The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Isotopes remain undefeated
Why are the Tongue & Groovers only 5-5 and sitting in the middle of the comp league standings? Monday night they played more like a team worthy of the top of the standings with a display of power hitters, solid women and a defense that turned two double plays and has Laveda Bramlitt at first base—who, not once, not twice, but thrice pulled down an errant throw to first and reached down to make the tag on the runner.
Granted, all these heroics were against the Wildbunch but they’re no slouches either, despite their 1-9 record. They’ve got some talent as well and player/manager Tony Wildman’s passion for the game continues each and every year, whether his team is winning or losing.
The Wildbunch held on through the first half of the game, down just one run after four innings.
Mikey Weil opened the scoring for the Tongue & Groovers cracking a RBI single. Rebecca Weil dropped a RBI single in shallow left and Geordie Van Marter ripped a drive down the third base line to put the Tongue & Groovers on top 3-0.
Joan Stevens then singled to load the bases and the Tongue squad was poised to blow the game out in the first inning as Davo Moore stepped to the plate.
Surgical both on the mound and at the plate, Moore punched a potentially base-clearing line drive to the gap in left center but Wildbunch outfielder Tessa Sodini dove mid-sprint to rob Moore of at least three rbis and stop the bleeding.
The Tongue and Groovers turned two double plays in the bottom of the first and second innings to maintain their three-run lead.
The first double play was a perfectly executed 1-6-3 turn and the second was more of a circus act as Moore tipped a line drive up the middle that Rebecca snagged out of the air. The play caught the Wildbunch runners moving, and Rebecca tossed to first for another inning-ending double play.
Despite the two daggers to the Wildbunch psyche, Wildman kept the team pumped and they responded scoring a couple of runs in the bottom of the third inning.
Danielle Crist led off with a single and reached second on an error-assisted single from Trenton Naef. Brie Welch drove Crist home with a bloop single to shallow left and Jeff “NIOU1” Antonczyk slapped a RBI single to centerfield to cut the Tongue lead down to one.
The Wildbunch defense followed up holding the Tongue & Groovers scoreless in the top of the fourth inning but it was just a matter of time before the Tongue & Groovers would find their offense.
It began in the top of the fifth inning, connecting for four base hits to score two runs.
Mikey led off with a double and scored on a double by Joe Erickson. Van Marter tagged his second RBI base hit of the game to drive in Erickson and once again Moore was at the plate with runners on and two outs. And once again Sodini robbed Moore of his attempt at some offensive heroics, pulling down another running grab in the gap in leftcenter to end the inning.
The Tongue & Groovers added three more runs in the top of the sixth inning to build an 8-2 lead as Adam Ofstendahl stroked a RBI triple and Van Marter connected for a two-RBI single up the middle.
Erickson added two more Tongue & Groovers runs to their growing lead with a double high off the net on leftcenter and the Wildbunch pushed just one lone run across in the bottom of the seventh inning to fall to the Tongue & Groovers 12-3 when all was said and done.
