Uhrig Fencing/Anderson Asphalt didn't have much resistance en route to the Hailey Coed Softball League "Upper Division" slow-pitch tournament championship Sunday evening at Hailey's Lions Park.
Winning its three games by scores of 12-5, 19-9 and 7-3, Uhrig Fencing/Anderson Asphalt (a .420 team batting average) averaged nearly 13 runs per game and completed a 13-3 campaign for another title.
The champions also played excellent defense, turning three double plays in their 7-3 championship game victory over last year's league king Oak St./Bud/LDE Electric (14-4). The pavers finished the season with six consecutive wins.
Most Valuable Players in the "Upper Division" were Uhrig/Anderson second baseman Anthony Anderson and Sharon Stewart, the third baseman for the champions.
Anderson batted .583 with four homers and a double in three games. Stewart (.333) made three fine plays at the hot corner in Sunday's finale.
Another key player was Phil Uhrig, who batted 10-for-12 (.833) with four doubles, a home run and seven runs scored. Uhrig/Anderson pitcher Brian Nelson kept Bud batters off balance in the final game and threw five scoreless frames.
Uhrig Fencing/Anderson spotted Bud a single run in the first inning of the championship game and then responded with three runs of their own—Stewart belting a two-run double into the left field gap and then scoring on an RBI double off Anderson's bat.
In the third, Uhrig/Anderson stretched its lead to 7-1 when Stewart and Anderson delivered one-out singles, Brian Nelson went the other way for a two-out RBI double and Morgan Uhrig (.545) followed with an RBI single.
The #10 hitter, catcher Jamie Ulrich, ripped a clutch two-run single to finish the four-run Uhrig/Anderson frame.
Tough infield defense played by Stewart, shortstop Kenny Nelson, Anderson, first baseman Brenda Blackwell and pitcher Nelson kept Bud from getting any momentum. Bud was playing without slugger T.J. Peterson, injured in an auto accident Saturday night.
Also on the Uhrig/Anderson championship team were Sue Mulcahy, Wendy Hosman, Ed Uhrig and Ken Uhrig.
Uhrig Fencing and Anderson Asphalt teams have now won nine Hailey Coed Softball League tournament titles in the league's 17 seasons.
BARMuda takes "Lower Division" title
While the "Upper Division" tournament lacked for some drama, the "Lower Division" meet made up for it, in spades.
BARMuda Triangle waltzed into the championship game, where it ran into the tournament's "Cinderella" squad, the Pioneer West/Swaner Welding team that was as hot as the late-July afternoon sun.
Pioneer West/Swaner beat Power Engineers 13-4 and then lost to BARMuda 11-4.
But the welders rallied from an early 11-3 deficit to stay alive in the loser bracket 13-12 over Life Church, then Pioneer West pounded BARMuda 24-14 to force a deciding game in the five-team double elimination "Lower" tournament.
Behind the slugging of Mike Kluge and Jonathan Bama Lunceford, BARMuda staked itself to a 11-3 lead in the decider. But MVP Sheri Thomas' inside-the-park homer fueled Pioneer's seven-run seventh that tied the game 11-11.
BARMuda had last licks and made the most of them.
Joan Anderson and Kevin Garceau led off with singles, and Garceau came around with the winning run on a bouncing ball off the bat of the league's second-oldest player, 54-year-old former league commissioner Jim Carlson.
BARMuda (9-8), winning the finale 12-11, finished its season one game over .500 and made the trip from Paris worthwhile for flight attendant Karen McNamara. The wife of MVP Buggs McNamara saw one game all season and it was the championship contest.
Also on the BARMuda champions were Janet Crockett, Kelly Medina, Debbie Fox, Layne Jensen, Kelly Dawson, Robert Olson, Gino Maccarillo and Forrest Dick.
Happy Uhrig Fencing/Anderson Asphalt players on Sunday at Lions Park. Front row, from left, Wendy Hosman, Sue Mulcahy, Morgan Uhrig, Brian Nelson, Brenda Blackwell and Ken Uhrig. Back row, from left, Jamie Ulrich, Sharon Stewart, Kenny Nelson, Phil Uhrig, Anthony Anderson and Ed Uhrig. Photo by Chris Pilaro
