Game recap.

Glory's MySpace Blog Entry.

First game at the facility at Westfield HS. I'll write a separate post about that.

So, I was completely wrong about the starters. It was Sarah Pauly vs  Erica Beach. (Last year's opener had Pauly vs Forest.) We were in red shirts and blue pants, and almost everyone had a name on the shirt. However, there were several more newcomers than expected. Fortunately, the roster handout at the game was very helpful.

Our 3 draftees were all listed, with Cambria Miranda and Taryne Mowatt listed as unsigned, and Courtney Bures as signed. (Mowatt is still playing, but I'm not sure why Miranda is unsigned. Maybe she's not going to sign at all.) The other previously known new players, Lisa Ferguson and Bianca Cruz (who played in the May 10 game) were listed as well. The surprise new players on the roster are utility player Jessica Dignon (who was listed as unsigned, and with no number, but was in fact in uniform tonight, wearing number 6),  catcher Leah English, and catcher Callista Balko. Balko is unsigned, because she is still playing with Mowatt at Arizona in the College World Series.  A total of 20 players are listed, and the list did not include our two Team USA players (Abbott and Kretschman). (Dignon's college was Pittsburgh, and English's is Florida Southern.)

There was a ring ceremony before the game, to hand out the hardware from our championship last year. As Steve mentioned in a comment to another post, Germaine Fairchild was with the Riptide, so she got her ring as well. So did the mascot, Gloria.

On to the game. In addition to the starting pitchers not being the ones I would expect, there were surprises in our lineup as well. As I was suggesting much of last year, Jessica Moore was batting leadoff and playing RF. LaDonia Hughes was starting in center instead of Catalina Morris for some reason, and batting 9th. Oli was hitting 4rd with Amber Jackson 4th, with is reverse of how we ended the season, and how we had it on May 10. Also, Stephanie Best was at first while Oli was DP. And replacing the injured Nichole Thompson at 2B and batting 5th was newcomer and local girl (Haymarket VA) Courtney Bures. (Personally, I would have moved my UVa girl Sara Larquier up to 5th.)

New England also had some surprises in their lineup, beyond not pitching Eileen Canney. Usually a pitcher, Jocelyn Forest was in RC (did not bat, since P Erica Beach did). Newcomer Carmen Paez was the DP, while last season's regulars Lisa Iancin (GW asst), Shanel Scott, and Alex Sutton (more of a part-timer) all sat. But their new draftee at catcher, a great hitter in college, sat while .141 hitter KJ Kelley played.

No play by play tonight, just the highlights. A questionable call from the ump went in our favor in the top of the first. It appeared that Jackie Pasquerella avoided a tag while in a rundown, but we got the call.  Sarah got her first of 5 strikeouts to start the second, but Lisa Modglin followed wth a single to right. I guess it's been a long off-season, and they forgot about Callie's arm, so they tried to run on her. Bad move, as she threw a low line drive strke, from her knees, to Amber who made the tag. Sarah then got K number 2 to end the inning. Sarah got another two-K inning in the 5th, again one looking and one swinging. She was also helped throughout the night by some nice running catches from infielders Bures, Jackson, and Larquier.  We made some defensive changes in the top of the 6th, as Oli came out to play 1B, Best moved to 2B, and Bures to DP.  With a 4-0 lead, the 7th inning saw new pitcher Lisa Ferguson take the circle. After giving up a leadoff single and hitting the next batter (with a grounder pitch), she faced Beach with two on and no outs. Beach didn't have many at-bats last year, only 17, but she homered twice, so this could have turned ugly. But Fergie got a popup to Amber, then a K, and finally a fielder's choice grounder to Amber to end the game.

As for the home team, we started with two quick outs before Amber and Oli drew walks. (Amber stole her first base of the season before Oli walked.) If Larquier was batting 5th instead of Bures, we might have scored, but Bures' first pro at-bat was a flyout to right to end the inning. So Sara lead of the second inning with her first HR of the season, and an opposite field shot at that. I told my friend that the game was over, as Pauly had all the runs she would need, so NE should just go home now. But they didn't, so the inning continued. After Best grounded out 4-3, both Piper and Hughes singled to bring up Jessica Moore. She decided to make the most of the leadoff spot by crushing a no-doubter to left for a 3-run HR. Now, the fences at Westfield are not quite the distance they were at George Mason, but Moore's shot would have been gone from any park in the league, by far.

That was all the scoring, and just about all the hitting as well. For the bottom of the third, right-fielder Forest came in to pitch, and the only hit the rest of the night was from Callie, who was 2-3 plus the runner caught stealing. Catalina Morris pinch-hit for Barber in the 4th (causing the first sound-guy error of the season, as Barber's song was played, then Morris's), then stayed in LF. Newcomer Leah English got an at-bat in the 6th, but struck out looking.

Overall, another great start for Sarah Pauly, and the Glory, just (almost exactly) like last season. Coupled with more power hitting from my favorite ladies, this would seem to be a good omen of things to come. 

End Notes:  Hopefully the team gets the roster on their website updated soon, to reflect the new players. I printed out the one from the New England website, and I must say I like theirs better. Twice it gave info that ours does not, which came in handy while we talking during the game. For instance, we knew Forest was short for a pitcher, but the roster told us exactly how short (5 feet, 4 inches). When Jessica Merchant was at bat,  we noticed that her number was far higher than any other Riptide player, number 86. We thought perhaps that was her birth year. Again, the roster told us the answer. (Nope, that would be 83.) I'll try to gather some info myself on our new ladies for a post sometime this week.