Game recap.

NPF website story.  

In NPF's world, this was the July 11th game. But in our world, it was played as game 1 of a double-header on Saturday, July 12.

It was an overcast day in Elgin, with occasional wind gusts out to left field. Sarah Pauly vs Kristina Thorson.

The top of the first for the Glory was a 1-2-3 inning. The Bandits scored in the bottom of the first for the 2nd straight game, as Amanda Freed used a gust of wind to hit her first HR of the season over the left field fence. Neither team scored in the 2nd, so we were down 1-0 after two.

Sara Larquier got things started in the top of the third, with a line single up the middle. Cambria Miranda ran for Sara, so Piper could move the runner to 2nd, which she did with a sac-bunt. Amber Jackson drove home the tie run with a double that reached the left field fence. After Barber's infield popup, Jackson was caught stealing 3rd for the final out.

The Bandits tried to answer in the bottom of the inning. Leadoff batter Stacy May started the inning with a single, and advanced to second via a hit-and-run groundout to SS. Put Pauly prevented her from scoring by getting Rachel Folden to fly out to center, and Jaime Clark to pop out in foul territory near first, caught by Courrtney Bures calling off Oli.

Neither team scored in the 4th, 5th, or 6th, so it was tied at 1 going into the 7th. Yet another drama-filled ending to come.

After Oli's groundout, Jessica Moore pinch-hit for Catalina Morris, and was hit by the pitch (wrist or arm). She stayed in to run, and was sac-bunted to 2nd by Bianca Cruz. This brought up Sara Larquier. Sara was recently batting behind Amber Jackson in the order, and saw a couple of walks given to Jackson in order to face her. After last night's HR, it was Sara who was walked, this time to pitch to Piper. Runners at first and second, two outs. But Piper was not able to keep the inning going, as her grounder up the middle was deflected by Thorson right to May at third. May was able to get Piper out at first. Tie game going into the bottom of the 7th.

Pauly got the first out easily, as Kristie Fox grounded out to Amber at SS. Due up was Mindy Cowles, but Samantha Findley came in to pinch-hit. Now, we had done pretty well against her so far, bumping her down in the order, and possibly even causing her to sit out this game. But Findlay and Pauly battled fiercely, as Findlay fouled off several 2-strike pitches, before finally drawing a walk. Cowles went back in to run.

During Laura Harms' at-bat, Cowles stole second, although the throw beat her easily to the bag. She looked out on TV, but she must have avoided the tag with her slide. Harms then bunted, and we tried to throw Cowles out at third. This didn't look to be the right decision, as Cowles seemed to beat the throw. And since it was a tag play, it would have taken a perfect throw to have a chance. And we had no chance at all because Amber dropped the throw anyway. This allowed Harms to take second, and Amber was charged with an error on the play. [COrrection: scorer messed up and gave the error on the throw, charged to Sarah Pauly.]

I think the reason we tried for the play at third was that we knew what was coming next. With number 9 batter Aileen Morales at the plate, the Bandits had runners at 2nd and 3rd with one out. Morales executed a perfect squeeze, as the toss from Larquier to Piper was a split-second too late to get Cowles at the plate, scoring the winning run for the Bandits.

We had 8 base-runners, but once again couldn't get the key hit to bring in more than one run.

Pauly pitched another great game, giving up just 3 hits and striking out 5. She gave up 3 walks, the last of which lead to the winning run for the Bandits. With the loss, she falls to 8-2 on the year. Thorson matched Pauly, both tossing complete games, and earned her third win on the season, against 5 losses.


End Notes: I can hear Larquier cheering from the dugout, all the way from Illinois.

Oli's hidden speed was on display on the road, as it so often is. In the top of the 4th, she beat out an infield hit, on a bouncer to the left side.

Between games tonight, the Bandits and the city of Elgin honored the ladies of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which was the subject of the Tom Hanks' movie A League of Their Own. We were fortunate that the team was in Elgin for this, as it seemed to mean a lot to the Glory ladies, some of whom were taking pictures during the ceremony.