Panthers vs. Lightning
May 2, 1997

W 17-16

In the finest game of the year, the Panthers and Lightning played their hearts out! The Panthers scored 3 runs in the bottom of the last inning to win in an incredibly exciting game!!

Lightning started the first inning in lightning-quick fashion, knocking in 5 quick runs. Our defensive highlight was Ellen Ann knocking down the first ground ball and almost making the out to Kelly at first base. In the bottom of the first, Marissa and Melanie hit two solid line drives to get on base. Kelly came to the plate and absolutely smashed a home run to the fence in left field. Coach Rodney said he never saw a second grader hit the ball that far before! We got a few more baserunners as Rene, Brittany, and Ellen Ann got hits, but we didn't score any more runs. Lightning led 5-3 after one inning.

In the second inning, Lightning kept up their good hitting. They scored another five runs. Then the Panther offense cranked it up! Maudie, Marissa, Melanie, Kelly, Olivia, Lisa, and Rene all got hits and the Panthers scored 5 runs. Wow! After two innings, Lightning had a 10-8 lead.

Then the Panther defense roared!! Kelly fielded a grounder at pitcher and threw to Marissa for the out. Next, with a runner on first, Lisa made a super smart play as she picked up a ground ball in right center field and made the forceout herself at second base! Great play! Then with two outs and one run in, the batter hit a high pop fly to third base. Maudie camped underneath it and caught it for the third out!! Everyone was so excited! All the Panthers congratulated Maudie for her wonderful catch. In the bottom of the third, the Panthers kept up their hard hitting. They scored 5 runs and led 13-11 after 3 innings.

In the fourth inning, Lightning got a runner on with nobody out. The batter hit a pop fly to Maudie at second base. She tried to make another great catch but the ball dropped. Did she give up? No! She tagged out the runner going to second base! Next, Rene made a nice putout at first base -- she really concentrated on fielding the ball first and it worked! Finally, with two outs, Olivia fielded a grounder at third base. In a confusing situation where two runners came to third base, Olivia tagged one of the runners for the final out! Lightning didn't score anything. In our half of the inning, Rene kept up her super hitting! And with runners on, Kristen did a great job of making contact to drive in our only run! Way to go Kristen...we really needed that run!

On to the last inning. The Panthers are leading 14-11. Was Lightning finished for the night? No way! They stormed back to score 5 runs. It was an exciting inning as there were several close plays at the plate. Kelly made one out at home plate and was close on another. Brittany made two great stops at shortstop, preventing the ball from getting to the outfield. So going into the bottom of the last inning, Lightning led 16-14.

The Panthers rallied around Coach Rodney and talked about how close the game was and how we had a chance to win. We needed some clutch hitting! Marissa stepped to the plate with nobody out and made Pitching Coach Rodney really work. She waited until the fifth pitch before she got a hit! Then Melanie came to the plate. She kept hitting foul balls and she also waited until the fifth pitch to get a hit! What clutch hitting!! And now everyone knows the reason why Coach Rodney is losing his hair! With the tying runs on base, Kelly came to the plate. She hit a long foul ball that made everyone oooh and aaah. Then Kelly smashed a hard grounder to their shortstop. The Lightning shortstop ran to second base to try and get the forceout on Melanie. Melanie also ran as fast as she could and they got to the base at just about the same time! Melanie performed an impromptu slide and was called safe. That meant the winning run was on first base! Olivia stepped to the plate and had a nice hit to drive in Marissa. Then Lisa came to the plate. With nobody out and the bases loaded, Lisa hit a sharp grounder to first. The first baseman made a good stop and got Lisa out at first base. But everyone was running on the hit! Melanie scored easily and Kelly followed her to home plate with the winning run!! Yippee!! Panthers win in their last at-bat 17-16!!

I was real proud of the Panthers today. Everyone was hitting good and there were lots of super defensive plays -- most of them made by thinking Panther girls that didn't need to be told what to do!! If Coach Rodney had extra softballs, everyone would have gotten a game ball because they deserved it! But Coach Rodney had to pick one star Panther. Rene went 3 for 3 and made a clutch play at first base to keep Lightning scoreless in the fourth inning. Coach Rodney named Rene as our Panther of the Day . Way to go Rene!

Coach Rodney made sure to point out how brave Justina was for coming out to the game, even though she had a real bad cut on her chin. She needed to go the emergency room so we had to play without her. Her teammates were proud of how brave Justina was and how much she wanted to play tonight. We are so glad we were able to win this game for our injured Justina! And we hope she's back soon!

I know this game summary is long, but I'm just so proud of the Panthers! The girls played hard and smart. Coach Todd and Coach Jim did a good job of basecoaching. And Coach Rodney stepped in today in his first start as Pitcher Coach. And he did a pretty good job! This is a game everyone should put in their memory bank so they can talk about it in the future!

-- Velvet