The final
game of the season finally came for the Tigers, a three-times
rescheduled contest with the Thrashers, but without Katie
Westmoreland due to other commitments. While Katie's
pitching was covered by committee, the Tigers could have used
her bat.
Rutherford Stephens started for the
first time, but continued her late season slide, hitting the
first and last batters, and walking the four in between.
For their part, the Tigers highly modified lineup did the
same, taking six walks to Rutherford,
Tina Savic, Audrey
Hipple, Brittany
Leeper, Caroline
Kilday, and Allyson
Williams. The Tigers took all eight strikes thrown to
them in gaining the 3-3 tie, but their increasing pattern of
passive hitting would come back to haunt them.
Stami Luchette opened up pitching in
the second inning, giving way to Audrey halfway through.
Each did well for their limited experience: Stami pitching for
the first time, Audrey with two previous short stints.
The Tigers countered in their half by loading the bases with
walks to Ashley Favors,
Irene Tsinajinnie, and
Kinsey Phillips
before watching strikes caught up with them. Three of
the next five hitters, extending into the third inning, would
be retired on strikes - without a single attempt to hit.
Between strikeouts, Rutherford managed a her second walk to
push one run in, and Audrey singled through the middle for an
RBI. Kinsey was sent home as the throw went to first,
but the Thrashers alertly threw to the plate, tagging her for
the out on a well executed play.
Allyson came in to pitch the third,
her first trip to the mound, and was promptly greeted with a
Gretchen Hendrix triple. A walk followed, then Caroline
took a grounder to short, and outraced the Thrashers runner to
the bag at second for the fielders choice out while Hendrix
scored. After a steal of second, Rutherford - catching
for the first time - threw out the Thrashers runner trying to
steal third, Ashley applying the tag.
Allyson now worked with two outs and the
bases empty. After a second run scored on four walks,
Allyson struck out Jessica Cook for the third out.
The Tigers, behind 8-5, continued to
flirt with disaster, turning their fate over to the plate
umpire. Caroline followed a leadoff strikeout with a
walk, and Allyson walked as well, giving the Tigers runners at
second and third after steals. Ashley had the Tigers
only quality at bat of the inning, despite going down swinging
for the second out. The Tigers then loaded the bases
with a two out walk to Irene, and scored a run to close to 8-6
when Kinsey was struck on a full count pitch. The third
out came on the Tigers fifth strikeout of the game, and the
fourth while taking all three called strikes.
The final inning proved a showcase
for the defenses, the Tigers taking their turn in the field
first. Irene took a grounder at second, relaying the ball
to Kinsey at first for the out on the first batters. A
single up the middle followed, then a grounder to the circle
looked to be the second out, with Rutherford poised to field
the ball easily, until it hit the pitchers plate and jumped
over her shoulder, scoring a run for the Thrashers.
Cassie Clack hit a solid double to left, the throw to third
errant, leaving Allyson chasing the ball to the fence along
the third base line. With the runner heading home on the
overthrow, Allyson retrieved the ball with what appeared to be
a 50-50 chance of beating her to the plate. Instead,
Allyson flew toward her so quickly, she was caught over ten
feet from the home. Ashley finished the Thrashers inning
by
fielding a popup in front of the plate on one bounce and
throwing the runner out at first.
Down 9-6 with the top of the lineup
at bat to stage a comeback, the Tigers started with a
Rutherford two strike double up the middle. Tina hit the
first pitch to second, advancing Rutherford to third, and
Audrey grounded sharply to the left side, but was robbed by
the third baseman and thrown out at first while Rutherford
scored to close to 9-7. Advancing on outs was too costly
for the Tigers, though, and a grounder to third ended the
game.
The Tigers four game skid to end the
season leaves them in third place, the same position they
occupied when they were 4-4. As the post-season
tournament now begins, they will need to regain their hitting,
keep up the good defense, and make the opposition swing or
suffer. Only the pitching has been missing from that
equation, their steady improvement having stalled over the past two weeks.
If the Tigers can pick up that progress again, they can make a
run at the championship.
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Recent Results
Monday, May 14
Panthers 14
Titans 10
Thrashers 9, Tigers 7
Upcoming Games
Tuesday, May 15
Titans v
Thrashers (7:45)
End of
regular season
Wednesday, May 16
Thrashers v
Sluggers (7:45)
Thursday, May 17
Titans v Tigers
(7:45)
Tiger of the Game
A
surprise outing pitching in the third inning resulted in three
outs for Allyson
Williams, adding to her two walks and an RBI for
the game (as well as tagging out a runner headed for home), and earning her
Tiger of the Game for the second time
this season.
Next Game
Date: Thursday, May 17
Time: 7:45 PM
Opponent: Titans
Drinks:
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