Tigers Declawed: Webster 10, Festus 0

As we head into the tough FZW Tournament this weekend we are playing good ball and remain undefeated after taking down the Tigers from Festus 10-0, in an all around solid effort against a pitcher who splits time with the varsity. And she wasn’t the only varsity player to make the trip from Jefferson County.

Nevertheless behind Taylor Knapp’s consistent pitching, solid defense, good base running, and hitting that adjusted (including Myah King’s first home run) with some solid knocks, the game was never really in doubt. Festus never mounted a threat to dent the plate and it was only a question of how many innings it would take to end the contest. The Festus coach put in a new pitcher in the fifth inning (and she wasn’t bad, although not varsity caliber), we scored the five runs we needed to trigger the 10-run rule, and that was that.

We head out to St. Charles this weekend for the rescheduled FZW tournament (Gordon washed us out two weeks ago), opening against Timberland; it looks like we’re going to be a bit short-handed with injuries and family emergencies. But we have a solid core of players; even those on the bench on any given day are good ballplayers who contribute to our team and its culture. 

Before complaining though, let’s just be thankful that’s ALL we have to deal with, and nothing like Florence in the Carolinas. When you get spoiled by success, and I am, it’s important to remind yourself that we’re not playing for world peace (or even whirled peas). That’s more advice I’m giving myself than anyone else. The weather forecast is much less ominous than two weeks ago so I’m going for cautious optimism we’ll get this one in. Hope to see you out there.

As always, thanks to Andrew Graning and the girls for the pics that follow.

Caitlyn Boyle continues to develop her LH slap/bunt skills, as well as playing an excellent RF on defense.

Friday Graning uses the backhand dart flip to get the lead runner at second as Nicola Rikand takes the toss.

TK picked up her eighth win, is on pace to set new JV season & career win marks.

Alyssa Moran stung the ball in her last three ABs, including this rocket to end the game.

This was one of the two hits allowed by TK, a swinging pop bunt just out of everyone's reach.

I could not be more pleased at this team's chemistry, love for the game, desire to improve, and sportsmanship.

The post game post mortem includes mostly compliments, a rare critique (today it was if you're on deck, help your teammate coming home by pointing where to slide), and an occasional appearance by a "Spirit Animal."

Outrunning the Jaguars: Webster 12, Seckman 2

Seckman has long been a nemesis, at least for the JV (and going farther back into the 90s for the varsity), so I was looking forward to the test they would bring to our team. It was only after they arrived that we learned this was their second JV team, although their coach confessed that he had two decent pitchers. Although a bit disappointing, I think there may have been some gamesmanship in providing that scouting report, maybe hoping to soften us up. But we played like we were facing a 5-0 team, which we were, and which we became, scoring 7 runs in the fifth inning to end the contest with the 10-run rule.

Although the Jaguars threatened to put up a “crooked number” in the first three innings, TK and our defense limited them to single tallies until we could expand our 5-2 lead and walk off. It was a solid team effort and (perhaps overly) aggressive baserunning pushed across runs when Seckman couldn’t respond to the pressure.

Softball isn’t like some other sports, where umpire or referee baiting pays off. I’ve always felt like complaining to umpires about their efforts works at cross purposes. Whether that was true today or not, I don’t know, but I do know the Seckman coach was well known to at least the field umpire (from summer ball); if the plate umpire didn’t know him before, he certainly did by the end of the game. Let’s just point out that he prevailed in exactly none of the four questions/complaints about rulings during our game. Draw your own conclusions on that while you peruse the box score, pictures from Andrew Graning, Karen Smith and the bench. Then, if you have an extra $2 to spare, com watch us at Fox tomorrow as we close out our games this week. (Personally, there have been years we should have paid people to watch JV games, but Fox sees it differently.)

Emmy Gary drives in the first run of the game and the first of her two RBI in the game. 

Ivy Clark takes the throw from Marko to slow down this Jaguar trying to steal third.

Nora (Marko) Marcinkiewicz drives the ball. Her CR, Caitlyn Boyd, stole 4 bases on the afternoon.

Taylor Smith put three strong ABs together, drove in three runs.

Our girls consistently demonstrate sportsmanship and team camaraderie. #pleasuretocoach

Huh! Whoda Thunk? WG17, Summit 2

In the post-game post mortem, Marko confessed what I think all of us felt. “I didn’t expect this kind of game coming in.”

Even with a slim 3-2 lead after two innings, it sort of felt like we were farther ahead than that. And just like that, we were. Five Statesmen crossed the plate in the third, nine more in the fourth, we cleared our bench, gave TK an inning off (Coach Confessions {not Coastal Confessions, that’s a Jimmy Buffett song}: I didn't realize we had the 15-run lead until Nicola closed out the Falcons and Dave Knapp (I think) said, “Line it up!”).

To be fair, Summit was short-handed and became shorter-handed after an injury to their catcher reduced them to their 9 remaining players. Nevertheless, during their warm-ups they didn’t look a candidate for the 15-run mercy rule. They threatened but we didn’t panic, closed out each inning limiting their damage, unloaded our bats, and then clipped the Falcons’ wings.

Alyssa Moran lead off with a long triple and Myah King and Lydia Beggs added multi-hit games. Before we knew it, it was time for the bus ride home. We also had a strong defensive game, but still with room for improvement. It’s important to remember that our players are still learning the game, their strengths, and sometimes new positions. They are also (very quickly) learning how to be a team and a family, and the coaches are extremely pleased at how that is coming together.

Seckman’s Jaguars (tomorrow at home) have been a tough program for us and we expect a good game. I have confidence in the girls; they’ll be ready. But for now, enjoy the photos from the bench and Andrew Graning.

Emmy Gary slides home on a wild pitch.

Ivy Clark makes the tag on a perfect throw from Nora (Marko) Marcinkiewicz to end the second inning and stifle the Falcon threat.

Myah King went 3 for 4, hit four balls hard.

Lydia Beggs drives one of her two hits.

Ivy Clark slides in under the Summit catcher's tag in the first inning.

Nora Marcinkiewicz makes a tough catch on a foul pop by the fence.

Taylor (Friday) Graning closes out the game throwing out a runner from 2B.

Nicola Rikand finished out the game with a scoreless fourth inning.

Taylor (TK) Knapp picked up her fourth win of the young season. 

Zoe Weik brings in the 17th run to create a 15-run lead.