Glory's MySpace blog entry.

Game recap.

I'm beginning to not like these extra inning games.

Desiree Serrano vs Radara McHugh, in a rematch of our 3-2 victory on Wed night.

We got on board in the first inning thanks to a solo HR from Amber Jackson. I'd like to point out that I have repeatedly been typing "solo" for Amber's HRs. Going back to July 13th, it's now 5 of her last 6 HRs that have been solo shots. This means that either she's thinking HR with no one on base, or we need to get more people on base in front of her.

Akron got two runs in the bottom of the second. Kellie Middleton singled, then broke for second. Callie Piper might have been just as shocked as I am that they tried running on her again after last night's 0-3, but it worked out for them tonight, as Callie's throw ended up in center, and Middleton advanced to third. She scored on a wild pitch, but would have scored anyway when Caitlin Benyi homered. Racers up 2-1.

Our run in the top of the 4th came via Amber reaching on a bunt single and eventually scoring on Oli's single. Game tied at 2.

Akron answered in the home half when Benyi doubled and scored on Jenn Poore's single. They added another run in the bottom of the fifth thanks to Veronica Wootson's triple (which caused the switch to Sarah Pauly in the circle) and Norrelle Dickson's single. Racers up 4-2.

We tied the game in the top of the seventh. Nicole Barber reached on a fielder's choice (I'm guessing after LaDonia Hughes' single). She reached third via a groundout from Catalina Morris and a wild pitch. (Somehow Amber reached first at some point here, and I'd bet it was on one of her two walks.) Two outs, Barber on third, and Amber on first (or maybe second, since it doesn't say when the wild pitch occurred). Nichole Thompson reached on a "failure to look in the glove for the ball" error on shortstop Kristin Johnson, which scored Barber. (I guess she closed her eyes when she reached out to stop the ball.) The Racers brought in Jamee Juarez to get the final out before the remaining one-run lead was gone, but she couldn't do it. A walk to Oli loaded the bases for my UVa girl Sara Larquier. She drew an RBI walk to tie the game, but Stephanie Best was unable to drive in the go-ahead run from third.

The bottom of the seventh was nerve-rattling. With one out, both Wootson and Dickson singled, and an error by Catalina Morris on the Dickson hit allowed both runners to advance. (Notice how just about every time I write about the Racers scoring, one or both of those ladies are involved? They just wore out our pitchers tonight, combining to go 6-9.) After an intentional walk to Iyhia McMichael, the bases were loaded with one out. Then Pauly reached back for something more, and struck out both Kristin Butler and Ianeta Lei to extend the game.

We went to extra innings for the second straight night. Neither team scored in the 8th, but for the second straight game, Pauly got the first batter out in the bottom of the ninth, then allowed a walk-off home run to the very next batter. Tonight's hero for Akron was Veronica Wootson, with her 7th on the season.

Although we only got 6 hits, we also earned 7 walks, so we got plenty of base runners. But again, very little clutch hitting, as 10 of those runners were left on base. Offensive highlights tonight included Oli Keohohou going 2-3 with 2 walks, and Amber Jackson, also 2-3 with 2 walks. Amber also scored 3 of our 4 runs, one of which was her solo home run. She continues to lead the league in that category with 11, two ahead of teammates Sara Larquier and Oli. Both Amber and Oli had RBIs tonight, as did Sara Larquier (on a bases-loaded walk, I think). The only run not scored by Amber was by Nicole Barber, who reached base on a fielder's choice, as far as I can tell. (One of these runs must have come on an error, as no RBI was credited.) Catalina Morris' double and LaDonia Hughes' single were the only other hits for the Glory.

Unfortunately, we also had a bad night fielding, with 2 errors on Callie Piper and one on Catalina Morris, though none of these errors caused unearned runs. These were Callie's first two errors on the season (passed balls are not included in this count).

Des struggled tonight, giving up 4 runs (all earned) on 7 hits (1 HR) in just over 4 innings. Other than the home run, Sarah had another good performance on the mound tonight, striking out 7 of the 18 batters she faced. But she took another heartbreak loss, her 6th on the year. Juarez pitched just two-plus innings tonight, but got another win to improve to 10-4.

End Notes: Brooke Marnitz must be teaching Oli a thing or two about speed up there in Akron. If you'll recall, Oli had an infield single last night. Tonight, Brooke ran for Oli and stole a base. But Oli proved she doesn't need Brooke to run, as she stole a base herself tonight. Her first of the year in fact. Turns out she's been a speed-demon all along, and she was just hiding it from us.

Pinch hitters tonight were Germaine Fairchild and Jessica Moore, though neither reached base safely.

The game tomorrow (Saturday) is a day game, starting at 12:05 Eastern, not 7:05 as the Glory Website and Myspace page claim. I hope to have a recap up by late afternoon.

Nicole's mom reminded me that tomorrow's game will be televised, although not live. The game will air Sunday at 4 PM Eastern on SportsTime Ohio, which I think is on DirecTV, but is not available on my cable system. She also mentioned, as does the NPF website, that Comcast SportsNet will air the Glory vs Bandits game on Aug 13 at 7 PM (not sure if this is Central or Eastern - check local listings).