The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
RIP Don Cook
By Than Acuff
If you’re looking for some solace from the absolute insanity going on these days, look no further than local softball. Three evenings a week you can hang out with a bunch of people who are also feeling the pinch of reality as the sun sets enjoying whatever is your fancy while teams put on a show, for free. If there’s ever a time to spend some quality time together it’s now, and on Tuesday evening, June 24 at Gothic Field, softball was in prime form as the next generation of Crested Butte ran and crawled on the sidelines while their parents and grandparents kept one eye on them and one eye on what was a near perfect game of softball. So near perfect that it took extra innings to decide a winner.
The game really did have it all with a home run, an inside the park home run, some aggressive base running, some not so smart base running, two double plays, some errors, crafty pitching and random weird area base hits that proved more potent and more timely, or timelier according to AI editor, than any home run could have been. And, I even had the score wrong at one point, so you know it was a good one. It’s hard to take notes and count, at least for me.
To the game.
The Aces came out primed to show why they are undefeated and in first place in the Tuesday/Thursday league as their first three hitters connected for consecutive base hits with Colin Jones driving in a run with a high fly single putting two on with no outs. That is until Elevate third baseman Jared Martin scooped the next ground ball, stepped on third and fired to first for a 6-3 double play and the next Ace popped out.
Elevate did eke out a couple of runs in their response thanks to the clutch hitting of their women. Christian Allen led off with a single and scored on a two-out base hit from Liz Wigginton and when Sam Reaman reached safely, Paige Eddy pushed him home with a single. But, once again, defense ended any semblance of a rally as Colin Jones charged in from deep centerfield to grab a high fly and avoid colliding with Aces shortstop teammate Bryce W. Miller in the process.
The first inning proved to be the template for the rest of the game as neither team could put together any sizeable rallies to build a lead with both Allen and Marcus Qualls masterful on the mound backed by quality defenses. But, it’s summer, there are people in the street, so ad sales are up which means I got some space to fill so buckle up readers.
The Aces went back on top 3-2 in the top of the second inning as Dan Brown, Gracie Willette and Chris Meyer connected for base hits and Ashley Bouey knocked two of them in with a double and the scored on a single by Qualls for a 4-2 lead.
Elevate tied it back up though as Nick Klaus turned a double off the netting into a solo inside the park home run (ITPHR and always hit the cutoff) and Ann Castanon singled and eventually scored on a single from Jess Johnson. The Aces rebuilt their two-run lead thanks to a triple from Miller, a sac fly RBI by Brett Gardner and an RBI double by Carey Willette, but Reaman led off the bottom of the third inning with an ITPHR, Klaus knocked an RBI double to left and then Castanon connected for an RBI single up the middle to put Elevate out front 7-6.
The fourth inning then provided Elevate their lone chance to open up the game as they held the Aces scoreless and had the meat of their order stepping to the plate. But alas they did not, as the only run they could manage was from a double by Rob Holleran and an RBI triple to right from Reaman, but Bouey shut Elevate down when she reeled in a line drive by Martin to the gap in left to hold Elevate to a scant two-run lead.
Which was immediately eliminated as the Aces put six runs up capitalizing on solid hitting and a couple fielding snafus by Elevate. Qualls and Jess Noll kicked it off with back-to-back base hits. Miller pushed Qualls home with a single to center and a couple sac hits advanced runners for Tom Harken and Carey to drive in with doubles. The next two grounders got lost in the dirt somehow and the Aces scored two more runs before Elevate could stop the bleeding with the Aces on top 12-8.
This is right when scoring got a little confusing but, suffice it to say, the game remained tight coming to a climax as the Aces took a 13-10 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning. The Aces retired the first Elevate hitter but Castanon singled next, reached third on a double by Allen and then scored on a sac hit RBI by Jess Johnson leaving Elevate with two outs, one runner on and down 13-11. Holleran came through with a high fly RBI triple and when Wigginton poked a single to score Holleran, the game was all tied up 13-13. The Aces held on to then force extra innings allowing for one more defensive highlight in the top of the eighth inning.
Extra innings is intense, well as intense as local slow-pitch softball can get, as teams start with a runner on second base and each batter steps to the plate with a full count. Gracie connected for a sac hit to push their runner to third but when Meyer hit a grounder in the next at bat, Elevate fired to first for the out as the Aces runner headed for home. First baseman Carlos Garcia then fired home and Castanon stretched for the grab to get the out holding the 13-13 tie with Elevate getting the last trip to the plate of the game.
The game flirted with ending in a tie as the Aces retired the first two Elevate hitters, but Klaus stepped to the plate to stroke an RBI single for the 14-13 Elevate win.
