Wolverines Cavalierly Crush W.T. Woodson

It's unclear what was colder last night, the weather or the methodical dismantling of the W.T. Woodson varsity program by the Wolverines.  Showing no mercy early, West Potomac beat the Cavaliers 16-0 to open conference play with an emphatic win called after four and a half innings.

The Wolverines are now 2-0 in regular season play, and have not allowed a run in the 12 innings of the regular season.

As the old saying goes, it was colder than a witch's broomstick left outside (hey, this is a family publication -- if you want inappropriate lines, watch prime time television), but the weather failed to slow down the Wolverines.  In fact, with the threat/hope of one more snow looming over the DMV area, the game was moved up a day.

The game started with a nice wheel and throw assist by Raven Williams on a bunt as Kate Gregory covered.  The only Cavalier baserunner of the inning got no further than first after the only free pass allowed by a Wolverine pitcher on the night.

In the bottom of the first, the Wolverines leapt out to a 5-0 lead.  Nikki Minnis led off with a swinging bunt single and Grace Moery reached on a walk.  Raven knocked an infield single and all the runners moved up, with Nikki crossing the plate for the first run, on a Cavalier error.  Grace scored on an errant pick-off throw, then Annabelle Miller walked before Jayne Orleans made it 3-0 with a single.  Annabelle eventually scored on another wild pitch.  Olivia Manous reached on a fielder's choice, Maddie Miller walked, and Nikki reached on an error that brought in the final run of the inning.

Christina Dillard coldly struck out

the Cavalier side to end the game.

Sundown brought a mixed blessing for Wolverine fans.  It meant we could actually see the game without squinting from the sun hanging out in left center, but it then got colder than a pair of brass. . .monkeys.  This intrepid reporter thought about building a fire with his notebook, but then he would not have been able to sort out the nine run second inning for the Wolverines.  So, here it goes.

Raven popped up a single into left, followed by Annabelle smacking a double off the base of the left field wall.  It had a chance to get out, but since it was colder than a bucket of penguin poop, the ball couldn't clear the fence and the Wolverines just missed their first home run of the season.  Jayne smacked a double to right center to drive in two more runs.  Kate walked, Olivia walked, and then Torie Bolger provided what is always a thrilling play -- a third straight walk to drive in a run.  Maddie topped that by also walking for another bases loaded RBI, and it was nine nothing.

The walk parade finally stopped with Nikki smacked a single to left for an RBI.  Annabelle had to get into the base on balls/RBI fun, before Jayne hit her second two RBI double of the inning.  Eliza Treadwell reached on an error, and the inning finished with the score 14-0.

Christina Dillard came in to pitch the next three innings.  Even though it was colder than a mother-in-law's kiss, Wolverine pitchers dominated.  Even though West Potomac committed three errors, scattering only one walk and two hits kept the Cavaliers from crossing the plate.  Jayne whiffed one, while Christina K'd five, including catching all three hitters in the fifth looking at called third strikes.

Winter is coming.  Again.

Annabelle drove in the final two runs of the night with a hard single that skipped through the wickets of the centerfielder in the bottom of the third.  Maddie had reached first on the first of her two hit-by-pitches of the evening, Grace walked, and Katie Hinkell loaded the bases by reaching on another Cavalier error.

Wolverine Whispers: The next game is Friday March 28th as West Potomac tries to split the Annandale Atoms at Wolverine Park. . .Jayne's three hits and five RBI definitely made her the hitting star of the evening. . .with Annabelle's near HR the singular hitting highlight of an evening that was colder than your wife when you call her by the wrong name. . .Maddie's two Hit-by-Pitches make her the team leader on that for season, although Hughie Jennings' career major league record of 287 is probably not in jeopardy. . .multi-hit games were turned in by Nikki, Raven, and Jayne. . .The Cavaliers issued ten walks, hit one batter twice, and committed five errors on a night that, fittingly for softball, was colder than Ted Williams' head.  (And with that last line on top of the others, I'm leaving the country today for my own protection.)  

Wolverines Have Minor Problems In Beating Majors

The West Potomac Wolverines inexorably ground down their cross-GW Parkway rival Mt. Vernon Majors to open the regular season with a convincing 8-0 victory.  Fittingly, the victory came on the first day of spring as the last of the snow melted.

The team shook off the fact that the game was changed from a home game to having to go on the road.  The West Potomac home field is still so wet from the rain and snow that scientists are looking to transport it to California, wring it out, and single-handedly solve the Golden State's drought problem.

Starting pitcher Jayne Orleans scattered two hits in six innings of work for the win before Cristina Dillard came in to pitch a scoreless seventh inning.  While Jayne struck out seven batters, and Christina whiffed three, the key number for the game was one -- that's the number of free passes the two West Po pitchers issued for the game.

Meanwhile, after the offense left four runners on base in the first two innings, including three with no outs in the second, the Wolverines scored in four of the next five innings to slowly leave the Mt. Vernon team behind.

Doing the job of a lead-off hitter: Nikki Minnis

reached base three of her five plate appearances

Raven Williams got the first Wolverine hit of the game in the second inning with a lead-off ringing double to deep center, but she died at third base (for those new to baseball cliches, don't fret -- she didn't actually "die" at third base -- that probably would have postponed the game; it just means she didn't score).

