Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  It was a hat trick for the A-CERS.

After being the champions in the Sonya Putnam Memorial Adult Co-ed Tournament for the past two years, they made it a hat trick last Saturday afternoon, when they bulldozed the Gilbillies.

It was not a surprise, but what kept spectators on their feet, was how close the Gilbillies came to pulling off an upset.

The A-CERS have played together for many years and have cultivated a bunch of consistently hard hitting, get-a-base players.

With only four teams entered in the tournament, the games went faster than usual and the Blue Sox and the Gilbillies entered the semi-finals, knowing they would be taking on the A-CERS in the double elimination championship. This also meant that the champs had to win back to back games to take the trophy.

In the semi-finals, the Gilbillies dominated the Blue Sox, 10-4, and it was all down to the Gilbillies against the A-CERS. The score at the end of the first inning was Gilbillies, 5-3. But the A-CERS answered and then some, coming in with 7 runs to take the lead 10-5. It wasn’t the end. They scored another five points to the A-CERS 2 and the game ended with the Gilbillies winning 15-7.

According to softball rules, the two teams had to play another game because of the double elimination standard, meaning both teams would have to play again, with one of them winning two in a row.

The Gilbillies were psyched. Now all they had to do was conjure up enough hits to come out ahead in the second game.

Veteran A-CERS took a determined stance; the Gilbillies presented barely concealed anticipation, that this could be their turn.

The Gilbillies came out strong, taking a quick 2-0 lead. But then the A-CERS methodically slammed the ball into the holes on the field and were ahead 7-2 until the sixth inning when Tom Ihme of the A-CERS brought them all home for a 13-4 winning home run hit.

“It was a fun season,” said Dave Patterson of the Gilbillies. “I didn’t think it would be as much fun as it was with so few teams. Now all we need is more teams for next season.”

(Originally published in the August 2, 2018, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)