The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Fish Fry fundraiser this
Friday, Yeah you right!
by Than Acuff
As I am sitting here at the computer about to write this story, and it is a story, the Michael Martin Murphey song “Wildfire” is being played on KBUT and thus causing this distraction.
Thoughts drift, the song is drifty, to a scantily clad woman riding her horse across a meadow with tall grass waving in the wind with her long hair glowing in the soft light. It also tells me that when songs like that were written, recorded and considered good, there had to have been a lot of coke going around in the ‘70s, “piles of it.”
Truth is, though, that Murphey was a bit of a God-squader that “felt out of place there” in the ‘60s culture in the hills above Los Angeles and eventually moved back to Texas.
Speaking of God, God bless KBUT for keeping it real and bringing back the classics, be it rock, folk, jazz or even some “Classical Gas.” You can show your thanks this Friday, July 15 at the 14th Annual Friday Night Fish Fry in Crank’s Plaza, KBUT’s summer fundraiser.
Speaking of the ‘70s, the Avalanche took on KBUT Thursday, July 7 at Gothic Field and were on pace for another win until some late-game heroics by KBUT resulted in a come-from-behind win. It didn’t hurt KBUT that the Avalanche cratered just enough to help open the door for the KBUT comeback.
As a testament to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune (that’s some Shakespeare right there, people) in town league softball, the Avalanche was fresh off a win during which they set an unofficial record for most home runs during a coed game with 12 dingers. Of course, due to town league rules, only the first four counted as round-trippers and every one after that goes for a single.
The Hills Brothers have the unofficial home run record for all things coed or men’s league when they hit 26 home runs in one game at Pitsker Field (give or take, I was a bit of a boozer back then and was possibly seeing double). I think even TR went yard in that one.
But the big bats of the Avalanche went missing in their game against KBUT, leaving them to their wits and some small ball with a couple big hits to battle KBUT.
The two teams battled back and forth all game long, trading off runs throughout the first four innings.
KBUT jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on hits from Collin Vossen, a RBI triple by Will Mixon and a sac RBI from “Mamma Kat” Harrington.
The Avalanche wasted no time responding, as hits from Sam Reaman and Adrienne Edmunds set up Michael Blunck, Maggie Dethloff and Nolan Blunck for RBI base hits and a 3-2 Avalanche lead.
KBUT fired right back in the top of the second inning as Betty Sue Gurk walked and then scored on a double from Scott Stewart. Heather Heinz followed with a RBI hit and KBUT was back on top 4-3.
Things quieted down for an inning before the Avalanche connected for a series of base hits to score three more runs. Reaman doubled and scored on a hit from Edmunds. Michael and Dethloff each singled and Nolan scored his father with a base hit. Rebecca Ofsterdahl added another run with a RBI double but things cooled off, and when Reed Betz cracked a solo shot over centerfield, the Avalanche was sitting precariously on a 6-5 lead.
Ron Chlipala sparked another three-run outburst leading off with an infield single, proving he’s still got some wheels left in his system when needed. Granted, KBUT turned a 1-6-3 double play on the next batter, but still, Ronco’s effort did not go unnoticed.
Reaman knocked a triple off of the netting in left following the double play. Edmunds scored Reaman again roping a RBI single and then Michael cleared the bases with a two-run home run for a 9-5 Avalanche lead.
KBUT threatened to pull back into the lead in the top of the sixth as Vossen scored a run with a RBI double and KBUT loaded the bases with one out but their next two batters, who were a combined three-for-four thus far, popped out and grounded out to hold off the late-game heroics one more inning.
Dan O’Brien, who pretty much knocks anything he touches with a bat off some part of Town Hall, did just that to give the Avalanche one more insurance run with a solo shot, off of Town Hall, in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Yet, these two teams have developed a healthy rivalry over the years and there was no way KBUT was going to let this game get away.
Jared “J Boogie” Marchand opened the top of the seventh inning with a solo shot, just five feet to the left of earning a free 12-pack from the Wine House. Betz doubled and Rosa “Bulldoza” Greely cracked a RBI double. Stewart stepped up to slap a game-tying two-run inside the park home run, Heinze and John Hopper connected for base hits, KBUT pushed another run home and then tacked on two more runs when confusion by the Avalanche defense let a double play slip away, leaving the Avalanche down 13-10 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.
KBUT then relied on their “butt tight” defense to seal the win as they turned away the first three Avalanche hitters for the 13-10 win, adding additional fuel to the fire of the Avalanche/KBUT rivalry.
