The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Talk’s dream deferred
by Than Acuff
Before I get into coverage of the semifinal game between the Talk of the Town and Pitas, I want to mention something I saw that I’d never seen before in my 25-plus years of covering local softball. A runner tagged up from first base to score on a fly ball. You read that right, it was a sac fly “three bag tag” RBI. Actually, two RBI sac fly.
“Holy cow!” as Harry Caray used to say.
“Do you believe in miracles?” as Al Michels once said.
“Whatcha talkin bout Willis?” as Arnold from Diff’rent Strokes used to say.
More on that later.
The Talk of the Town was playing like a team possessed through the playoffs. One could surmise that it may have been due to an offhand and arguably incorrect piece of journalism from earlier this year. Or just some stars aligning. Regardless, there they were, the seventh seed out of eight teams, playing in the semifinals against the third seeded Pitas on Tuesday, August 11 at Gothic Field.
And what ensued was, of all things, a pitcher’s duel as Roland Mason was on the mound for Pitas and Dave McGuire, who probably coached Mason in little league 45 years ago, on the mound for the Talk and they held the two teams to a total of 14 runs.
The Talk looked to continue their magic run going as they opened the game knocking in three runs in the top of the first. Micah Fontenot did what all lead off hitters should do, got on base with a single. Ashley Bouey singled as well, and Erik Ervin did what he rarely does, stroked an RBI base hit to right field. Max Bethurem knocked an RBI single and then scored off a single by Austin Hayes.
The Pitas are Pitas though and they immediately responded, or responded immediately, to go up 4-3. Hits from Emily Velado, Jason Chamberlin and Mallory Zimmerman loaded the bases for Ben Hayes and while most in attendance expected Hayes to crush a grand slam home run off the roof of town hall, he opted instead for a two RBI single. Nickie Stone then drove another run in with an RBI single that was overturned to instead be a sac hit RBI once the rulebook was consulted on someone’s phone.
Side note, that was awesome when the internet and phone service was down as my teenage daughter used the time to ask me about using a lower gear instead of the brakes when coming down a mountain pass and I took the time to explain it and show her.
But had it still been out during the call dispute Tuesday evening, things could have gotten ugly. Once the air was cleared, Mason then stepped up to hit an RBI single for a 4-3 Pitas’ lead.
The Talk tied it back up when Ryan Housman smacked an RBI hit only to have another Talk run denied as Hayes fired from centerfield to throw the second runner out at the plate.
The Talk then missed out on their first of two chances to build some momentum. The first one came in the top of the third as they held Pitas hitless in the bottom of the second inning but neglected to score following their defensive effort.
While Chamberlin did smash a solo shot to put Pitas back out front 5-4, the Talk held them to it and tied it back up 5-5 when Austin doubled and scored on a single from Robbie Vandervoort.
The effort of Mason on the base path and a hit from Rosa Mixon had Pitas back out front 6-5 but the Talk defense clamped back down to toss a runner out at home and remain in the hunt of another upset win.
Pitas had some defensive magic of their own as they caught the Talk being a little greedy and threw out a runner looking to stretch for home and then the aforementioned unbelievable “three bag tag” occurred.
It started off innocently enough as Hayes singled and would eventually score after a base hit from Stone and a sac fly RBI by Mason. Melissa Mason then stepped up to knock a single up the middle and put runners in the corners for Will Mixon. Mixon drove a routine fly ball to centerfield and while Stone tagged up to jog home from third base, some missed tosses and Talk confusion sent Melissa on her horse to round the bases and score as well for a 9-5 Pitas lead heading into the seventh inning.
While the Talk has proven their ilk all post season, the ilkwell ran dry with that mess and they scored one lone run in the top of the seventh inning and had the door shut on them for good as Pitas shortstop Scott Sanders backhanded a ground ball at short, spun and fired to first for the third and final out.
See you at the Tuesday/Thursday finals at Gothic Field on Thursday, August 13 at 5:15 p.m. as Pitas looks to win their ninth local softball title in the history of the franchise and Kochevar’s looks to win their first title since… never?
According to AI, “Kochevar’s is a prominent contender in the local Crested Butte town league softball scene, frequently deep into postseason title hunts and recent high-stakes games (such as surviving a close playoff match against the Aces in August 2026), though regular season and tournament results see fierce competition from rival squads like Pitas and Mountain Colors.” I think that’s AI’s way of saying never. Though they did win the 2026 A/B town league hockey title.
