Bearcats and KBUT battle to bitter end

We’ll sell you the seat, but you’ll only need the edge

by Than Acuff

Finally, after weeks of missing out on close games and lots of “you should have been theres,” I was there Wednesday, July 8 at Pitsker Field for a tight game and there are now four teams at the top of the standings with records of 6-1 as the Wednesday league heads into the playoffs.

Meanwhile, the World Cup final is set.

Here are my suggestions for FIFA and soccer in general moving forward, take it or leave it.

• When a player goes down with an “injury” and grabs their ankle, knee, shoulder, chest in “pain?” Penalty box for 5 minutes, non-releasable, with an additional minute for every roll.

• No PKs. Instead, teams play for five minutes and then a player from each team is removed. Another five minutes with no goal, another player is removed, all the while the goals are moved closer to each other by 10 yards. First team to score wins.

• Bicycle kicks that result in goals are exempt from offsides.

• VAR used to review calls, not make calls. Duh.

• No chips in the balls. Why? Just because. But also, because it kept Croatia from tying the game in the final minute thus eliminating them and Luka Modric. Also, those same tech billionaires ruining the world no doubt benefit from the chipped balls in some financial way, most likely a no-bid contract given to some company, and are now ruining soccer. You realize, on the current trajectory, by 2030 there will be no refs and by 2034 the game will be played by robots, right? Benefitting the companies that put chips in the balls.

In other words, less technology, more subjectivity, more opportunities for human error and more goals. Stupid, maybe. But stupid is as stupid does, just look at the president.

Fortunately, the purity of sports remains intact in town league softball and boy was it pure at Pitsker when KBUT in their animal theme costumes battled the Bearcats with lead changes and a late comeback that fell just short. Not only that but Pitsker Field is the original ball diamond built in Crested Butte and named after Martin “Pitsker” Sporcich. You want to talk O.G.? Born here in 1905 and died here in 1990 and umped a lot of games “back in the day.”

The Bearcats opened on the throttle as a series of first-pitch swings from nearly all of their batters resulted in a 3-0 lead. A double by Ryan Houseman and a triple by Johnny Green scored the Bearcats first run with hits from Peace Wheeler-Schaefer and Katie Sauer pushing home two more Bearcats.

KBUT showed a little more patience at the plate, they had to after their first two batters proved unsuccessful, with Perry Hopper and Sonny Burgos singling and then scoring off doubles by Rachel Brodsky and Shawn Harrington.

Butt tight D by KBUT then ensued holding the Bearcats to a whole lot of nothing and KBUT continued their patience at the plate to pick their pitches, get on base and move runners around. It started with opening hits from Brian Lynch and Kat Harrington and proceeded with additional RBI hits from Jessica Welborn, Ahmed Moidduin and Derek Vincent to push KBUT out front 6-3.

The Bearcats would slow things down but not soften the blow as evidenced by Amber Knight who caught everyone off guard when she led off by crushing a double to deep leftfield. Houseman scored after he doubled and then reached home on a double from Kate Schmidt, a name that always reminds me of Schmidt beer, “the official beer of the American sportsman” and a coveted “cone top” beer can for fledgling beer can collectors such as myself in the late 70s.

The Bearcats threatened to score more with runners in the corners and one out but when the KBUT defense turned a rare 6-4-2 double play, as rare as a Schmidt’s cone top can, they remained on top 6-5.

The Bearcats has their own version of defense, aptly named Tenacious D, and while KBUT added to their lead, the Bearcats held them in check with a 5-3-2 double play and would spend the next two innings retaking the lead.

It started with an RBI single from Jeff Snyder and then ramped up when Sauer brought timing, technique and some hidden power to the plate to blast a two RBI double off the fence in leftfield. Cass Byrne singled to put runners in the corners and Jesse Smith pushed one home with a single to put the Bearcats back out front 11-9.

Byrne then led the Tenacious D effort in the bottom of the fifth inning with her effort flagging down a line drive and when Schmidt connected for an RBI single in the top of the sixth inning, the Bearcats had a tenuous 12-9 lead.

Of course, KBUT would comeback as they are one of the top teams in the league starting with Vincent making a leaping grab at the warning track to deny the Bearcats additional runs. Then Adam Westlake doubled to push a run home in the bottom of the sixth for KBUT’s first flicker of hope for a comeback.

KBUT’s defense continued their efforts in the top of the seventh inning and the flicker turned into a glimmer in the bottom of the seventh inning. Carly Webb singled, Hopper doubled and Burgos scored Webb with a single to put two runners on with two outs down one run.

But Tenacious D trumped butt tight D in the end when Vandervoort knocked down a hot liner up the middle and collected the ball to throw to first for the third out sealing the 12-11 Bearcats’ win.

As for U.S. soccer? First of all, ease up on them. They’re not as good as you made them out to be heading into the World Cup. Also, AI already picked out our team for 2030 so that’s done, and we will do what we always do. Overthink it, overcoach it, overhype it, over hope and then flame out in the round of 16. Fact is, soccer is more than tactics and talent, it’s generations of tradition and talent that is embedded in a culture. Can’t fake the funk.