Game recap.

No Glory MySpace entry, so here's the NPF Website story.

It seems that things apparently aren't going to continue exactly like last year, when we won our second game 2-0.

Tonight's matchup was what I thought we'd see for the opener, Eileen Canney vs Desiree Serrano. Lots more lineup changes for the Glory: Hughes moved up from 9th to 2nd and from CF to LF,  Nicole Barber taking the 9th spot and playing DP, Catalina Morris back where she belongs in center, batting 6th, my UVa girl Sara Larquier batting 5th where she belongs (with Thompson out), and Oli starting at first with Stephanie Best at 2nd, and Bures not playing.

The only change for the Riptide was Lisa Iancin batting 7th instead of the pitcher, and playing LF.

Once again, we started late, at about 7:11. It looked like both teams tried to make up for that in the first inning. The Riptide did so by making 3 quick outs, all 5-3 putouts. We did our part by swinging early in the count, but after 2 quick outs, Amber Jackson drew a walk, and Oli singled to left. Sara tried to repeat last night's HR, but it fell a few feet short of the fence for the last out.

I was hopeful that quick innings would continue, since I had to leave early for my own games, but that was not to be. Lindsey Angus started the inning with a solid single to left, then Carmen Paez drew a walk. The Tide pinch-ran for Angus at 2nd with Shanel Scott, but Lisa Modglin's line drive one hop single to center was hit too hard for her to score from second. Bases loaded, no outs. Lisa Iancin hits a grounder to Best at second. She might have thought about going home, but she bobbled it, and settled for the out at first. Catcher KJ Kelley hit a hard line drive foul down the left field line, which prompted a nearby fan to note that they were really teeing off on Desi. Coach Carie Dever Boaz noticed the same thing, and went to the circle to chat. Desi then got another grounder to Best, who fielded it cleanly, looked the runner back to third, then got the out at first.

If we could get the number 9 hitter Carri Leto Martin, we would escape a bases-loaded, no-out jam by giving up only one run. But she sent an 0-2 pitch into center for a single. Morris bobbled the ball, allowing the runner from 2nd to score with no throw. (I'm not sure there was much of a play anyway.) Leto Martin then steals 2nd on the first pitch to leadoff hitter Jackie Pasquerella. (The throw was not as good as last night's, Amber was a little slow to the bag, and the runner beat the throw anyway.) Pasquerella grounded out to Oli to end the inning. Glory down 3-0.

But, as we did so often last year when an opponent scored in the top of an inning, we answered in the bottom. Morris started us off with a single to center, then takes second on a slow-rolling fielder's choice to SS from Callie Piper. She has catcher's speed, so we were fortunate to not have a double play there, because Stephanie Best proceeded to join the HR parade with a shot over RC. But that was all we scored, as Barber grounded out 1-3, and Jessica Moore struck out looking. (And let's just say she didn't quite agree with that call.) We were down 3-2 atfer 2.

I realize that Courtney Bures went 0-fer last night, but maybe it wasn't a great idea to replace her at 2nd with Best. Gino Carbonatto hit a grounder to 2nd that Best let play her, as she backed up and then completely whiffed, allowing Carbonatto to reach first on the error. Merchant then hit a slow-ish grounder to Sara at third, and she decided to try to get the lead runner by throwing to second. I thought this was the wrong decision, but the ump made a very delayed out call. The Riptide coach argued as well, but was denied. Angus then allowed Best to redeem herself with a nice running catch into the outfield, for the second out. Newcomer Paez, who was 0-2 yesterday, then belted a 1-2 pitch over the LF fence for 2 more runs, and I knew we were done. The inning ended with another popup to second, but it was too late. Those 2 unearned runs decided the game, in my opinion.

The Glory went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the third as I made my way out of the facility. We were down 5-2 after 3.

There is actually a full play-by-play on the NPF wesbite, which shows that the last Riptide run was also unearned, as 2 more Glory errors (Oli and Amber) allowed a run to score in the 5th. Other things worth noting are Bures replacing Best at 2B in the 5th, then getting her first hit in the 7th.

Overall, a sloppy game in the field combined with Desi not at her best (only one K) caused this loss. Okay, it was helped by facing last year's ERA and strikeout leader in Canney, although she did only get 3 K's against us. But she allowed only 5 hits, though we did manage 2 runs off that. Desi gets the loss, Canney the win.

End Notes: I was glad to see our white pants today. Red shirts again, and I confirmed that the only one with no name is number 6, Jessica Dignon (though she was introduced as number 8 for some reason). I also noticed tonight that Oli has changed to number 25. I had been writing down 20 in my book, completely ignoring the lineup announcement. I'll have to see if there's a reason for the switch.

Many more kids there tonight, including a Spirit Team. As Katherine commented in my Facility posting, the VIP section was a free-for-all tonight. No one could use my other seats tonight (mostly due to games, like myself), so I was in the middle of my 4 seats, enjoying the extra space. When a couple decided to sit right next to me, it didn't feel right to say they couldn't sit there, since I knew no one else would be anyway. So I decided to take the opportunity to visit the "actual" General Admission stands. I sat about 10 rows up, as close to home plate as possible, which put me about even with first base. Height-wise, I was about the same height as my VIP seats. The only negative was the light pole, blocking my sight line to roughly third base. (So if Sara made any awesome plays, I would probably miss them.) I think the front few rows in this section would avoid the pole, but are blocked by a fairly steady stream of people. (I've noticed that the kids like to wander around a lot, instead of sitting and watching the game.) There are also places on these stands where the wood seems to have a little give or movement, but I'm sure it's safe.

I got a close-up view in these seats of the players-throw-things-at-the-fans spectacle. (They were beads, which I don't usually wear.) But tonight they also went into the VIP seats. But due to the distance they had to travel, they were unable to finish during the half-inning break, arriving back in the dugout in the middle of the second batter of the inning.

Lastly, there was an interesting conference in the circle to start the bottom of the second. Involved were Canney, KJ Kelley, but our coaches (not NE's). The ump was also involved. There were some stomping motions made near the landing area of Canney. Eventually a grounds crew guy came out, but by then they had broken up. (I think the grounds crew guys were too busy flirting with the players, as they are right next to the dugout at Westfield. Much better for them than at GMU, where they were in the outfield.)