Game recap.

NPF website story. 

Those of us who suffered through last night's marathon loss were rewarded tonight with both a win, and a short game.

Some misinformation had been floating around the park during this series that Megan Gibson was on the DL. This was proven at least slightly incorrect when she pinch-hit the last two nights. But it was still a slight surprise to see her starting tonight. So it was a battle of rookies tonight, as Taryne Mowatt took the circle for the Glory.

Mowatt started off strong, allowing only a bunt single to Kellie Wilkerson in the first inning, giving the crowd hope of a shorter night tonight.

The home half of the inning put that hope in doubt. LaDonia Hughes was hit on the hand by the first pitch of the game, and it seemed like 5 minutes passed before the second pitch was thrown. The Force coach came out to discuss whether the pitch hurt enough for Hughes to go to first, or something like that. Then the 3 umps got together to discuss where they were going for dinner, since Unos might be closed again if this pace continues.

Eventually, the game resumed, and Nicole Barber bunted. Possibly for a sacrifice, but it was a great bunt which she beat out for a single. Oli came up, and you'd think I'd have learned from last night, to always watch the throws from catcher back to pitcher. Nope. Again, some sort of error occurred, and both runners were able to advance while the ball was rolling around the infield for some reason. An error was charged to the catcher for the advancement. Oli walked, so the end result was the same anyway. The bases were loaded for Amber Jackson, but her grounder to first resulted in a force out at home. A nice slide by Hughes ensured that catcher Kristen Miller couldn't try to get anyone else for a double play. (She wasn't going to get Amber, but she was sure thinking about Oli at second.)

This brought my UVa girl Sara Larquier to the plate, and 2 pitches later, the competitive portion of the evening ended. She hit a line drive down the LF line that was definitely gone. The only question was if it would stay fair. It did, by a few feet I would guess, for a grand slam, and her 10th HR of the year. (Watch out Oli, she's right behind you!) A walk by Courtney Bures was sandwiched by two strikeouts to end the inning. We were up 4-0, and I knew the game was over with Sara's swing. (As I told anyone who would listen, but few would.)

Callista Balko was the catcher tonight, and I want to point out her defense. Second inning, two outs, Savannah Long on first, Miller at the plate. Long broke for second, and Balko had time to stand up, check her watch, text a friend, and fire a bullet right on the money to Bures at second for the out. (Seriously, she has quite an arm.) The very next inning, again two outs, Claire Burnum on first. She's second on the team in steals, but they waited this time. But when the count went to 0-2 on Sharonda McDonald, I knew they'd try again. I thought they might pitch out, but they didn't. This time the throw bounced, but Bures did a great job of catching the ball while blocking the bag, and another stolen base attempt ended the inning.

This gave McDonald a new count to start the 4th. She put it to good use and drew a leadoff walk. Although she leads the team in steals, when she broke for second it looked more like a hit-and-run, as Kellie Wilkerson grounded out to SS. Then we got a tiny bit sloppy. Chelsea Spencer popped up to foul ground toward right field. Bures made a great running catch, and probably should have left it at that. McDonald was wisely tagging on the hit, since Bures was running away from the play. Bures attempted to throw to third, rather than concede that base and keep her there with two outs and a 4 run lead. Her throw was to the left field side of the bag, by 15 feet or more. Larquier had no chance at the ball. Mowatt was doing her best to back up the play, running from her pitcher spot, but she had to catch the ball while running toward left field. By the time she stopped and threw home, McDonald had scored. (I'm not sure what Jessica Moore was doing on this play from her left field position - I think she should have been closer than Mowatt to third base, based on the amount of time the hit was in the air. But I wasn't watching her from the start of the play, obviously, so she might have just been to far away to get there in time.) This was the only run scored by the Force, and it was unearned.

Bures made up for that throw on the very next hitter, as she made a great diving stop of a grounder from Trena Peel, then popped up and threw to Oli to end the inning.

To save herself from having to back up any errant throws, Taryne took care of the 5th inning herself, striking out the side (all swinging, though a check with the first base ump was needed to confirm the last one). The Force put runners on first and second with two outs in the 6th, but Spencer's warning-track-power fly ball ended the inning. And Taryne threw in two more strikeouts in the 7th, the last one looking to end the game.

It's really a good thing that Sara hit that grand slam in the first inning. After that, we had just 3 baserunners the rest of the game. Bures drew a walk after Sara's HR in the first. She also had the third and final hit for the Glory, with a line single to the gap in left-center in the 4th. (After this hit, "Phantom of the Opera" played. Why? No one knew - we don't speak "Jarrod.") The final base runner for the Glory was thanks to Oli's walk in the sixth. (So although our left-on-base stat looks good at just 2, that was mostly due to a lack of runners on base.)

Both pitchers actually pitched great games. Gibson really just had that one mistake to Larquier, and after than faced just two batters over the minimum. Her line doesn't look as good as she pitched, though. She gave up 4 runs on 3 hits (1 HR) and 3 walks, striking out 6. Mowatt, of course, was even better. She gave up just that one unearned run on 3 hits and 3 walks, striking out 7. This was Mowatt's first professional win, against 4 losses. Gibson drops to 7-3 on the year, after winning her first 6 games.

End Note: Bures might be slowly coming out of her slump. Two hits last night were well hit, just right at people. (Plus her single tonight.) But she hasn't let her hitting influence her defense - she's been phenomenal recently (other than that throw to left instead of third tonight.) And she's started covering second on steals too, and we've been getting more runners out because of it, I think.

At one point during the game, the talk in the stands turned to the possibility of more Olympic Team players playing in the NPF next season. Specifically, it was mentioned that a third baseman might come to the Glory, and what that might mean for Larquier. All I got to say about that is: if Sara goes, I go.