By Tim “Shoe” Sullivan

Two games were on tap Monday Night at Moore Barn Memorial Field in beautiful downtown Buena Vista as the “Buddy Berry” Co-Ed League got underway.

Airport Bar, the defending champion, nipped Shoe Crew, 12-8 in the opener while Sloppy Swats routed Team BAMF, 16-4, in the nightcap.

Airport jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the 1st and never looked back. Their big six-run rally featured walks to Tyler Mader and Rachael Toelle and singles by Abby Rottier, James Marthaler, Amber Sbonik, Josh Swan, Kim Schmitz, and Kyle Krieger. Krieger had 4 RBIs for the game.

Both teams had 15 hits, but most of Airport’s came at crucial times. Losing pitcher Kyle Norwood noted: “It seemed like they got a key hit every time they had runners in scoring position.”

Kyle Norwood blasted a 2-run homer in the 3rd for the Crew and Joe Kinsella went deep with a solo shot in the sixth.

Tyler Mader of Airport was robbed of a home run to center in the third when Shoe Crew’s outfielder Jenni Brandt reached over the fence to haul in his wicked liner. Mader commented: “I just didn’t get it up in the air enough and Jenni made a nice catch.”

Amber Hintz of the Crew noted: “Geez, we had two homers, a triple, and three doubles, and they had a couple of doubles but walks and all those singles they hit killed us.”

Kyle Krieger of Airport said: “The Shoe Crew always plays us tough.”

GAME ONE STATS: AIRPORT BAR: Abby Rottier: 2 singles, walk; Adam Lee: single; Megan Lee: double; Tyler Mader: walk, double; Rachael Toelle: walk; James Marthaler (winning pitcher): 2 singles; Amber Sbonik: 3 singles; Josh Swan: single; Kim Schmitz: single, walk. Kyle Krieger: single, triple, double, 4 runs batted in. SHOE CREW: Kyle Norwood: single, 2-run homer in 3rd. Melissa Dombrowski: single; Andy Horst: 2 singles, triple; Joe Kinsella: 2 singles, double, solo homer in 6th; Tammy King: single; Max Delap: single, double; Amber Hintz: single; Jared Shilka: single.

Time of Game: 52 minutes.

SLOPPY SWATS HAMMER TEAM BAMF, 16-4.

“We were right in it until the roof fell in during the 5th inning.” Those were the words of Christopher Ashland, the losing pitcher for BAMF. And he was right. The Swats led, 7-4 after four innings but then the Swats went nuts in the bottom of the 5th. They scored six runs on a single by Jen Eggleston, a walk to Nate Pezewski, singles by Nicole Spees and Pat Scheele, an error, and a single by Brady Spees. Singles by Evan Volm, Pezewski, Nicole Spees, Scheele, and Kelly Barden brought in 3 more runs in the bottom of the 6th to end the tilt.

Pat Scheele, the winning pitcher for Sloppy Swats, went 4 for 4 at the plate with four singles. “The softball Gods were with me tonight,” Scheele said.

THE GAME STATS: Team BAMF: Graham Edwardson: Led off game with homer and singled. Christopher Ashland: double, single; Lakyn Lloyd: walk, single; Brad Ashland: single, double; Kim Brockman: single; Corey Blake: double, single. Mel Dombrowski: 2 singles. SLOPPY SWATS: Brady Spees: 2 doubles, single; Rachel Graves: 2 singles, double; Matt Barden: single; Tracy Mixa: 2 singles; Evan Volm: double, single; Jen Eggleston: single; Nate Pezewski: 2 singles, walk; Nicole Spees: 2 singles; Pat Scheele: 4 singles; Kelly Barden: single, walk.

Time of Game: 48 minutes.

NEXT WEEK SCHEDULE: Monday, May 9: 5:45: Shoe Crew (0-1) vs Team BAMF (0-1). 6:45: Jake Mortimer’s Team (0-0) vs Airport Bar (1-0). Bye: Sloppy Swats (1-0).

STANDINGS: Airport Bar 1-0. Sloppy Swats 1-0. Jake Mortimer’s Team 0-0. Team BAMF 0-1. Shoe Crew 0-1.