Princeville @ United (Softball)
(5/6/10)
WRAM Game of the Week/Field Dedication
Seed Debate Part II. Two days after talking seeds with Abingdon baseball coach Joe Nichols at the ROWVA/Stark County game, I followed his lead and bought a bag of nacho cheese sunflower seeds before the WRAM Game of the Week at United High School. It was a tough decision, with BP Triple E in Monmouth selling the nacho cheese and jalapeno seeds, along with the common flavors. In the end, I went nacho cheese. Heading out to the diamond, I tossed a handful in my mouth, and started to savor the flavor...or lack thereof. Honestly, I wasn't too impressed with the first few seeds, but thought it was a getting used to process. I tossed a couple handfuls on the short drive, and the flavor never came to me. A day later, I am ready to toss out the nacho cheese, and dive in to a bag of jalapeno seeds, a flavor endorsed by RobISU on several occasions. Check Rob out, at www.twitter.com/robisu.
Speaking of Twitter, I write this on Friday, and I am not too involved with Twitter, but try. Apparently there is a "Friday Follow", that has died down amongst my followers in recent months. Anyway, it is basically a shout out, so some of the tweeters that I converse back and forth with, or follow regularly are the following. www.twitter.com/goomlah, www.twitter.com/Nothinbutsports, www.twitter.com/ChrisDuerr, and www.twitter.com/myfoxillinois. There are many others at times, but they escape my mind at this time.
United softball fell to a Class 1A team the night before, a 1-0 loss to North Fulton in Fairview. This is the first loss to a 1A team this season, with the most recent 1A loss in last year's 19-inning state championship game.
Today was Dedication Day at UHS. The new softball field is being dedicated, and the three Red Storm seniors also honored (Alex Fell, Sommer Foster, and Kaitlyn Winkler). United Athletic Director Tony Kozelichki stopped by the radio station earlier in the afternoon to make sure I had everything I needed, and ran down the festivities for the afternoon.
I made sure to get there early, not knowing what to expect, really. It was about 3:15 when I pulled in. Princeville was already at the field, and the Red Storm were going through calistenics. Brand new banners were placed out on the left field wall, designating United's conference, regional, and sectional championships, along with the state championship appearances.
Red Storm head coach Gary Eyler greeted me as I unpacked my Explorer. He was generous enough once again to provide the press box for the broadcast....the bed of his pickup truck, parked behind the fence at home plate.
The gear was sat down, and I held off set up, to go talk with Princeville head coach Ron Williams. We chit-chatted while he filled out his lineup card. One thing I love most about covering sports, and interviewing coaches and players, are the stories that don't get printed.
Sometimes a routine question can be answered very generic, while others open up interesting stories. When I asked Coach Williams when he started coaching the Princesses, I expected to just get a year back in response. Well, I did, but it also unveiled a very interesting story into the high school softball coaching career of Williams.
He answered, "2002". It followed with quite a story. The previous coach was taking a one-year leave of absence after the birth of her child. A few people came to Williams, who coaches softball in the summer, asking if he would coach for a season. Williams said he farms, and spring is a bad time to be coaching, since he needs to be in the field. He agreed to coach the team....on one condition. Those guys needed to find people to do his farming, when he is busy with the team. They agreed. After the season, the original coach turned in her resignation, and the guys approached Williams again. He agreed, as long as his farming got done. After that, he became a regular. After telling me the story, he looked up at me, as he finished writing out his lineup for the afternoon, and with an almost voice of concern stated, "I should really be in the field today, I haven't planted all my corn yet."
Williams and I also discussed the weather this spring has brought. At this stage of the season, I have become interested in the scheduling by each coach. I have known some to overschedule, to the tune of 40+ games, due to the early rainouts, or in some cases, snow days. He said Princeville has only been postponed once, their conference doubleheader against West Central, which will be made up next Monday.
