Danny and I retreated to his car during the intermission
to sit in some air conditioning. The sun
was going down, so it would be getting cooler shortly. We were sitting directly across from the
practice field. The Wolverines were
there. I got to watch my favorite, their
catcher Basia Query, take batting
practice off a tee. I was really
impressed watching the coach work with the girls there. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he
seemed very calm and patient with them.
On the flip side of the coin, the Seattle U coach came by and talked to the Utah Valley coach. Oh, boy. Yeah, he was still angry about what had
happened in his last game. (I
wasn’t really pleased either. The umps
were probably right, but performed badly.)
The Redhawk coach then accosted someone walking across the parking lot
to tell him his story. As we got out of
the car to go back in, he was on his cell phone. I might have been talking the hotel. He was complaining to them as well about the
game.
The van next to us was one of their team transports. An assistant coach was inside staring blankly
with a thousand yard stare. She was
probably not looking forward to being with the coach this evening. Thankfully, she was driving. Danny said the ejected player from the game
was sitting in the back. She was
inconsolable.
It wasn’t much better at the stadium. The Redhawks were still up front waiting for
their rides. Some were crying. Others were taking it better. It was awkward. I felt bad for them since their season was
over. While I was moving through the
crowd, I noticed that beautiful, nice blonde ticket seller that I’d met at the
baseball games was now manning the booth.
I stopped and chatted with her.
She’d seen the girls coming out crying and felt bad for them too.
Inside, I picked a seat high up on the left field side,
which was blessedly in the shade (finally!).
As I was setting up my seat, I looked over the stands and noticed I
could see into the rear of the visiting dugout.
Just as I was looking, one of the Utah Valley players walked in and took
off her shirt. I quickly averted my eyes
and kept my back turned to that area until the start of the game. Not so much because I didn’t want to look,
but because I didn’t want to get thrown out.
I could not have seen what I thought I briefly saw as she took off her
shirt. That area is exposed to the
entrance too. Surely she just removed
her jersey and still had an undershirt on.
(Even though that wasn’t what it looked like.)
Danny joined me and promptly angled his cushion to look
directly in there. He was amused during
the game as he saw one of the girls running back there between innings to take
a couple of bites out of a burrito. Meanwhile,
the rest of the crowd filed in. With the
stadium in shade and temperature going down, it was actually pleasant. When the teams were about to be introduced,
the PA played their fight songs.
A good crowd developed for both the Wolverines and the Bakersfield Roadrunners. I saw Basia’s mom and dad sitting nearby. (She looks like her mom.) Perhaps I should have gone over and
introduced myself. (Just kidding.) A few of the Aggie girls came in.
Interestingly, Kennedi Sorensen
has a sister on the Wolverines, Lexi. Their parents were there rooting them both
on. Since Lexi is a pitcher and Kennedi
is a catcher, they were probably hoping have an at bat against each other. (It happened in that Sul Ross St baseball game against the Aggies.) It was unlikely to happen in the tournament
unless the game was a total blowout (and both teams obviously needed to be
playing each other).
Near catastrophe struck right at the beginning. Both of my mechanical pencils ran out of the
lead. Lucky I still had my pen with me
that I take notes with. Using ink on a
scorecard is a somewhat nerve-wracking experience. I tried being as careful as possible, but I
think both of my scorecards are off from the official scoring. (So business as usual. What else is new?) I also nearly ran the pen dry doing this
game.
The Wolverines got a rally going in the top of the
first, but it likely got snuffed on an out call for the runner leaving too
early trying to steal. In the bottom, I
could see their cute red-head third baseman, Kaylee Bott, furiously fighting the descending sun in her
eyes. From an appearance standpoint, she
looks good out there without a visor or sunglasses, but from a game standpoint,
I would suggest using them.
In the top of the second, Wolverine Madison Sisco had an honest at bat.
She walked away before the ump called her out looking. In the bottom, Roadrunner Chris Hipa got hit by her batted ball was
called out. That may have
short-circuited their promising inning.
Arianna
Felix made a great diving catch in the third, but the
Wolverines finally broke through with a run driven in by an error. An argument ensued and it momentarily looked
like there’d be another ejection before cooler heads prevailed. (My notes got real skimpy this late in the
day. No details. Sorry.)
1-0 Wolverines. In the bottom, a
nearby fan started heckling the umpire.
The umpire turned around and glared at him. A guy sitting next to him ducked, “I don’t
want to get thrown out with you.” After
the inning, the ump took off his mask and looked back at the heckler. He then smiled and laughed. Apparently, the ump wasn’t taking the jabs
seriously.
In bottom of the fourth, the Roadrunners tied it,
scratching out a run, partly thanks to an error. Ariana
Acedo drove in Hipa from second, 1 all.
Kaylee hustled a leadoff triple to start the fifth. Linnah
Rebolledo drove her in on a sac fly.
2-1 Wolverines. In the bottom,
the Roadrunners left three on base, who got on via two walks and a hit
batter. Roadrunner Karah Wiseman accidently hit Cydney
Curran, her teammate in the on deck circle.
Cydney glared at her and pointed at the field. Hit it
that way!
The Wolverines threatened in the sixth, but came up
empty. In the bottom, Roadrunner Ariana
was thrown out at second by Skylar Cook
from centerfield trying to stretch a single.
Top of the seventh, ouch, Basia pegged Peyton Angulo with a liner, as Peyton was running to second from
first. It was unavoidable.
Third base for the Roadrunners, Paige Johnson, had been a one-person cheering section during the
game. She was screaming and jumping on
about every pitch when she was in the field.
The Utah Valley fans were getting tired of it. They really got sick of her in the seventh
when she doubled in the tying run. 2
all. It was just what I wanted after a
long day of softball, the last game going extra innings. A double play took out the Wolverines in the
eighth. The Roadrunners threatened, but
didn’t score in the bottom.
The top of the ninth was emotional. For me, it was frightening. A foul ball went over the net with some speed
and headed right towards me. It was like
watching a big yellow cannon ball and was scary as hell. It died before it got to me. The guy who was ducking from the ump earlier
tried to make a play on it, but didn’t come up with it. I’m still having traumatic flashbacks.
At this point, I need to mention the Roadrunner starter,
Summer Evans. She was still in the game! By the ninth, she was gassed. The Wolverines finally broke through,
starting off the inning with four straight hits. By the time the coach finally came and got
her, Summer had given up four runs. Even
then, she clearly didn’t want to come out.
Summer covered her face with her glove, crying, as she left the
circle. The entire crowd gave her a
round of applause. Cydney made a great
diving catch on the infield to help end the inning. 6-2 Wolverines.
The Roadrunners would score in the ninth on an error by Kaylee Bott and threatened to score
more, but 6-3 Wolverines was the
final. Bakersfield was the next to fall
out of the tournament. Skylar Cook gets a gameball for her 3
for 5 performance for the Wolverines.
The star of the game though was Summer
Evans for the Roadrunners. Her 8 1/3
innings of pitching was easily the gutsiest of the whole tournament. She only gave up two runs through 8. I don’t know why the coach left her in for the
ninth. She deserved a better decision
than a loss.
Well, that’s Day 2 of the WAC Softball Tournament. It only took about 13 hours to play out. (No, really.
I counted.) I didn’t even think
about doing anything like writing once I got home.
On to Day 3.
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