Game recap.
NPF website story.
Wow, what a horrible night for me to have league games and not be
able to see this. Actually, since my games were late, I did manage to
see the first two innings, but of course I had no idea what those
innings were to mean. Fortunately, my friend Alison, who attends so
many of the games with me that she is now recognized by Paul and Katy,
agreed to keep score and write up a recap for us.
I'm posting this without reading it, because it's just so cool. If I
can think of anything else I want to add, I'll do so in a comment. My
heartfelt thanks to Alison for doing this, and capturing this magic for
those of us who couldn't be there. Here is her recap:
Despite wind and rain, Desiree Serrano made Glory history
tonight. But we’ll get to that in a bit.
Serrano started the game for the Glory. The Venezuelan team had
to know this wasn’t going to be a good night when the lead-off batter struck
out looking. After Courtney Bures once again proved her worth at second, Catalina
Morris made a diving catch on Alicart’s foul ball down the left field line to
end the inning.
Johana Gomez started the game for Venezuela, but didn’t last
very long. In fact, she lasted just one out and six batters before Bogado came
in to relieve her. Again, the first batter might have been a hint how the rest of
the night would go when Barber, back from a few days off, lead off with a home
run. A single, an out and three walks later (including smacking Sara Larquier
pretty good with a wild pitch), the coach pulled Gomez. The rest of the inning
went quickly with a couple of outs on the basepaths, but the damage was done
and the Glory were up 2-0.
Serrano proceeded to retire Fuenmayor, Pimintel and Perez to
end the Venezuelan half of the second inning. Defensive play never
seems to get
the attention it deserves, so I’ll take this opportunity to recognize
Larquier
at third, who made three really hard grounders look like easy pickings
tonight in addition to saving a couple runs from scoring at the plate
last night.
After Callie Piper started off the Glory half of the second with
a walk, Morris had a nice hit past the first baseman, who seemed to be
expecting a bunt. Piper was thrown out on a fielder's choice, but with one out, Hughes then scored Morris with an actual bunt
to bring the score to 3-0. Barber then got thrown out in a questionable call as
she was trying to steal home. It wasn’t Bures’ night at the plate and she ended the inning
with a grounder to the shortstop.
In the third inning, Serrano, in just nine pitches, knocked
down Rodriguez, Riera and Mujica. That brought the strike-out tally to three on
the day, although Amber Jackson gets kudos on her scoop of Riera’s bouncy
grounder up the middle.
In the bottom of the third, Callista Balko, acting as the designated
hitter tonight,
popped up to third base Pimintel, who nearly bit the dust by slipping
on the
bag (she didn't actually fall, but it looked like a close call).
Jackson had the only hit of the inning with a hard shot off shortstop
Mujica’s glove, but the inning went scoreless.
In what was by then becoming the theme of the evening,
Serrano shut down the first three batters of the Venezuela line-up with a lot
of help from Morris, particularly solid in left field tonight. Bures also got a
pop-up of her own in the top of the fourth.
The bottom of the fourth was a short inning all around as Morris popped up
to third, Barber grounded to the pitcher and Hughes took strike three (under
duress—it did not look like a great call by the home plate umpire).
The top of the fifth inning brought a defensive change with
newcomer Jessica Dignon substituting for Jackson at shortstop. She didn’t get
any chances this game, but in warm-ups she had looked pretty solid. Ill be curious to see what she can do. By the third out (out
of three batters) of the top half of the inning, people in the stands were
starting to look at each other, but everyone was trying not to say what was
happening—Serrano was five innings into what was still a perfect game.
The bottom half of the fifth passed quickly with Bures and Cambria
Miranda (who had subbed for Balko at DH) striking out and Oli Keohohou, last
night’s hero and the current NPF all-time home run leader, grounding out to the
pitcher.
The top of the sixth brought changes for Venezuela. Perhaps
their coaches thought getting some new blood into the line-up would end Serrano’s
perfection, starting the inning with Soto subbing for Rodriguez. They were
sadly (for them), mistaken. Bures made a fantastic snag on Riera’s grounder and
Puerta, who subbed for Mujica, battled ferociously to a full count, but flew
out to Barber in right to end the inning.
The bottom half brought in Moore as a pinch hitter for
Larquier, but after bringing Bogado to a full count, struck out looking. Dignon
made it look easy by slapping a hit into short center field, but a sacrifice
bunt by Piper and a fly out to right by Morris failed to yield any more runs.
In the top of the seventh, it was still 3-0 and the tension
was palpable. The wind started kicking up again (it had been sprinkling and
gusting on and off all game), but Serrano proved equal to the task, catching
lead-off batter Sojo looking and sending pinch hitter Cirimeli back to the
bench with an unassisted grounder to Oli. The last play of the game belonged to
Bures though, who fielded a clean grounder and tossed the ball to Oli for the
last out of the first ever perfect game in Washington Glory history.
The spotlight belongs to Desiree Serrano tonight, who definitely
earned player of the game this evening. That said, the rest of the team did an
admirable job of backing her up. Since an error can end a perfect game just as
swiftly as a walk, the whole Glory organization deserves some of the credit for
tonight’s remarkable feat.
Great job, girls!