It’s hard to believe that the tournament is almost over – how time has flown.
The PA system announced that today was the hottest day of the year in Bristol. I can well believe it – it was mid-90’s and bright sun. About the only thing that provided any relief as that there was a reasonably steady breeze. At least there was one in the stands where I was huddled under an umbrella to try to hide from the sun – I don’t know how much reached down onto the field.
Massachusetts vs. New York in the 4:00 game.
HP – Bethany
1B – Rich
2B – Colin
3B – Dena
Both of these teams had their work cut out for them. They each had one loss, so were coming out of the lower bracket, and the way the tournament was organized the winner of this game had to turn around and play Delaware in the 7:00 game. The crew had their usual solid game, and Massachusetts won 8-6, eliminating New York. This was the longest game of the tournament so far, lasting just over two hours. In order to ensure that Massachusetts had the full hour the winner had been promised between games, the late game was pushed back to 7:15pm.
The 7:15 Massachusetts vs. Delaware was not nearly as oppressively hot as the 4:00 game. In fact, it was surprising how quickly the temperature dropped, although we had issues with dew on the ground in the second half of the game causing batted balls to get wet.
HP – Bill
1B – Paul
2B – Steve
3B – Me
Third base was a bit tough for the first two innings, as the sun was setting just to the left of first base from my vantage point, creating a lot of glare. Fortunately, I didn’t have a throw over to third during this period, so there weren’t any issues.
The Massachusetts manager was out to question several plays, as has been his tendency during the tournament. On one, the batter bunted down the first base line. The pitcher came right over to the line to field the ball, so, from my vantage point, it appeared the runner went around her into fair territory to avoid interfering with the fielder in her attempt to field the ball. The pitcher threw the batter out without any problem. On the play, the runner who had been at third scored. From what I could tell, the Massachusetts manager was trying to argue for a running lane violation, as that would have required the runner to go back to third. Although the batter did appear to me to be well out of the lane, given that she in no way interfered with the first baseman receiving the throw, Paul correctly (in my opinion) stuck to the simple “out” call.
On another play, a routine throw to the first baseman apparently went in and out of her glove, and she didn’t secure it off the ground until after the batter had touched first, so Paul ruled her safe. Again, the Massachusetts manager wasn’t happy. Paul called for a crew conference on this one just to confirm that nobody had anything different than he did, and the call stood.
Massachusetts kept the game close early, but Delaware finally pulled away, and won 13-5. The game took two hours and fifteen minutes – easily the longest of the tournament. Delaware swaps players in and out frequently (as is their right, of course) and uses a Special Pinch Runner every inning, and there were multiple pitching changes. Some of it was also due to both teams’ tendency to have a mini-team meeting at the pitcher’s position beginning of each inning. Bill did a good job (in my opinion) of keeping the game moving along, however.
They are forecasting thunderstorms for tomorrow afternoon, so they have moved the championship game up from 3:00pm to 11:00am.
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