Game recap.

NPF website story. 

I was able to watch the Internet TV broadcast tonight. It was the third matchup of the staff aces, Katie Murkhart vs Sarah Pauly.

Burkhart had a fairly quick 1-2-3 inning, but we tend to get to her late rather than early, so I wasn't too worried.

Pauly got off to a tiny bit of a rough start, throwing 5 straight balls to start the game. Obviously, that meant a walk to leadoff batter Claire Burnum. But we would end up getting her out twice in the inning anyway. Sharonda McDonald lined it right to Sara Larquier, who caught it and fired to Oli at first to double off Burnum. She was ruled safe, but the replay (replays!) showed her to be out. Feeling lucky with the call, she choose to try to steal, but her luck ran out. Callista Balko's throw tailed back toward first, but fortunately Courtney Bures was covering. She was able to reach back and make a great catch and tag for out number 2. Pauly then got Kellie Wilkerson on strikes to end the inning. No score after 1.

The Force play at ECTB stadium in Allentown, and the fences are obviously much deeper than standard fast-pitch softball. So they use white temporary fences to shorten the field. Just beyond the white fence in left field is the Big Red Chair, which looks like an air-mattress type of thing. So, in the top of the 2nd, Larquier thought she'd see if it would pop if hit by a batted ball. Her fly ball successfully cleared the white fence, but she was unable to pop the chair. Her 23rd hit of the season was her 11th HR, and it gave us a 1-zip lead after 1.5 innings.

No more hits from either side until the bottom of the third. Of all the people to get the first hit for the Force, it was Savannah Long, who was hitless in all 5 games she played against us. She advanced to second on a sac bunt, then Emily Friedman popped out in foul ground. Burnum then sent a fly ball into the glove of Jessica Moore in LF, and the video died. So I turned to GameTracker, and it was still in the top of the 3rd. It finally caught up and/or skipped ahead, and all the sudden we were losing. Somehow they had scored 2 runs in the third, which seemed strange since I thought I saw the third out of that inning.

Turns out that an illegal pitch was called, so I assume it was on that fly ball. So Burnum's at-bat continued, with Long now on third. Burnum then walked. McDonald singled Long home for the first run, followed by Wilkerson's infield single to load the bases. Chelsea Spencer got the run in the hard way, being hit by the pitch to give the Force the lead. We were fortunate to get out of the inning after that, as the dangerous Trena Peel grounded out to 2nd to end the inning. We were down 2-1 after 3 innings.

We failed to answer in the top of the 4th, and the Force nearly added to the lead in the home half. Back-to-back two-out singles from Kristen Miller and Friedman put a runner in scoring position for Burnum. Pauly got her to fly out to left, and this time it counted to truly end the inning. Still 2-1 Force after 4.

The Glory had another opportunity in the 5th. Larquier got aboard thanks to an error by Spencer. Catalina Morris bunted her to second, but neither Bures nor pinch-hitter Leah English could get the run in.

The Force tried to knock Pauly out of the game in the home half, and nearly succeeded. McDonald slapped a ball back of the middle, and it hit Pauly pretty hard in the mid-section. Long was safe at first, and there was some delay while Pauly gathered herself. As Lisa Ferguson started warming up, everyone in the park knew that McDonald would be going on the first pitch. It was low, but Balko did a great job getting the ball to second. Amber Jackson covered this time, and made the tag for the out. The batter, Wilkerson, eventually drew a walk to replace McDonald at first. Pauly settled down to get Spencer to fly out, and then sent Peel down on strikes to end the inning. Still down 2-1 after 5.

The top of the 6th was scoreless, but was still interesting. Cambria Miranda got the start at DP instead of Leah English tonight, but had struck out twice. So, with 2 outs in the inning, she was pinch-hit for by Taryne Mowatt. I had neglected to mention that I saw a little of batting practice on Monday, and I was happy to see Mowatt take some swings. I think she only took about 10, but 2 of those cleared the fence, so I was hoping she'd get another opportunity to bat in a game. Unfortunately, she couldn't capitalize on it tonight, and she struck out looking.

A 1-2-3 bottom of the 6th for Pauly meant we were still down just 1 run, but down to our last 3 outs. Time for more 7th inning drama between these two very evenly matched teams.

Oli got the inning started by being hit by a pitch, with Jessica Dignon running for her. Jackson was unable to move her along, as she lined out softly to SS. Larquier joined the hit-by-pitch parade to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Morris did not have what I would call the smartest at-bat. After 2 hit batsmen this inning, she swung at the very first pitch and popped out to the catcher for the second out of the inning. This brought up the struggling Bures (strikeout and foul popout to catcher). She worked the count much better than Morris, although she was fortunate that she too was not retired on another foul popup. Her foul was much harder to catch, and Wilkerson's running attempt saw the ball pop out of the glove. The next pitch was a ball to bring the count full. After fouling the next pitch straight back, she smoked a single past Burnum at third, scoring Dignon from second to tie the game.

This caused a conference between Burkhart and her Arizona State teammate and catcher, Kristen Miller. Whatever Miller said didn't work, because Burkhart went 3-0 on the next batter, Callista Balko. Burkhart battled back to a full count before walking Balko to load the bases. Another conference in the circle, this time including the Force coach, as Jessica Moore stepped in. Moore took a few pitches, working the count to 2-1. I thought she'd be taking until strike 2, based on how Burkhart had struggled this inning, and the TV commentary people seemed to agree. But she swung at the next pitch, and her come-backer ended the inning. We were tied at 2, but about to face the top of the Force order.

Pauly was able to dispense of number 9 hitter Emily Friedman to start the bottom of the 7th, thanks to a nice fielding play from Jackson. But Claire Burnum has just been brutal to us, and she did it again. Although Pauly had been working her outside the whole night (2 flyouts to left from the lefty batter), she threw a pitch inside, and Burnum was waiting for it. This time it was a walk off no-doubter HR to RF to give the Force the win.

I think Pauly pitched well enough to win, and if it wasn't for that stupid illegal pitch call in the third, she probably would have won. She gave up 3 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks, though striking out just 3. She falls to 10-5 on the year. Unfortunately, Burkhart pitched even better, giving up just 2 runs on 2 hits and 1 walk, striking out 7. She improves to 10-4 on the season.


End Notes: I recognized the voice of the guy on the internet TV broadcast. I think he's the same guy who did the broadcasts from Kimberly last August.

Sometimes you learn some interesting little tidbits listening to the games, as I'll bet those who aren't at the Glory games get to hear from Jarrod. Tonight, I learned that Bures played for the Stratford Brakettes last year, leading the team in batting.

The "sounds of the game" in the background can be both good and bad. When Leah English pinch-hit in the 5th, I could hear someone yell "swing like it's payday, 5!." That was pretty funny, but then the stadium announcer gave the score of the Phillies game vs the Nationals, which kinda sucked because I'm currently recording the game. Arg.

Entering tonight's action, the 3 pitching stats on the NPF leader board each had the same 5 pitchers, though in a different order, and with 3 different leaders. Pauly lead in ERA, Burkhart lead in strikeouts, and Angela Tincher lead in Wins. All 3 of these ladies were in the top 5 of all 3 categories, and they were joined by Eileen Canney and Jessica Sallinger.  I believe this remained true after tonight's games, as well.