View Point captured its third Ketchum Coed Softball tournament title in four years Sunday at Atkinson Park doing it the hard way--wending their way through the losers' bracket to knock off Color Haus twice and take the coveted crown.
Winners of the regular season in the Ketchum Coed Softball League, the Point did not roll through the tournament field of nine, so much as rise to the occasion with their backs to the wall.
"This team never gets to up or too down," outfielder and Most Valuable Player Georgia Hutchinson said. "We play very much in the moment."
There were plenty of moments, magical and otherwise, in the 17th annual tournament.
Highlights had to be Lefty's surprise third-place finish without the services of key player Dave Hausmann; and also Kavanaugh's stellar kelly green knee socks; plus Color Haus' Sarah Benson leading the tournament with an .833 batting average.
Perhaps owing to the progressive home run rule, dingers were down this year with just 15 in 17 games, but a woman, the aptly-named Sarah Parker of High Altitude Fitness, belted a four-bagger.
In the end, as it was last year, the last teams standing were View Point and Color Haus, the 2004 tournament champ and a perennial contender at this tournament.
After suffering a 23-11 loss at the hands of the Haus in the final winners' bracket contest Saturday, View Point very nearly did not make it out of the loser's bracket, edging a mettlesome Lefty's 15-14 to earn the right to play in the finale.
"We were a little surprised and a little scared, too," View Point's Sharon Stewart said. "They're all heart and spirit and they really rode that game. It was really fun to play them."
Winning the toss for the first championship against Color Haus, View Point promptly put up seven runs in the first.
With the bases loaded, shortstop Rod Watson straightened out a long foul fly to rip a two-run double into left. Hutchinson followed it up with a two-run single single.
The rally proved to be the difference, as Color Haus outscored View Point 8-6 the rest of the way, but never cut loose with a big inning, with three being the most they put over the plate in any one frame in a 13-8 loss.
"After they scored 11 on us (in the first meeting) we realized we could not let that happen again," Stewart said.
Groundskeeper Chris Key barely had time to line the box before Color Haus stepped on the field again as home team.
Carrying some serious momentum, View Point rolled for four runs in the opening frame. Jeff Sarchett led off with a double, Sue Mulcahy walked and Kenny Nelson ripped a long single off the fence to score one. Stewart's double scored two and in a blink, View Point was leading 4-0.
Color Haus cut the deficit in half on Josh Jacobson's two-run homer. The Point came back with a four-run second, sending up seven batters. Nelson's key single squirted through the infield, scoring two for an 8-2 advantage.
John Rathfon, driving a sweet car that had no wheels, led off the home second with a double off the fence and Phillip Uhrig brought him around on another two-bagger.
The potential rally ended when left-fielder Gio Tognoni backhanded Jeff Burrell's trailing liner, plucking it off his shoelaces on the foul line.
While some accuse View Point of being too businesslike, onlookers realized how emotional they were when the whole team ran out to congratulate Tognoni on the catch.
Color Haus displayed flashes of brilliance in the field as well.
First baseman Bonnie Burrell robbed Hutchinson on a screaming grounder up the line, and a diving Jeff Burrell made a highlight-reel catch on Watson's frozen rope to left field, but Color Haus could not generate the momentum it needed to catch the Point.
They threatened, though.
Trailing 12-4 in the home seventh, they sent eight batters to the plate. Jeff Burrell, Shannon Webb and Eric Demment belted hits and came around to make it 12-7.
With back to back singles by Uhrig and M.J. Musselman runners were on second and third, but pitcher Nelson Drewien found his spin and enticed two fly balls from the last two batters to ice it 12-7.
"It was fun to be able to play with them," Stewart said. "I am just glad we were able to keep our stamina up."
Hutchinson and Nelson earned Most Valuable Player honors for the two-day tournament that ended the 2007 slow-pitch softball campaign at West Ketchum Coliseum
Check the scoreboard for the tournament wrap-up and look for more softball photos in next week's Local Life section.
MVP Kenny Nelson turns a double play. Photo by Willy Cook
