IHSA Class 3A Galesburg Regional (Softball)
(#1) Galesburg vs. (#4) Peoria Richwoods
(5/25/10)
With Knox County under a severe thunderstorm warning until 4:00 p.m. I was starting to think that the Richwoods Knights would have made a bus ride over to Galesburg for no reason. The severe thunderstorm warning expired, and postseason softball would be played.
I did get good news on my way to Galesburg from the office. After making several phone calls to lawn mowing places, it seemed like I had hired someone. For the record, I mow my own lawn, however, with the schedule I've been working along with the amount of rainfall over the past two weeks, the grass in my yard grew (it seemed) feet at a time. The person I had hired today called me and said someone was already there. I had called someone last week, and they said they could get to it next Wednesday (tomorrow), so I was looking to get it done by somebody else, with the rain in the forecast both Tuesday evening and all day Wednesday. At any rate, the lawn got mowed, and my neighbors won't curse at me anymore.
With that afforementioned storm warning, it delayed my day, not getting out of the office until about 4:15. The drive from our studios in Monmouth, to Galesburg High School is about 20 minutes, so I was sure not to miss much.
When I pulled onto the GHS campus, it appeared as though there was a healthy crowd on hand for this regional. It was the bottom of the first inning, and the score was already, 1-1. It looked like we may have an offensive game, I thought to myself. That couldn't have been farther from the truth. In the end, the score would be 2-2, until the 13th inning, in which the lowest seed of the regional (Richwoods), plated a pair of runs and ended up winning, 4-2.
The pitching matchup featured Galesburg ace Jessica Davison, against Richwoods starter Morgan Bothast. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, the Streaks had a runner at third base, and was stranded. That was catcher Jordan Marshall, who reached on a walk, advance to 2nd on a lineout, and to third on a groundout. In the same frame, home plate umpire Joe Thompson took a foul tip to the chest protector, which knocked him back for a moment. He laughed it off, and pointed to the field umpire and said, "You're in", jokingly. The very next pitch was fouled back, hitting the catcher in the mask.
The Knights plated their second run in the top of the 3rd inning on a Kathryn Haggerty RBI single, that scored Morgan Bothast. Bothast reached on a double. The Streaks threatened in the bottom of the 4th inning, with Marshall, Sam Mason, and Chelsey Weigand all rapping out basehits. Marshall was tagged out at home plate, the first of two times a Galesburg runner was tagged at home, attempting to score.
In the 5th inning, I attempted to record how many times I heard the words, "You Can". It started with the Galesburg dugout, and I also heard Richwoods fans yelling out the phrase. Trying to take game notes, and film at-bats, it became a fruitless labor.
Heading to the bottom of the 7th inning, the host and top-seed Galesburg Silver Streaks found themselves down, 2-1. Allison Mangieri led off the frame with a walk. She advanced to 2nd base on a sacrifice bunt by Sydney Edwards. Megan Young stepped up, and hit a pop fly for the 2nd out of the inning. Pitcher Jessica Davison stepped to the plate, and roped an RBI single that plated the game-tying run (2-2). Bothast struck out power hitter Kelsey McKillip to end the inning.
In the bottom of the 9th inning, it appeared Galesburg was on the winning track. Chelsey Weigand was hit by a pitch to lead off. Edwards then singled, and Weigand attempted to score after the ball was bobbled in the outfield. Weigand was out by several feet, as she collided with the catcher. Young hit a long pop fly to right field that ended the 9th inning.
Both teams went three-up, three-down in the 10th inning. Richwoods had just one baserunner in the 11th inning, while the Streaks lined out in succession, for their three outs. Richwoods went 1-2-3, in the 12th inning.
It looked like Davison was going to be the hero again in the bottom of the 12th inning. With Megan Young on base, Davison ripped her second hit of the game (in as many at-bats), a two-out single. With Kelsey McKillip batting and two runners on, a little excitement came out of the stands. A Richwoods fan was unhappy with a ball call against the Knights. After the fan told the ump to be, "consistent", Joe Thompson turned and pointed, took his mask off and walked to the fence, exclaiming, "You want to stick around, DO YOU WANT TO STICK AROUND?", and the fan replied, "Yes". Thompson followed with, "Then keep your mouth shut". McKillip lined out to end the inning....and the fan kept his mouth shut.
The offense broke out in the 13th inning. Kathryn Haggerty and Becca Epping both had RBI singles, that gave Richwoods the, 4-2 lead, and eventual final score. Galesburg went three up, three down to end the game, and their season, at (10-19) overall. Richwoods moves on to face the Dunlap/Limestone winner on Saturday at Galesburg. The game took 2 hours, 37 minutes to complete.
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