After getting the lineup from Princeville, I walked over to the United dugout, where coach Jeff "Fluff" Tyrell and sophomore coach Hannah Baker were, and also delivering their copy of the Princeville lineup card. Fluff told me that Katie Bertelsen was, "feeling really good today." Bertelsen was pretty sick last Monday at Moline, and missed the following game against Annawan/Wethersfield. She had been feeling really down for the better park of a week. I asked about the loss the night before, and he responded that the team is really tired. Last week, they played five games, and this was the third game in three days this week.
It was 4:00, so I wanted to make sure I could call to the station. Sometimes I have trouble with our Cellcaster unit, and I always take precautions, by calling early to establish the connection, and of course, bringing the backup equipment. It took a few times, and I actually ran back to my vehicle to get the other bag of equipment, but established a connection just before I was about to give up.
After getting through, I just had to patiently wait for the start of the dedication ceremony. I should have taken the wireless microphone, but I am still pretty green on using it. None of my color commentators are the type to head out in the stands to interview people, so it wouldn't come in handy too often.
Just before go-time, Scott Spitzer walked over and chatted for a moment. He takes pictures at all of the athletic events. He took a great shot of Sam Brooks and I, and delivered an 8x10 copy for me to the radio station.
Just before I went on the air, Coach Williams came up to me with a lineup change. Apparently, one of his players broke a team rule, and it sounded like it was cell phone use, so there was a scratch to the lineup. The dedication ceremony took place, with several volunteers and financial donors being recognized, as well as the team. Coach Eyler threw out the first pitch. The dedication and first pitch video can be seen online at www.ihssn.net.
True to form, Bertelsen looked like she was feeling good, facing Breanna Gardner to lead off the game. After taking two strikes, that just painted the outside corner, Bertelsen went inside....but a little too much, and beaned the leadoff hitter in the right thigh. Bertelsen then sat down Josie Weber and Bethany Dorrington on strikeouts, after Gardner was tagged for the first out attempting to steal second. In following frames, Bertelsen struck out, Taylor Speckhart, Alivia Stoller, Sam Remmert, Melissa Storm, Caitlyn Godfrey, and Moira Dwyer....8 straight strikeouts.
The string of strikeouts was snapped in the 4th inning, with Gardner leading off. Bertelsen, ahead in the count, let one loose, and this time beaned Gardner in the left thigh. Again, she was tagged out attempting to steal second. In all, Bertelsen struck out 16 batters, and allowed just four baserunners. The only run came in the 6th inning, with Melissa Storm crushing a home run over the rightfield fence. Josie Weber had a base hit in the 7th inning, of the 1-0 Princeville victory.
United was able to muster up just three hits against Princeville starter Molly Gilroy. In all, the Red Storm had four baserunners, and they all reached scoring position. In fact, three of the four made it to 3rd base, before getting stranded. Bertelsen had the first hit, a double in the 2nd inning. Her courtesy runner, Michelle Ravel, advanced to third on a passed ball. The next baserunner was Ashlynn Winkler, who hit a single in the 3rd inning, and moved to 2nd base on Megan Patterson's bunt down the 3rd base line. Gina Long, then walked with the one out. Each runner moved over on a passed ball, and were in scoring position with one out, before a strikeout and lineout ended the inning. The only other United scoring opportunity came in the bottom of the 6th inning. Sommer Foster had a single, stole 2nd, and moved to 3rd on the throw to second that got a way and rolled into rightfield. With three outs in the 7th inning and trailing by a run, the Red Storm went down, 1-2-3.
The loss marked their second in as many days. This is the first losing streak the Red Storm softball team has seen since 2007. United is now (21-5) on the season, and each and every one of their losses has been by just one run. Katie Bertelsen has moved up to 1,122 strikeouts in her career, which puts her 13th all-time. She is averaging 12.34 strikeouts/game in 23 starts this year. United has four games remaining, a doubleheader at Stark County, and non-conference games against Kewanee, and finishing the season with state-ranked Illini Bluffs next Saturday in Glasford.
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