Game recap.

NPF website story. 

Katie Burkhart had beaten us twice already this seies, both times against Pauly. But it was Desiree Serrano's turn to face the rookie tonight, which worked out quite nicely.

Desi started out strong, giving up just a walk and a hit batter in the first 3 innings. The Glory, meanwhile, jumped out front, and stayed there.

Leadoff batter LaDonia Hughes started the first inning with a slap that got by the pitcher. (It helped that Burkhart didn't even try for it.)  This meant it was time for another sacrifice bunt from Nicole Barber. And just like last night, she got a hit out of it, this time thanks to some confusion between Burkhart and third-baseman Claire Burnum as to who should actually pick the ball up off the ground and maybe throw towards a base somewhere. Oli flew out to left, leaving the runners at first and second. But Amber Jackson brought them home with a sinking line drive to center. Sharonda McDonald made a gambling decision to dive for it, but she didn't even slow it down as it rolled to the fence. Both runners scored, with Amber stopping at second base.

One inning later, Jessica Moore batted with two outs. With a 3-1 count, she took the next pitch and started to head to first, thinking it was a ball. The ump disagreed, so she stepped back into the box and sent the next pitch over the fence in RC, for her third HR of the year. Then the Force coach came out and argued that the previous pitch was in fact a ball, and Moore should be at first. Okay, that didn't happen, but I'm betting that they wished that had been ball 4 after all. Up 3 after 2.

The Glory third was highlighted by a rare display of Oli's hidden speed, as she beat out an infield hit. She grounded to shortstop, Chelsea Spencer fielded the ball and threw to first, and Oli was safe. It was one of those things where you ask yourself, "did that really just happen?" Sadly, we stranded her there, to remain up 3-0 after 3.

The top of the the 4th was more from Oli. After an infield single from Kellie Wilkerson, Spencer lined a change-up right to Oli, who caught it, turned around, and beat Wilkerson back to first for the double play. Sometimes her speed just cannot be contained.

The Glory went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning. Still 3-0 after 4 innings.

The first batter in the top of the 5th was Trena Peel, who had hit the monster blast on Friday night, and another (non-monster) HR on Saturday. A swing and a grunt later, she had her 3rd HR of the series (and 7th of the season), a line drive easily out in CF. Jenna Hall followed with a grounder that allowed Courtney Bures to display her excellent defense for the first time tonight. The grounder was in the 1B/2B hole, but Bures dived and snagged it, then threw to Oli while still on the ground, easily getting Hall on the play. Kristen Miller then tried Bures again, but she had to trot back to the dugout as well.

This brought up Emily Friedman, who seems like a tiny little thing at the plate. But she sent a pitch flying out of the park and into the waiting glove of a Force pitcher in the bullpen in RF. Since it was foul, it didn't count, she was told. Okay, fine. Next pitch: home run over the fence in center - does that count? Sadly, it did, and her 2nd HR of the year made it a one-run ball game.

Actually, it almost didn't count. The ball barely cleared the fence, and Hughes was right there waiting for it. She jumped, but actually seemed to jump too high, as it appeared that the ball hit the palm of her glove and came out, landing over the fence for a HR. Fortunately, the Force helped give that run back in the bottom of the 5th.

With one out, Hughes hit her second single of the night, a line drive to left. Tonight, I tried to do a better job of watching the throws back from the catcher, but they tried to trick me anyway, by throwing elsewhere. During Barber's at-bat, Miller decided to try to pick Hughes off of first. The only problem with that was that Jenna Hall was not made aware of this plan. Not only was she not expecting the throw, she was still about 10 feet in front of the bag, ready for a bunt. That didn't seem to bother Miller, who threw anyway. As the ball was rolling around right field, Hughes made it all the way to third. With a runner on third and only one out, Barber hit a shot to center forcing McDonald to make a nice catch while backing up, for a sac-fly RBI. A two run cushion is so much better than one run. We were up 4-2 after 5.

But even those two runs looked like they might not be enough in the 6th. McDonald hit a roller to SS, and Amber's throw bounced off the end of Oli's glove. But with Barber backing up the play, McDonald stayed at first, and the play was ruled a hit. (I agree - I think she beat the throw anyway.) Wilkerson then hit a come-backed that Desi bobbled before turning and throwing to second. It looked like the throw was late, but out was the call. Spencer's line single to right put runners on first and second.
Desi got left-fielder Megan Gibson to strike out looking for the second out, but Peel's check-swing roller to SS loaded the bases. Hall's fielder's choice grounder to SS ended the threat.

Once again the Glory made a 7th inning change in the outfield, as Jessica Dignon replaced Barber in RF. Tonight, however, no ball found her during the 1-2-3 inning. The win meant we avoided our first ever losing series at home. A 2-2 split with these guys is not what we wanted, but we're still in first. If we can split with them again up in Philly, we will be in control of our own destiny, which is all we can ask.

Desi did a great job tonight. She gave up 2 runs on 6 hits and 1 walk, while striking out 5. She improves to 9-5 on the year. Burkhart falls to 9-4. She gave up 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits, and no walks, striking out 8.


End Notes:  One thing that struck me tonight: Bures has not been hit by a pitch in quite a while. I think the most recent time was as long ago as July 10th, which just about coincides with the length of her batting slump. (It's now to the point where she was pinch-hit for by Catalina Morris in the 6th inning tonight.) Paul told me that she gets hit so much because she crowds the plate. I wonder if she's not doing so as much lately, and therefore not being hit and not hitting as well. Just a thought.

One interesting scoring decision tonight. In the bottom of the third, Sara Larquier hit a high fly ball deep to left, hooking foul. Pitcher Megan Gibson, playing LF tonight, seemingly thought it would be out of play at first, and got a late break on it. But she was there, and it hit her in the glove and fell out. But no error was given. There was some talk in the stands that no error should result if the batter does not then get on base, but I do not believe this to be the case. (In fact, an error was given during Friday's game on a similar play, also during Larquier's at bat.) It's possible that it was ruled a tough play for a pitcher pretending to be an outfielder.

Leah English continues to hit well. She had a deep flyout to left (this time caught by the pitcher/left-fielder), and a 1-hopper to the fence in LC for a single in the 6th. Now, I thought I held a grudge for a long time, but Coach Carie puts me to shame. Poor Leah is apparently not going to be allowed to run the bases for the rest of the year, as Cambria Miranda came in to run.

The 4th inning saw a play that could affect the rest of the season, when Callie Piper was injured by a foul tip. She was replaced by Callista Balko. She will be examined tomorrow, and there is concern that she could be out for the year.