Game recap.

NPF website story. 

What a difference a day makes.

The original plan was to have had Desi start tonight, but she pitched too many innings with the overtime game on Monday, so Sarah Pauly took the circle tonight. The layoff seemed to help Pauly, as she went through the opponent quickly and easily, allowing just one hit through 5 innings, striking out 2.

The scoring started early tonight. Nicole Barber started us off with a single to left, then prevented a double-play on LaDonia Hughes comebacker by accidentally stepping on the foot of the shortstop. On a 1-1 count with Courtney Bures at the plate, Hughes broke for second on a pitch-out. The ball beat her to the bag, but a great slide to the outfield caused the fielder to miss the tag. Bures then singled her home, but rounded first too far assuming a throw home. When the throw went to second, she was dead meat at first. After a walk to Oli, Cambria Miranda popped out to left. We had a 1-0 lead after 1.

We broke the game open in the second. Callie Piper had her first of two hits on the night, a line drive to left for a single. Sara Larquier popped out, but Amber Jackson lined a double to the gap in left center. Callie still has catcher's speed, so no RBI for Amber. Catalina Morris hit a high fly ball to deep left that should have been caught, but was played into a double, scoring Callie. Amber stopped at third. Barber again swung at the first pitch, which worked for her in the 1st, but not this time, as she was jammed and popped out. Hughes was able to bring both Amber and Catalina home with a single to right. Bures's groundout ended the inning. With Pauly on the mound, our 4-0 lead seemed insurmountable, even if it was only going into inning three.

No scoring in the third, but we batted around in the 4th to make up for it. Amber beat out an infield singe to get things started. Morris tried to sac-bunt, which stayed in the air almost too long on its way toward the pitcher. Amber had to hold up, so there was an easy out at 2nd, but the ball was thrown into center field instead, and both runners were safe on the error. This brought the first of several pitching changes, as Lai Sheng Jung was replaced by Lin Su Hua.

This didn't help, however, as yet another bunt attempt was poorly played, although this time by the 3B instead of the pitcher. Barber's bunt was along the line toward third, and had tons of spin. It looked like it had a great chance to roll foul, but just before it did, the 3B picked it up and threw to first. Barber was well past the bag at this point, so it was definitely the wrong play. This left the bases loaded for Hughes, who hit a soft liner just over the pitcher, but hard enough to get into center field, scoring Amber and Catalina for 2 RBIs. Barber stayed at second, where she was able to then jog home as Courtney Bures smashed a line drive over the fence in left/left-center, barely rising 10 feet off the ground the entire way. Time for another pitching change, as Chiu An Ju came in to the game.

Again, this didn't help, as Oli repeated almost the same exact shot as Bures - over the fence at about the same place, and maybe even a little lower this time. You see, Bures had taken over sole possession of the league HR lead, and Oli didn't like that idea, so she re-tied her, with 5 each. With 10 runs on the board, we decided to save some for the rest of the series, and made three straight outs. Up 10-zip after 4.

After that, it was pretty routine, though we did see some substitutions for the Glory. In the 5th, Bianca Cruz hit for Morris, then stayed in to play third, as Larquier was replaced in the lineup by Jessica Dignon, who played left field.

The top of the 6th also brought Taryne Mowatt to the circle. It seems she might have felt the layoff a little more than Pauly, as she hit the 2nd batter she faced. There was some disagreement as to this occurrence, as the home plate ump ruled that it hit the bat, even though the batter seemed to be in pain. As they brought out ice and put it on her hand so she could try to bat again, the first base ump was consulted. He ruled hit-by-pitch. Suddenly, the ice bag came off and down to first she ran. She was also able to hustle down to second for a stolen base. No matter, two groundouts to Amber ended the inning.

In the 7th, Mowatt struck out the side, around a two-out single off the fence in center. (Hughes held the batter to a single with great hustle and a great throw to second.)

Mowatt and Pauly combined for a great game, 2 hits, 5 Ks, zero walks, no runs. Pauly improves to 6-1 on the season, and takes over sole possession of the league lead in wins.

End Notes: Hughes left the game on Monday night after attempting to field a deep fly ball, and hitting her head on a gate in the fence. The force knocked her to the ground, where she hit her head yet again. She wanted to remain in the game, but started feeling a little woozy, so she was removed. She certainly seemed to be feeling fine tonight, with 2 hits, 4 RBIs, and nice defensive play. In fact, on the deep single in the 7th, she showed she wasn't afraid of the very same fence that had nearly knocked her out the night before.

It's possible that Hughes was feeling a little of the after affects of the fence collision when she batted in the bottom of the 6th. She went into the right-handed batter's box. She throws right-handed, so why not? After two quick strikes, she remembered that she bats lefty, and switched, then grounded out to the pitcher.

Last night, it was Hughes and the fence. Tonight, it was Morris and Amber colliding, as they went after a fly ball along the line behind third in the first. The ball was caught, and no one was hurt, but still, a little communication would be nice, ladies. Although, maybe it helped Amber's hitting, since she was 2-3 with a double tonight.

The back-to-back home runs from Bures and Oli were the first on the season for the Glory. Last year, we had done so twice by mid-June (June 1 and June 10), and at least twice more after that (July 5 and 28).

Injured Nichole Thompson has recovered well enough from her surgery to be out there the last two nights, "dancing" to some of the songs she danced to last season. I saw "dancing" because it's not quite what we're used to from her, with one leg seriously constrained, but still fun to watch.