Finishing Strong: WG 17, Lutheran South 0

We looked to this game against the Lancers as a tune-up for tomorrow’s tilt against the Pioneers at Kirkwood, and the chance to maybe give some Orange players a shot at time to make up for a game they missed due to band obligations.

It all worked to perfection. Because I was subbing and wanted to save my favors to ride the bus tomorrow, Coach Cerutti took over the bus duties and I didn’t arrive until after stretches. I had wanted to tell the girls to play this game like it was Kirkwood, with the same intensity, the same drive that they will bring to the field tomorrow. I didn’t get the chance, but, turns out, it wasn’t necessary, because that’s exactly the approach they took, not only to this game, but every game. The three Orange players who came along fit right in when they got their chance (and they all got at least an AB) and will bring their energy with them and to us tomorrow.

With Nic Rikand in the circle, we dominated every aspect of the game and she picked up her third victory. TK closed out the game to get her work in and be ready for tomorrow. We adjusted quickly, hit the ball hard, ran the bases aggressively (Caitlyn Boyd upped her stolen base total with two bags to eclipse Olivia Weik’s JV record of 34, with one game to play), and fielded cleanly, including a drop step and retreat on a fly ball in the sun by our flex, Lydia (Lids) Beggs, who looked like she played LF every day. The Lancer hits were basically of the infield variety and Marko erased the first when the runner had the temerity to try to steal on her – not even close.

That’s about all I have (not even sure I have a worthy picture, but haven’t had time to check as I write this before heading to bed). If it’s there, well, great. If not, you’ll have to be content with the box score. See you at KHS tomorrow for a good game and a fitting finish to a tremendous year.

Statesmen Overcome Bad Coaching: Webster 9, Lutheran South 4

Despite an egregiously terrible job by the head coach, talent won out and the Statesmen blunted the Lutheran South lances to win a long, confusing game, 9-4.

My goal was for this to be a non-starter start and give all the girls a chance to bat and play the field, especially those who have seen limited playing time. Well, that, at least, was successful, even if no one, including the opposing coach, umpires, and, embarrassingly, me, knew exactly who was batting and playing where. My heart was in the right place, but my brain and attention to detail were wildly out of kilter.

I had experimented with several lineups (not the players as much as where they would hit) the night before and failed to make the change on the side by side lineup cards I printed out that afternoon, so the umpires had a completely different batting order than the opposing coach (and me, although since I “knew” what I [finally] wanted the order to be and had it on the scorekeeping side of my card, I didn’t notice the, well, there’s a military term to describe it, but this is a family blog, so let’s just generously call it a mistake – proving it’s not what you don’t know that hurts, but what you think you know and are wrong about.)Of course, the opposing coach also didn’t notice until the second time through the lineup (nor did the umpires until he called it to their attention), but he was legitimately upset.

I think he thought we were trying to pull a fast one, not realizing that 6-7 starters were either on the bench or unavailable. As those players filtered in to the tight 4-4 contest, he finally recognized that our goals were honorable even if my implementation was flawed. He also apparently didn’t get the memo that this was a JV game and world peace did not hang in the balance. In any case, Josie Krueger entered in relief of Megan Hayes, who did a nice job, and restored order in the world more effectively than U.N. Peacekeepers, striking out 8 of the last 9 batters.

The box score below is correct statistically, but if you don’t like the batting order you see, make up your own and you’ll have just as good a chance of it being as correct as the one I gave the opposing coach and the one we actually used. In fact, this is what it was ’spozed to look like, but did not. In any case, the girls did a great job of just being ready to bat whenever we figured out it was their turn (in a couple cases only 3-4 batters after they had just batted). It was sloppy, careless and inexcusable and I apologized to the other coach, the umpires, but most importantly to the girls. I’ll do better tomorrow when we play Lindbergh at home. In any case, we improved our record to 9-1 and got some pictures for the blog and, hopefully, the photobooks.