It wasn’t pretty,
particularly, but we walked, then ran, our way to our first (JV) conference
championship when the “other” orange and black, the Ritenour Huskies, paid us a
visit. If they were impressed by our reputation, they declined to show it and
were aggressive in the first inning, using a walk and a couple misplays on a
bunt to score their first two runs.
Turns out it was also their last
two. Despite lots of base runners on walks, there were no hits against our two
pitchers, Nicola Rikand, who picked up her second victory, and Taylor Knapp who
closed out the game.
We didn’t generate a lot of
hits, either, managing only 5 in our almost 4 innings of play. Three of those
were of the extra base variety, including loud triples from our CF combo,
Jessica Peterson and Rebekah Riefle and a bases clearing 3-run double from
Nicola to cap a 9-run first inning, the last 7 of which came with two outs. The
last three also came with two outs in the bottom of the fourth and brought the game to an early finish via the 15-run rule.
Most of our offense was given to
us, with an uncharacteristic 7 walks (plus a hit batsman) from the Huskies
hurler; those passes were supplemented with another 7 reached on error gifts
and at least a half dozen wild pitches or passed balls, allowing runs to score.
As crisp as yesterday’s game was, this felt different, even if it generated the
expected outcome.
The best part of the game? That
our girls supported their teammates throughout, cheering each other on with a
team-first attitude. As Jack Buck used to say, “Now, that’s a winner!”
We’ll see everyone Saturday on Field 2
at Affton Athletic at 7:15, with an 8 a.m. start time, as we look to extend our
winning streak for three more games past its current 7 and continue to grow our
18-2 record.
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