The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Sooo, what’s new?
By Than Acuff
Ooo boy is it summertime here in Crested Butte or what? Sunny skies, good temps and softball. I mean, it still feels hot as blazes in the direct sun a certain time of the day, but we are 9,000 feet closer to the sun.
Until then, it’s pretty nice these days and it was pretty nice when Pitas and Kochevar’s faced each other at Tommy V Field Tuesday evening. And we had a pretty nice game until the sixth inning, but we’ll get there in a bit.
First of all, props out to Kochevar’s who now feature a home run bell, had watermelon and strawberries and what appeared to be a torpedo bat. Though we never got to hear the bell as it is quite difficult to go yard at Tommy V. Field and there was a bit of a breeze blowing across the field.
Regardless, after going three up and three down in the top of the first and giving up a solo inside the park home run (ITPHR) to Scott Sanders in the bottom of the first, Kochevar’s regrouped to score three runs in the top of the second.
Vinnie Scola and Mark Krause each stroked base hits and scored on a double by Andrew Arnold. Pitas left fielder Emily Crooks robbed Ashley Huse of a base hit with a running grab, but Prawit Durgan stepped up to knock an infield single and Arnold got on his horse to score from second base for a 3-1 Kochevar’s lead.
Base hits from Drew Stichter and Will Mixon did pull Pitas back to within one, but Kochevar’s answered right back as Hunter Lucas dropped a single and scored when John Duffy doubled and Scola connected for a sac fly RBI. Krause came through again with an RBI double and Kochevar’s was looking good with a 5-2 lead.
That’s a lead that can maybe hold at Pitsker but certainly not at Tommy V Field and certainly not against Pitas as they rattled off five base hits to score four runs. Sanders led off with a triple and scored off a single to right from Heather Duryea. Roland Mason then doubled, Rhett Yarbrough scored both on a double to right and Stichter capped the rally with an RBI single for a 6-5 Pitas’ lead.
Kochevar’s was primed to retake the lead with two runners on and one out, but Pitas turned a grounder up the middle into a 1-6-3 double play to stop them in their tracks. Fortunately for Kochevar’s, while their bats remained relatively silent, their defense held Pitas to a two-run lead until the bottom of the sixth inning when Pitas opened up the can of whup with a two-out rally.
Mixon and Melissa Mason led off with back-to-back singles and Sanders connected for an RBI single, but Kochevar’s turned two outs in the process seemingly stemming the Pitas tide. Because Pitas then went on a tear as Roland Zimmerman and Yarbrough all knocked base hits to score two runs. Heather Cooper singled to load the bases and Stichter then proceeded to stroke a grand slam ITPHR to the gap in right field with Crooks and Mixon tacking on one more run with a double and triple respectively for a 17-6 lead heading into the seventh inning.
The work of John Duffy and Scola did account for one more Kochevar’s run in the top of the seventh inning, but the fork was in and they were done as Pitas turned the final out for a 17-6 win.
