Tuesday evening’s softball game against the Alienators produced unexpected but very welcome fruit. The Alienators’ pitcher is still a bit inexperienced and didn’t give the Sluggers a huge number of strikes to swing at. Most of the bases came from walks and of course, the Sluggers being the thieves that they are, lots of steeling. Even with the large number of walks the Sluggers did get a few hits in. Ok, not a few, they got two hits. Yes just two, but those two hits counted in a very cool way.
Now if you check the last post, you’ll see that the very first point of the season, which was also the very first Slugger point on the brand new fields, came from the super speedy number 7, Sonny.
Sonny was the first up to bat, the first to take a swing and she’s the first with a homerun. Yup a homerun and that earns her a homerun sticker on her helmet.
Sonny wasn’t the only Slugger to get a hit. In the second inning of the game our second hit and second homerun came from our second base, Julia or “Birdy” as her friends call her.
Birdy didn’t have the hardest hit and to be honest, the ball just barely made it half way back to the pitcher. That small amount of movement didn’t keep Julia from running like crazy towards first base. Since last year’s softball season Julia has grown at least 4 or 5 inches and most of that is in her legs. Those long legs made the difference. Julia straight-up out ran that ball. She beat it to first, she beat it to second and by the time the Alienators threw to third she was already on her way to home plate. Julia was able to turn a hit that would be hard to consider a bunt, into a homerun. No wonder they call her “Birdy”, she can almost fly!
The amazing homeruns weren’t the only thing that happened during our game against the Alienators. We’ve been having trouble with our catcher‘s equipment due to the fact that we have more than one catcher and they are no where near the same size. So, we decided to purchase a new set of equipment so we set the helmets and straps at two different sizes. I’m relatively certain that it was the shiny gloss of the new hardened plastic but Mercedes liked it so much she didn’t want to take it off.
I didn’t have any problem with that because Mercedes is an amazing catcher and if she’s “feeling it” there’s no reason to stop her.
Mercedes did a fantastic job behind the plate but a catcher can only do so much. You’ve got’ a have a pitcher and Janessa was doing more that just getting the job done.
Janessa’s pitching was so good the Alienators just barely made it through their batting line up before the game was over. USSSA regulations say a team is only able to have an eleven batter lineup. She was able to strikeout seven of the eleven batters the Alienators were allowed to get to the plate. The few batters that made it past Janessa didn’t get very far.
The infield Sluggers, just like the good respectable girls we all know that they are, made sure no one got to third base.
The outcome of the game may have been one sided with a final score of 15-0 but don’t write-off the young Alienators just yet. There is most definitely some talent in those gloves and I’m sure a few more games and a little more time will bring the Alienators together as a strong team. Their catcher, first and third bases were doing well with the fielding and the two Alienator pitchers just need a tiny bit of help with their form but still did a good job. The Alienators’ second base could use a little work, not with the glove but with the team spirit. We could hear a lot of negativity out there and most of it was directed toward her own pitcher. That’s too bad. These games are supposed to be fun and we try and make sure our Sluggers understand that yelling at one another isn’t going to make anything better.
I have to say the Alienators’ pitcher Abby was a very pleasant young lady to meet. Even though the game didn’t go her way she was very polite and showed excellent sportsmanship after the game.
It was very nice to meet you Abby, and we look forward to playing again.
Remember to see more photos of the game just click one of the images in this post and you’ll be taken to that photo gallery.
RoswellSluggers.com 
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