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Force battle over the Glory in playoff opener

August 23, 2008 - National Pro Fastpitch (NPF)
Philadelphia Force News Release


Kimberly, Wisconsin- The Philadelphia Force scored runs in each of the first four innings included four in the first and held on for a 7-4 victory over the Washington Glory in the first round of the NPF Championship Series being held at Sunset Point Park in Kimberly, Wisconsin.

With the win, the Force will play the Chicago Bandits in Saturday's winner's bracket game. Time of the game is set for 6:45 (approx.) p.m. ET. Gametracker will be available and the Bandits radio network (www.wrmn141.com) will carry the audio.

The Force started 13-game winner Katie Burkhart in the circle, and the Glory countered with Taryne Mowatt, who went 2-0 against the Force in the regular season.

The number two seed Force came out in the bottom of the first inning swinging away against Mowatt. Lead-off batter Clare Burnum started the game for the Force with a single to left field, and although Burnum was nailed at second base, it set the tone for the rest of the inning. Center fielder Sharonda McDonald followed with a single to left, and first baseman Kellie Wilkerson stroked the third consecutive single of the inning to move McDonald to third base with one out. Mowatt looked to escape the first-inning trouble when she got shortstop Chelsea Spencer on strikes, but she then hit designated player Jenna Hall with a pitch to load the bases. With left fielder Savannah Long at the dish, Mowatt uncorked a wild pitch that scored McDonald with the game's first run and moved the other runners up one base. But it would not matter where the runners were, because Long took Mowatt's next pitch over the left-center field fence to put the Force up 4-0 and Mowatt's night would be over. Desiree Serrano relived Mowatt just six batters into the contest.

In the second inning, the Force continued to get their hits off of Glory pitching. Catcher Kristen Miller started the inning with a double to left-center. Second baseman Emily Friedman put down a successful bunt to move Miller to third base. Third baseman Burnum then singled for the second time in two innings, and this one scored Miller with the fifth Force run.

The Force train would keep-on-rolling in the third inning when Spencer hit a solo home run to left center.

In the fourth inning, the Glory would get on the scoreboard. With one-out, power-hitting Oli Keohohou reached via a walk. She was pinch ran for by Cambria Miranda. After a strikeout of Sara Larquier, Miranda stole second base. She then scored on a Spencer error of a Courtney Bures ground ball. Bures then advanced to second with a stolen base with Jessica Dignon at the plate. The Glory would get their second unearned run of the inning when Bures scored on a second Spencer error. But Burkhart got Callista Balko to fly out to end the half inning with the score 6-2 in favor of the Force.

The Force did not waste any time getting one of those runs back. Miller led off the bottom of the fourth with a blast over the center field fence. For Miller it was her second hit of the game, and her second run scored.

The NPF's defending champions, the Glory, mounted a major threat in the fifth. They loaded the bases with no outs on a Wilkerson error and infield singles to Nicole Barber and LaDonia Hughes. But rookie Burkhart got Amber Jackson on strikes, Keohohou on strikes, and Larquier on a grounder to third base to preserve the 7-2 lead.

Things got hairy for the Force in the top of the seventh. Burkhart got the first two outs of the inning on a strikeout and a fly out. But Hughes singled to right field and Jackson walked to put runners on first and second. Both runners would score on the fourth Force error of the game as Keohohou reached on a misplay by Peel in right field. Larquier kept the rally going when she reached a Friedman error, the fifth for the Force and second after two were out in the inning. But Burkhart put an end to the suspense when she got Bures to fly out to end the ballgame.

Burkhart pitched all seven innings. She allowed just four hits to the Glory offense and all the runs she allowed were unearned. Burkhart ended the tilt with 10 strikeouts.

Offensively, the Force pounded out 10 hits against the Glory pitching pair. Besides Burnum and Miller, Wilkerson had two base knocks in the game. Six different players scored at least one run.

In game one of the double-elimination tournament, the number one seed Chicago Bandits used two, two-run home runs to defeat the fourth seeded Riptide by a score of 4-1. Kristie Fox connected first for the Bandits, and Nicole Trimboli added another home run later for Chicago. The Riptide's only run came courtesy of a Lisa Modglin home run that gave New England an early, brief 1-0 lead.



National Pro Fastpitch Stories from August 23, 2008


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