By Vytas Mazeika
Daily Bruin Reporter
OKLAHOMA CITY “”mdash; Every game needs a hero, but in the cruel
game of college softball you’re more likely to find a
scapegoat.
Pitchers tend to dominate the action, limiting the contribution
from the hitters and transferring the pressure to the fielders.
That’s the nature of the beast, and the Women’s College
World Series provided plenty of evidence.
California was eliminated Saturday in a 1-0 loss to Stanford,
where both teams combined for three hits. And as is common in
college softball, the only run was scored on an error ““ a
simple, fielding mistake. When a ball got through the glove of Bear
senior shortstop Paige Bowie, it allowed Cardinal pinch runner
Jessica Draemel to score from second.
But the most glaring evidence of the pressure that fielders face
came from the 2000 national champions, Oklahoma. There are plenty
of reasons why the Sooners weren’t able to defend their
title, but none more obvious than the two errors that Sooner
shortstop Kelli Braitsch committed in back-to-back extra inning
games.
In an overall sense, the sophomore was outstanding defensively
in Oklahoma’s three games. But in Friday’s 5-4 loss to
Arizona she pushed her luck, and when Wildcat pinch runner Lisha
Ribellia slid hard to break up the double play, Braitsch was forced
to throw off-balance toward first base. The throw sailed wide, hit
the Sooner dugout and allowed Nicole Giordano to score the winning
run.
“Once the ball got by, I knew I was going to make
it,” Giordano said. “I was just being head up on that
because I knew that any step they gave us we would take and we
needed to score on that.”
Braitsch shook off the mistake and the very next day led off the
game with a home run ““ Oklahoma’s only run in a 2-1,
13-inning loss to LSU. Throughout the game Braitsch made several
sterling defensive plays, including a game-saving throw to nail
Tiger pinch-runner Jennie Reeves at home plate in the bottom of the
10th inning.
But with two outs in the bottom of the 13th and a runner on
second, pinch hitter Ashley Lewis hit what seemed to be a harmless
grounder. Braitsch took a step back and fielded the ball. Trying to
rush the throw over to first base, Braitsch failed to properly set
her body and once again threw off-balance. The throw flew high and
right, scoring LSU’s Jennifer Schuelke from second base.
“Personally, it kills me,” said Braitsch, of her
error on Saturday. “To just not take my time with one throw.
I had plenty of time to just launch it over to first, but I let it
go.”
The song “All I Need Is a Miracle” could be heard
playing around the Don E. Porter Hall of Fame Stadium at the start
of the 13th inning. After Braitsch’s error, though, the song
“Oops, I Did It Again” seemed more fitting.
The great pitching in the game left both teams searching for
runs. LSU junior Britni Sneed struck out 19 batters, one shy of the
WCWS record while Oklahoma sophomore Jennifer Stewart allowed only
eight hits and no walks in 12 and 2/3 innings.
At times, hitters were left flabbergasted, unable to come up
with the key hit. As the game progressed, chances were the game was
to be decided by a blunder rather than a heroic feat.
“It was going to come down to who would get lucky, who
made an error because the pitchers were doing such a great
job,” Ashley Lewis said. “I really didn’t know
what happened. I got to first base, but I don’t know how I
got there.”
A WCWS classic shouldn’t have ended like that, but with
the quality of the pitching in college softball, there was almost
no other solution. Like in life, things just aren’t fair in
softball.