Doubleheader Split Leaves Wolverines With Cold Feeling

The West Potomac Wolverines found out that playing back-to-back games with wind chills in the 20s makes their bats go cold and the six game win streak end.

Pregame, the cold didn't seem to matter much.

The Wolverines split a doubleheader Saturday in the alleged Spring Break Tournament, beating T.C. Williams 5-2 and falling 4-0 to the Lee Lancers.  The Wolverines are now 2-1 in the so-called Spring Break Tournament, which is being sued for false advertising, as there is nothing spring about it.

Jayne's so tough she didn't wear a sweatshirt.

Or a hat. Or a down jacket. Or ski pants.  

As the saying goes, it was colder than a witch's toe.  To paraphrase Yukon Cornelius, it was a day not fit for man, beast, nor softball player.  After the original schedule was shifted, West Potomac ended up playing back-to-back games.  The team could not shake the funk of the cold and were shutout. The team is now 6-1 on the season.

Early polar explorers liked to play catch as a way to pass the time.

Last season, a couple of low-scoring wins against the Titans announced the T.C. Williams was in the process of turning their softball program around.  Saturday's tight game underscored that today's Titans are not the same bumbling team of yore.  They can pitch and field much better than in seasons' past.

Harley gloves a pop up for the

first out of the first inning.

Although the game was at West Potomac, the Wolverines lost the coin flip and were the visiting team.  The games were able to be played because our friend Tarpy saved the day.  (How many players and coaches does it take to remove Tarpy?  Apparently a lot more than one!)

It was 102 for the high in Death Valley yesterday,

and -9 for low in Saranac Lake, NY.  We're

closer to NY than CA.

Nikki Minnis led off the game with a walk, and then stole second.  She was held at third on Olivia's single to left, but did not score.  It was the first time this season West Potomac did not score a run in the first inning.

The Titans went down one-two-three in their half of the first.  That sequence was repeated for the next three innings, as pitcher Jayne Orleans did not allow a baserunner until the fifth inning.

It's not a stretch to say the Titan runner is out.

The left side of Wolverine defense had 15 assists

in the two games.

In the second, Harley Devine doubled to center, and then scored on Jayne's double off the fence in left.  After Megan Jackson walked, Nikki reached on an error by the first baseman.  Grace Moery hit a sacrifice fly to right to make it 2-0.

Olivia led off the third with a single, went to second on a wild pitch, but did not score.  The usually opportunistic Wolverines were stung by the cold or something, as several times during the game they failed to challenge the Titan arms by taking extra bases.

In the bottom of the third, Megan made the best Wolverine catch so far this season, diving into a mud patch in left to snare a sure single.  Megan slid a good four feet, and came up with mud covering her pants, including a left leg that had not a clean inch on it.  Even though Megan had mud on her face, because of that catch, she wasn't a big disgrace (which I mention simply because it allows me to link to this video)

(Have you ever dressed for work like Freddy Mercury did in that video?  Yeah, me neither.  Sigh. One big break away from being a rock star.  Well, one big break and some actual musical talent.)

Megan comes racing in. . .

Draws a bead on the ball. . .

She makes the catch!

Megan was one tough mudder on that play.

So, in the top of the fourth, Caroline Bowman became the first pinch hitter to bat because of clothing. Megan was both leading off the inning and searching for pants that were not frozen to her by mud.  So Caroline singled, went to second on Grace's beautifully placed bunt single.  The two moved up on a wild pitch.  Caroline scored on Raven Williams' RBI groundout, and Grace made it home on Olivia Manous' RBI single.  It was now 4-0.

Through the four innings, Jayne had thrown just 37 pitches, with 29 of them for strikes.  The cold wasn't bothering her.  The Titans led off the fifth with a ringing double to break up the perfect game.  A series of errors and other strange plays led to two Titan runs,  The threat was ended by a strikeout, but the key play was the boring old 8-3-5 putout.  A Titan single to center, and Grace came up throwing to the plate.  Raven alertly (be alert, the world needs more lerts!) cut the throw and fired to Annabelle for the tag of another runner.

In the sixth, the Wolverines clawed one of the runs back, as Nikki singled, advanced to third on a later error, and scored on Raven's sac fly to left.

Jayne cruised through the final two innings, giving up just one harmless single in the sixth, for the win.

Kristi insisted on grilling.  The rest of

us later realized it was the warmest

spot outside in the entire DMV.

The rest of us are slow that way.

For those new to the blog, Wolverine losses do not get written up with the same length or frivolity of wins (thankfully, West Po wins most of their games).  So, to sum it up, Lee scored four runs, three off the bat of one player who had two doubles and one home run.  Lee only had one more hit than the Wolverines, but the Lancers had four extra base hits and West Po had just five scattered singles.

Christina Dillard was the starting pitcher for the first time this season, but when the Wolverines are held scoreless, it's hard to pin the loss on her.  The Wolverine hits came from Raven (two), Nikki, Torie Bolger, and Megan.  West Potomac had loaded the bases once, had two base runners in three other innings, but couldn't push one run across.

Wolverine Whispers: Monday's high is projected to be a rainy 62.  Hopefully rain will be light or non-existent, and Tarpy could once again save the day.  The Wolverines play at noon and 4pm. Tuesday is a make-up day.

The game against Lake Braddock is at noon, while the 4pm game features a team we haven't played in five years I've had a daughter on varsity -- Brentsville.