Butch Wants Pat to Give Him One More Chance!

   As you all know, Montgomery County has always been a hot spot for basketball. After all, the first basketball game in Indiana was played right here in 1894, and Crawfordsville High School won the first state championship in 1911. But baseball has also been a very popular sport, too, with kids learning to play at an early age. I began playing baseball when I was 7 years old in 1956 when Dad signed me up for Farm League. I knew absolutely nothing about the game, so when the coach, Marion “Runt” Maxwell, asked me what position I played, I told him, “I bat!”

   Well, Runt was a great coach and he instructed all of us in the basics and had us playing great together as a team. He emphasized that we practice hard, try our best and use good sportsmanship. Batting was fun, but what I really enjoyed was pitching. When I progressed to Little League, and we began playing other schools, I wanted to strike out everyone on the opposing teams. I wanted to win!

    As it turned out, our Little League baseball team was quite successful in county play. After the first four games, we had defeated everyone, but the next game was against New Ross, who was also undefeated. They had several good players, but their best player was Pat Evans, who was also their pitcher. But we had confidence that we would win!

   Who do you think won that game? Well, here is a summary which appeared in the newspaper:

   “The New Ross Little Leaguers won the ‘big one’ Wednesday evening, defeating Darlington 5-3 in a battle of two unbeaten teams. New Ross pitcher Pat Evans survived a shaky start to throttle the Little Indians on four hits. He also led the winners at the plate with a perfect evening (3-for-3) while driving in two teammates and scoring one run. New Ross, which trailed going into the bottom of the fifth inning, rallied for three markers to pull the game out of the fire.”

  Yep, we lost. My team went on to win the remainder of the games that summer, and finished with a record of 7-1. New Ross remained undefeated, and won the Little League county championship. I remained as my team’s pitcher in Pony League and then in high school. I developed a decent “roundhouse” curveball to go along with my fastball. I loved to pitch, and was pretty successful. My Darlington Indian baseball team won the majority of its games, defeating every county school … except for one.

   You guessed it … New Ross. Pat Evans was still pitching. He had developed a wicked fast curveball, and just when my fellow teammates and I backed away from the plate … because it appeared the ball was going to bean us … it crossed the plate for a strike. Our bats whiffed the air … and Pat just smiled. If someone did make it to first base, it was pure luck. Of course, they had some great hitters, too. I managed to strike out a few. Never did strike out Ronnie Haffner!

   As it turned out, in all of the games that I played against New Ross, in both baseball and basketball through the years, my teams only managed to defeat the Blue Jays one time … in the afternoon semifinal round of the Montgomery County basketball tourney in 1965. They had won 15 straight games, the longest winning streak in the state, but by some miracle we won 49-45. I still don’t know how we did it. Of course, in the championship game against Coal Creek that evening, we knew we could beat them. Yep … you’re right again … We lost that one 47-45. My only chance to win a county championship … down the locker room drain.

   Pat Evans graduated from New Ross in 1967 and went on to become a golf pro. He lives in Putnam County, and drove up here to visit me at the library two years ago. The next time he comes to visit, I am going to ask him to bring a bat and ball. I want to see if I can perhaps hit that fast curveball of his just one damn time!

John “Butch” Dale is a retired teacher and County Sheriff. He has also been the librarian at Darlington the past 36 years, and is a well-known artist and author of local history.