The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
On pace for repeat
With all of these überathletes doing what they do on their mountain bikes and on their feet, it’s good to know there are still some “normal” people in town doing “normal” things, like playing softball.
But, if there were such a thing as an ubersoftball team, Tully’s would be it.
Tully’s took the 2013 rec league softball title and is on pace to repeat this season, running roughshod over their opponents. The statistics are staggering.
Heading into their game Tuesday night, Tully’s was 7-0, averaged more than 26 runs per game and giving up fewer than 10 runs per game. It’s almost absurd how much they are crushing it. And while they lost a couple of players over the off-season, they picked up a couple more who are even better.
But the Rastas have a tendency to elevate their game to the highest level when needed, smoking the competition with their dubious ways, sometimes pitching one-hitters, oftentimes with bats ablaze, to build an early kushion, the Rastas… oh, never mind, pot is legal in Colorado.
Unfortunately, Tuesday night the Rastas struggled to elevate as Tully’s continued to crush all who stand in their way, hammering the Rastas 27-8 at Tommy V Field.
Actually, that’s not true—the Rastas played some pretty decent ball. It’s just that Tully’s is so stacked with talent.
After a quiet start from the Rastas in the top of the first, Tully’s went straight to work. Judd Mesaris led off with an opposite field triple, Robyn Estes drove him home with a single and Darren Bishop cleared the bags with an inside the park home run (ITPHR). Stefany Graceffa singled and scored when Nick Velasco tripled. Megan West and Ian Baird followed with two more base hits and Paul Moscatelli scored another Tully’s run with a RBI single.
The Rastas got a break from the bashing when Elise Meier stepped up to the plate. Meier doesn’t hide the fact that she’s not a fan of batting, claiming as she stepped to the plate, “I hate this part of my life.”
At which point the ten Tully’s batters had all had a turn at the plate. Return to the top of the order? Oh no, Tully’s keeps on coming as they had Tyler Williams and Jerry Heal, who is over 60 and therefore plays as a “coed,” as designated hitters and combined for three RBIs between the two of them for a 9-0 lead after one inning.
Things cooled off over the next couple of innings as the Rastas mounted a comeback. Graceffa and Baird each drove in two more runs for an 11-0 Tully’s lead but the Rasta Jell-O shots kicked in for the third inning.
Despite the constant, and by constant I mean incessant, unending, never-ending, unrelenting, interminable, everlasting, exhausting, relentless, insistent, persistent, perturbing, palapitatious, paralyzing chatter of Tully’s base coach Rainbow, the Rasta bats turned hot.
The bottom of the batting order connected for a couple of base hits capped by a single from Matt Peacock to put two runners on with Aaron Tomcak stepping to the plate. Tomcak delivered, slipping a two RBI double to right field followed by his wife, Heather Tomcak, who scored Aaron with a single to left.
The Rastas defense retired the side in the bottom of the third inning and then returned to the plate to score two more runs in the top of the fourth. After Dan Loftus tried to stretch a pop-up between the pitcher and second base for a double and was tagged out at second (you’re fast Dan, but not that fast), Sarah Smith picked him up with a single and scored when Scott Tyree crushed a two-run ITPHR. The strike cut Tully’s lead down to six runs, quite possibly the closest anyone has come to taking them down.
Rather than crumble under the pressure, Tully’s merely picked up where they left off in the first inning to rattle off 10 more runs.
Heal led off with a single, Mesaris doubled, Estes cracked a two-RBI double, Bishop tagged another RBI triple, Kele Thorsen joined in with a single to load the bases… well, you get the picture.
The highlights came from Moscatelli and West. West, aka Gouda, drove a three-RBI single down the third base line to put Tully’s up 18-5 and then Moscatelli crushed a shot to deep right field that fell three feet shy of clearing the fence, leaving Moscatelli with a two-run ITPHR instead.
“Best hit of my life,” according to Moscatelli afterwards.
Heal finished it out with a scoop-RBI single and umpire Patrick Henry Cashion enforced the Mercy Rule as Tully’s was then sitting on a 21-5 lead.
Peacock joined the ITPHR party with a solo shot of his own but Tully’s kept on coming, tacking on some additional “insurance runs” in the bottom of the fifth inning. After Heather Tomcak scooped up a grounder at third and gunned down the runner at first, Bishop finally reached a goal he’s had for quite some time as he cleared the fence at Tommy V Field with a two-run home run and Baird bashed a three-run ITPHR to center for a 26-5 Tully’s lead heading into the sixth inning.
Despite Meier’s disdain for hitting, she connected for a sac hit RBI and Tully’s was poised for yet another onslaught until Roman Kolodziej and Todd Eggebraten combined for two textbook plays at first base with Kolodziej picking up the grounders and tossing to Eggebraten covering the bag.
Like I said, the Rastas played a pretty good game of softball, it’s just that Tully’s is just so stacked with talent as they finished it off 27-8, improving the record to 8-0 and keeping their runs per game average just above 26.
