"So Ugly It Could Sit on a Tombstone and Hatch Ghosts" Webster 10, Seckman 7

“The worst JV game I’ve seen in two years,” said the Webster coach. I’m not sure that’s really an exaggeration, but the best thing about yesterday’s 10-7 win over the Seckman Jaguars C-Team was that it was played on a satellite fields and the Statesmen fans who made the trek and braved the heat were not charged $2 admission. Even the field goal we won by bounced in off the crossbar.

The game was so ugly that there are no pictures. It reminded me of an old Moms Mabley punchline: “So ugly [it] could sit on a tombstone and hatch ghosts.” Of our 27 outs, we gave up 8 on called third strikes. Our 9 errors only exceeded that number by 1. Our pitchers deserved better, but also deserve credit for not letting our sloppy play distract them from their mission. They allowed only 1 walk, and half the hits credited to Seckman came from pop ups that should have been caught.

However, we stopped flailing and bailing long enough to right the ship and limp safely into harbor with our fifth victory of the year. (POG –>Freshman Bailey Allen) Heading into our Friday home contest against the Fox Warriors, we stand at 5-6. 

We will need to play more like we did against Summit or being late to the home football game for the band activities won’t be a problem. Monday will be a designated “non-starter start” game against the Colts of Parkway Central. 

Perhaps I’ll see some of you when the WGHS Jazz Band performs Saturday at the Jazz Fest.

Great Game, But On the Wrong Side of a 4-3 Score vs. Summit

“The best JV game I’ve seen in two years,” said the home plate umpire after the game. Softball is a game of inches and we were a bit unlucky and a couple inches (well, maybe feet) away from walking it off in the bottom of the seventh.

Lots of good defensive plays (unfortunately, sort of, by both teams), few walks led to a crisply played game that Rockwood Summit won, 4-3. We may get the series tiebreaker if we face them in the Fox JV Tournament at the end of the year.

Highlight performances included three scoreless innings in the circle by POG Nic Rikand, a caught stealing by Marko, who also made a good tag at the plate on a strong throw by Emmy Gary, and a nifty 6-3-5 double play from Taylor Smith, Maci Rekart and Morgan Lawrence. We struggled against a pretty good pitcher, perhaps a bit overanxious early, then a bit timid later. Balls that were hit hard saw good plays by their center and left fielders. Even so, the tying and winning runs were in scoring position when the game ended on Morgan Lawrence’s smash at the second baseman.

So it goes, sometimes. Our record stands at 4-6 as we head down to Seckman tomorrow. If you’re going to follow us, be reminded that there will be a $2 entrance fee, although today’s game would have been worth that admission price. Not too many pictures today (but thanks, Karen Smith) because the game was too exciting to view through a camera lens! 

Speaking of pictures, don’t forget to order your photo book if you haven’t already.

Olivia Leaver fields her position to get the first out in the 4th inning.

Emmy Gary fires a strike to Nora (Marko) Marcinkiewicz to end the 4th inning.

Happy Birthday, Morgan. Cupcakes! We not only have good players, but good people and teammates. #teambonding

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.