Game recap.

Glory's MySpace Blog Entry.

Because the Glory changed their Sunday game times to 7:05 (last year they were afternoon games), I had to miss tonight's game for my league games. With Robin Barber's comments, and the NPF site finally being updated, I can now do a summary of the game.

Lisa Ferguson got her first professional start, facing Eileen Canney. Lineup changes for the Glory included Nicole Barber and Jessica Moore swapping leadoff and 2nd slot, my UVa girl Sara Larquier moving into the cleanup spot (swapping with Amber Jackson now batting 5th), and Catalina Morris back in the lineup in CF. New England had former Glory catcher and current NE assistant coach Germaine Fairchild in the game.

Ferguson held New England scoreless in the first. The Glory decided to score in the first inning, and they did so early, with a leadoff HR from Barber. Up 1-0 after 1.

Jessica Merchant answered for NE in the top of the second, also a solo shot. Didn't matter, as we did the same in the home half. Local girl Courtney Bures hit her first pro HR, yet another solo shot, and we maintained a 1 run lead after 2.

No scoring in the third. The top of the 4th had us wishing the Fairchild was back in the 1st base coaching box. After singles from Alex Sutton and Carri Leto Martin, Fairchild hit a blast over the center field fence. (Hey, how come she didn't do that for us last year?) . After giving New England a 2-run lead, Fairchild was immediately rewarded with a seat on the bench, as KJ Kelley came out to catch in the bottom of the inning of the 4th. We choose not to answer in our half. We're down 4-2 after 4.

Newcomer Leah English made her debut behind the plate in the top of the 5th, replacing Callie Piper. Desiree Serrano came in to pitch in relief of Ferguson, and sent NE packing quickly, with a 1-2-3 inning. In the home half, Barber came up with 2 outs, no one on. Her second HR of the night cut the lead to 1, and we were down 4-3 after 5.

Once again, New England answered right back. A single and a sac bunt got Jackie Pasquerella to 2nd, and she scored on Sutton's single to RF. Once again, we trailed by 3, and once again, we chose to delay our response. Down 5-3 after 6.

After a scoreless top of the 7th, we got back to business. New England made something like 14 defensive changes to start the inning, but we ignored them. (Okay, only 6, but still!) Once all the players stopped moving around in the field, Catalina Morris singled to center. Bures then matched Barber's HR total on the night, and her 2-run blast tied the game. Then came something you don't see every day: Piper re-entered to pinch-hit. It worked, as she drew a walk. Jessica Dignon went in to run for Callie. Hughes's single put runners at first and second, no outs, and Barber up at the plate. Time for a third HR? No thanks, we'll save that for another time. A single will do quite nicely, thank you. Dignon scores from second for the second straight dramatic victory.

A decent debut from Lisa Ferguson starting in the circle tonight. On the plus side, she struck out 5 in just 4 innings. On the minus side, 5 hits and a walk lead to 4 earned runs. And the team defense returned tonight, with no errors.

New England's Eileen Canney returned to form in terms of strikeouts. After one notching just 3 Ks on Thursday, last season's league leader added 8 more tonight (4 looking). She moves into 2nd place on the season.

She was also last season's ERA leader, but that's not going so well for her this year. In 2007, she gave up just 18 earned runs in 109 innings. This year, she's given up 8 earned runs in just 13 innings. That's weird, I wonder what's changed? Oh, I know! Last year, she didn't face us!

Desi gets the win, and Canney gets the loss. Both pitchers are now 1-1 on the year.

End Notes: The comment from Nicole's mom mentioned her game-winning hit as a double. I'm sure she ended up on second, as all the runners kept going as the throw went to the plate, just in case Dignon was out at home. But since she wasn't, the game ended, and Barber only got credit for a single. Still, a game-winning hit is a game winning hit. This was also the first RBI of the season that didn't come via a HR.

The move into the cleanup spot didn't work out too well for my UVa girl Larquier, as she was 0-3 with a K. Then again, it might have just been Canney, since she was 0-3 against her on Friday too.

Once again, we seem to be repeating last season, as we won the series, 3-1.