Game recap.

NPF website story. 

Our pitchers can't always be great, and tonight we weren't. Combine that with no clutch hitting and some questionable decisions, and the result is usually a loss. 

My Sunday night team has its playoff tourney tomorrow, which means an early wakeup call. So I'm going to skip the detailed play-by-play and just touch some important points.

It was Desiree Serrano vs Alison Kime tonight.

Rockford got on board first, in the second inning. Shanna Diller lead off with a slow roller to short that she beat out for a single. After a sac bunt and lineout, Sandy Vojik hit a very high fly to LF that left the park.

They added another run in the third. Erin Evans grounded the ball thru the middle for a single, and was sac-bunted to second base. Tonya Callahan also grounded up the middle, scoring Evans. That was it for Desi. I thought it was a quick hook, but Desi had zero strikeouts, which is not a good sign. Lisa Ferguson was the new pitcher. They were up 3-0 middle of 3.

We scored in the 4th, when Nicole Barber got us started with a line single to left. After Catalina Morris flew out, Oli came up. Barber stole second. Just like last night, this means the batter has to hit it out, so Oli did on the very next pitch. This was a knuckling line drive over the LF fence, tying her for the league lead with 8 HRs (with Courtney Bures). Down 3-2 after 4.

Rockford answered in the 5th. Vojik got aboard with a single, but was erased by Audrey Rendon's fielder's choice. Leadoff batter Evans blasted the first pitch over the scoreboard in right field. They had their 3-run lead back. But they were not done.

After Rendon struck out looking to start the 7th, Evans completed her perfect night with a 4-pitch walk. Yet another 2-run homer followed, this time from Lindsay Gardner, with a no-doubt line drive over the CF fence. This brought in the 3rd Glory pitcher, Taryne Mowatt. The game was basically over at this point, so this could have been a please-the-fans move, because Taryne is a favorite of so many of the young girls in the stands.

After hitting the first batter, Callahan, in the foot, Kristen Zaleski hit a line drive that was caught by a diving Jessica Moore in foul ground. Obviously she was still competing, down 7-2 in the 7th. She then popped right up and threw to second, as the runner could still tag and advance. Moore's throw kept her at first. I was also glad to see Robin Barber coming in from right to back up the throw from Moore. (If only I could get my players to watch and learn.) After a single to right, catcher Savannah Brown stuck out to end the inning.

We were done scoring long ago, so that was the final score, 7-2. But I want to highlight a few other plays from the Glory.

In the second, Amber Jackson drew a leadoff walk. On what I'm pretty sure was a 0-1 pitch, she broke for second. She was out by a mile. I don't think it was a hit-and-run, based on the count. Jackson only has 2 steals on the year. She lead the team with 14 last year. Part of it is fewer hits, but part of it is she's not as fast as she was last year.

Starting off the third for the Glory was designated player Leah English. This may have been her first start. She was 0-2 coming into tonight, but she got her first professional hit with a ground ball hit so hard it went through the pitcher's legs before she could even react. But the celebration would be short-lived. Callie Piper attempted to bunt her over. Her bunt was just in front of the left batter's box, and started rolling backwards. Callie didn't really run, possibly thinking she would have run into the ball if she had, and possibly thinking it was foul. Unfortunately, English didn't run either. The catcher grabbed the ball, tagged Callie, and threw to second. At this point the force was off, so English could return to first. She kinda strolled in that direction as the throw was going to second. But she never showed any urgency, and the throw from second to first was in time to tag her out before she got back to first.

There were just all sorts of problems on this play, none of which you expect to see at the professional level. We can even skip Callie not running, in case she was trying to avoid the ball. But English needed to run to second, and her coach at first needs to yell at her to do so. Neither happened. Once the tag was made on Callie, English needed to not stand 6 feet off first when the ball was being thrown around the infield. "Hey, they're throwing the ball to bases, perhaps the play is live? Maybe I should pick a base and stand on it?" Perhaps her coach needed to yell at her to get on the bag. Again, neither happened. What did happen was a rally-killing double play. (Moore then struck out to end the inning.)

The sad part is English went on to go 3-3 on the night. She was the best hitter on the team tonight. (Barber, Morris, Oli, Sara Larquier, and Moore had 1 hit each.) But after her second hit, a bloop to shallow center, she was replaced by Cambria Miranda as a pinch runner. English has previously been used as a runner herself, so she's certainly not slow (even though she is a catcher). This was because of what happened in the third. And just to prove it, after English's third hit, a grounder to left in th 7th, she was replaced again. This meant she was out of the game, had it continued. To make it worse, the pinch-runner was Taryne Mowatt, a pitcher.

Like I said, she was the best hitter tonight. She had a brain fart (if you'll excuse the term), but so did her coach. It will be interesting to see if she's in the lineup Saturday evening. If she's not, to be fair, maybe Nichole Thompson should go out and coach first.

One last "what the heck was that?" moment. We're down 3 in the bottom of the 6th, one out, Morris on first, Oli up. She shows bunt on the first pitch. Huh? Must be just to mess with the infield, as we sometimes do. Nope. She then bunts to advance the runner. Huh?!? There's already one out, so you're counting on a two-out hit to score that runner. Plus, we're down 3, not 1. And it's the 6th inning. Also, by the way, you're one of our power hitters. Did you forget that HR in the 4th? That was you!

That play made no sense. I don't know whose decision it was, Oli or Coach Carie. If it was Oli, perhaps Carie should have had a little chat with Oli after the first fake bunt. And how about this: Oli is our best hitter for average now, too. Swing the stupid bat, please!

Desi gave up 3 runs on 6 hits in 2.1 innings. Fergie gave up 4 runs on 4 hits, 3 walks, 3 Ks, in 4 innings. Mowatt gave up 1 hit, no runs, and struck out 1. Desi took the loss, falling to 7-5. Kime got the win, and is now 5-3.

End notes: For the second night in a row, between inning entertainment was for the dogs. Tonight was greyhounds. 2 of them decided the field was a nice place to relieve themselves. One of them even required cleanup. Fortunately there was no diving catches required in right-center after that point.

Tonight's loss was our 11th overall, and 5th at home. Both numbers are higher than the totals for all of last season.