Taryne Mowatt vs Katie Burkhart. Although I was right about who would start for us, it turned out to be the wrong choice.

In other interesting lineup decisions, Catalina Morris was not in the lineup. I don't know if she was even in Wisconsin, but I would assume so. Our DP tonight was Jessica Dignon, batting .138 on the season, instead of Leah English at .200. Balko (.117) was catching instead of Piper (.224), possibly due to Mowatt in the circle. Perhaps some of these choices were based on who had the best at-bats against Burkhart.

A scoreless top of the first, followed by three straight Force singles to start the bottom was a bad omen. We were fortunate that one of those singles turned into an out when Clare Burnum tried to stretch her leadoff hit into a double. With runners on first and third, Chelsea Spencer struck out for the second out, giving us hope that we could escape this jam still scoreless. It was not to be. Jenna Hall was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and a wild pitch scored a run. The wild pitch turned out not to matter, as Savannah Long homered to left center, leaving a huge hole for the dormant Glory sticks to climb out of. At this point Desiree Serrano came on in relief of Mowatt, and she retired Trena Peel to end the inning. But we were already down, 4-0, after just 1 inning.

The second inning saw the Glory break up the no-hit bid, as Sara Larquier singled to center. But that was it for us for the inning, and I had a feeling, for the game and maybe the series.

The Force added to their lead in the second, as Kristen Miller scored on a Burnum single after leading off the inning with a double. The Force were up 5-0 after 2.

The top of the third was typical for the Glory. A groundout and two strikeouts, including yet another one looking. No swing absolutely guarantees no hit.

The Force, on the other hand, swung the bat in the bottom of the inning, and got a leadoff HR from Chelsea Spencer to show for it. Force up 6 zip after 3.

It was a shame that we were so far down at this point, because Philly started giving runs away. We scored 2 runs on zero hits. Oli walked. Miranda ran and stole second. Bures hit to SS Spencer, and her error allowed Miranda to score. Bures stole second, and Spencer committed a second error on Balko's batted ball which allowed Bures to score. We were still down 6-2, with three more at-bats left.

But the Force immediately crushed any hope that we might have had that they would self-destruct. Kristen Miller lead off the bottom of the 4th with a solo HR to center. The Force had scored in every inning, and they lead 7-2 after 4.

Philly wasn't done making errors, though. In the 5th, Moore reached on an error by 1B Kellie Wilkerson. 2 infield singles from Barber and Hughes loaded the bases for Amber Jackson, with no outs. But she struck out, as did Oli. Larquier grounded out to SS to end the inning, still down 5.

In the bottom of the fifth, a 4-6-3 double play erased a leadoff single, and the Force were shut out for the first inning of the night. They were still winning, 7-2, at the end of 5 full innings.

The Glory went 1-2-3 in the 6th, and the scouting reports on the Riptide started getting passed around for bedtime reading.

Taking the cue, the Force also went quickly, though they did add a single in between two strikeouts and a foulout. Still 7-2, with three Glory outs to go.

Apparently, the Force wanted to keep the Glory up later. (What did they care, they were playing the second game on Saturday.) The Glory tried to make out after out, but the Force would have none of it. Although Burkhart recorded her 10th strikeout of the night (3rd looking), she allowed Hughes to single for the second time, then walked Jackson. Then Peel got in on the error parade, as she misplayed Oli's ball and allowed two more unearned runs to score. Oli was on first, and even a HR from Larquier could not tie the game. And the hits just keep on coming, except by hits I mean errors. This time it was Emily Friedman at second, allowing Larquier to reach first, and Oli to reach third. Oh look, Morris is in Wisconsin, because she went in to run for Larquier. (Actually, I wonder if she had another nightmare trip to Wisconsin, like she did last year, and is only just arriving.) This brought the tie run to the plate in the form of Courtney Bures, but her fly ball to right was caught this time by Peel, ending the game.

Final score was 7-4, but all 4 Glory runs were unearned, thanks to 5, yes 5, errors by the Force. We knew the bats were going to struggle up north, but I'm shocked that the pitching has as well.

The Glory will take on New England in what could be their final game in Kimberly, starting Saturday at 4 PM Eastern. I'm guessing Pauly vs Canney.