Finally the SweetHearts get to play a full game after three straight forfeits, and what a game it is. Combine close plays, floating strike zones, rowdy fans, and a rally that died with the call of "Ball Game!" The 'Hearts left the field holding a slim one-run victory upping their record to 8-0.
The opening coin toss played right into the SweetHearts hands as the Crush 'won' and chose to be the home team. The 'Hearts wanted to bat first knowing the Crush's ace pitcher wasn't at the game yet. Crush put their second string pitcher on the mound at she was shocked for four runs in the first five batters. As the top half of inning one closed, Crush's ace arrived at the game and the Hearts knew they would have to make those runs stand as they may not get to score again.
In the bottom half, Jessi walked two and struck out one before a controversial pick-off play at first base erased any chance of the Crush scoring.
Then everything seemed to break loose. With two outs and two strikes on the Crush batter, the SweetHearts seemed to forget how to play ball. Jessi suddenly could not find the strike zone of the umpire and allowed batter after batter to get on base. Base hits, poor throwing, and an overthrown pick off, allowed runs to score. As the scored closed to 5-4, finally managed three strikes to end the inning with the slimmest of margins.
Crush was now playing the sweethearts AND the clock as they shut the bottom part of the batting order down in order. The Crush pitch had arrived late to the game but when she did, she stopped the 'Hearts cold, striking out 8 of 10 batters she faced.
Now came the moment of truth for the SweetHearts Jessi Webb. She had to have her best game, allowing no runs in this tight game. The really hard part was she also had to kill time doing it. After got the first two batters out with only five pitches, Coach Greg called time to talk to his team. The time really being used to discuss how to make one batter eat up about four minutes of time according to the plate umpire. The decision was not to walk the batter but not to strike her out in three pitches either. Jessi also chose to work a little slower between pitches.
Crush coaches were trying to get their batter to swing at ever pitch just to end the inning. When the final pitch was thrown, the plate umpire called "BALL GAME!" creating a shouting match with the Crush coaches. She turned to them and simply said, it's my call, I have the official time, "Ball Game". With that she walked off the field.
The SweetHearts quickly packed their bags and headed for the "nearest exit" to avoid any problems that could have erupted. As coach Greg said, "Whatever calls were made, were made fairly towards both teams. No one had an advantage."