West Potomac finally broke through with two in the third.  Grace Moery smacked an infield single down the line, and Annabelle Miller moved her to third with another Wolverine double to deep center.  (After that, the Mt. Vernon centerfielder stayed deep.)  Raven loaded the bases with an infield single.  That apparently became the thing to do, as Kate Gregory knocked in Raven with an infield single, and Torie Bolger did the same to drive in Annabelle.  The score was 2-0 after the top of the third.

Scoring two runs was so much fun that the Wolverines did it again in the bottom of the 4th, as Nikki Minnis led off with a walk, followed by hard-hit double to left by Grace.  Jayne helped her own cause with a slow roller out to first that scored a run.  Annabelle reached first on a error by the pitcher as Grace scooted across the plate with the fourth run of the game.

The Wolverines had strong catcher

play from Torie Bolger and 

Harley Divine

After a scoreless top of the fifth, the Wolverines added a run with two singles and two wild pitches.  Nikki led off with a single, took second on the first wild pitch, but had to hang there while Grace hit an infield single to short.  Both runners advanced on a good piece of situational hitting by Jayne Orleans, who hit a soft groundout to 2nd to advance the runners.  Nikki scored on a wild pitch to stretch the lead to 5-0.

The game was busted wide open in the top of the seventh, as West Potomac plated three runs without an RBI to push the lead to 8-0.  Raven led off with another hit, a single to center, followed by a walk to Kate.  Harley Divine also walked, Izzy Crawn reached on an error by the shortstop, and then some weird stuff happened where Wolverines were running around the bases and umpires were randomly calling some out and not others.  I could describe what happened, but it doesn't really matter -- there is no instant replay in high school softball like there is in the major leagues.  Suffice it to say, Grace had another hit taken away on a call made by an umpire who was blocked from seeing that she had beaten the throw by two steps.

Annabelle followed this plate

appearance her next time

up with a double.

The team's play was solid, but Coach Craig "The Big Manig" Maniglia and his staff of fine assistants will probably spend some time at this weekend's team retreat explaining the finer points of base running after the Wolverines made at least four mistakes on the base paths during the game.  (Prediction: two of his teaching points will be: "don't let the ball hit you" and "don't crosscheck the shortstop while she is fielding the ball.")

The team also made three errors in the field, a number sure to be cut down in the coming weeks.  There were also some fine fielding plays, although no jaw-dropping web gems.  Kate snagged a hard liner at second, Annabelle threw out a runner with a strong throw on a slow roller, and Raven made a nice play on a hard grounder.  There were no outfield putouts in the game -- which underscores how well Jayne kept the Mt. Vernon off-balance.

Wolverine Whispers: The tablesetters -- Nikki and Grace -- reached base an impressive six times during the game, which could equal in one game the number of times the numbers one and two hitters of my suddenly weak New York Yankees do all season. . .The Wolverine pitchers bookended the game by inducing outs on a change-up -- Jayne got the lead-off hitter to pop out with one, and Christina ended the game with a 42-foot change-up for a swinging strike three. . .thanks to Cindy Jackson for taking the game photos before her camera battery died. . .West Potomac hosts the W.T. Woodson Cavaliers on Tuesday for the next game.

Wolverines Defeat Marshall Statesmen in Regulation of Scrimmage

West Potomac staged a furious bottom of the seventh rally to beat George C. Marshall High School 2-1 in the final of two scrimmages to start the season.  The teams played on, but your intrepid reporter was too cold to stay past the top of the 8th inning.  Frankly, since they only play seven innings during the season, that's as long as notes were kept.

The game started with a bang, as the first Statesmen woman tripled to right,and the second Lady Statesmen (sorry, but "Statesmen" isn't the easiest team nickname to work with) smacked a hard single to put Marshall up 2-1.  That did not bode well for the Wolverines, but Jayne Orleans settled down and retired 14 in a row before issuing a harmless two-out walk in the top of the fifth.  Jayne got four more outs to finish off the sixth inning.

Jayne struck out four in a row in the top of the second/third, and Christina Dillard added a whiff in the seventh as Wolverines k'd five batters.

Meanwhile, the Marshall pitcher bewitched the Wolverine hitters with a wicked curveball.  The umpire behind the plate helped by baffling the West Po batters with a strike zone extending from their ankles to the left-handed batters box.

Until the bottom of the seventh, West Po could only muster three fair balls -- a ground out, a pop out, and Nikki Minnis reaching first on an error by the shortstop.  Fifteen strikeouts in the first nineteen batters didn't provide much offense, although it helped the game go quickly.

The game changed in the bottom of the seventh, when Olivia Manous led off with a walk.  Nikki moved her to second with a groundout back to the mound.  After the second out, Jayne Orleans smacked a double to right to tie the game.  Raven Williams smacked a hard infield single that the shortstop made a nice play to keep from reaching the outfield.  

Annabelle Miller hit a major league pop up, that, thanks to the stiff breeze, dropped in for the game winning hit.  West Potomac parents debated whether it was a hit or an error, but this wizened scribe scores it a hit, and since I'm writing the article, that's all that matters.

The season opens Tuesday at Lee followed by hosting crosstown rivals Mt. Vernon on Thursday.  Wolverine fans are advised to park in well-lit parts of the Lee parking lot.