters flummoxed and Mountain Colors tacked on four more runs to their lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. Greg Flynt led off with a big hustle single and Zimmerman crushed a powerbunt single. Reaman drove Flynt home with a base hit, Hayes punched a two RBI double up the middle and Sarah Broadwell scored Hayes with an RBI double to put Mountain Colors out front 8-1 heading into the sixth inning.

The Bangers showed some signs of life in the top of the sixth as Joe Coburn and Liz Wigginton each singled and Coburn scored on a weird area RBI single by Slater Weil but that was just a blip on the Bangers heart rate monitor as they flat lined again, and Mountain Colors finished off their 8-2 win.