All stories by Mike Slenski

Christopher Newport vs Texas-Tyler 5/22/11

To the winners go the spoils! Some famous conqueror said that as he was plundering some hapless village or castle. No villages and castles here but the winner of this afternoon’s game between Christopher Newport University and Texas-Tyler will have the easy road to the championship game having only to play one game today. The loser today will play at noon on Monday and then the winner of today’s game again at 2:30pm. There is great motivation to win this contest for both teams. With that in mind, the TT Patriots got the bats going early against Kristin Townsend with singles by Brittani Hanna and Joey Cronin and a three run homer by second basemen, Whitney Wyly, to lead 3-0 at the end of the first half-inning. CNU responded in their half of the inning with a single by Kelly Foate, a walk to Atkinson and a sacrifice fly to center to score Foate. Your score after one, 3-1 in favor of Texas-Tyler. Texas-Tyler had a base runner on a hit batsman but were unable to muster any additional offense and were unable to score in the top of the second. CNU’s first batter in the second reached first on a walk but the next three batters went down to end the inning without a score. The score still 3-1 after two innings with Texas-Tyler in the lead. CNU is the tournament’s most prolific scoring machine and they did not disappoint their fans in the bottom of the third inning. The inning opened with a throwing error by Tyler second baseman, Whitney Wyly off a deflected ball hit off pitcher, Stacy Shepard’s glove . CNU responded with five singles wrapped around a base-on balls to Atkinson and Falin, Mitchell and Dillow had runs driven in as the Captains pushed five runs across in the bottom of the third inning to forge ahead 6-4 after three innings. Texas Tyler needed to respond. The leadoff batter was retired on a grounder to third but Brittanni Hanna and Lauren Robenalt notched singles to bring up third baseman, Joey Cronin. Cronin lifted a fly ball to deep centerfield that had the look of a hit that might leave the ballpark but centerfielder, Ashley Mani, jumped high in the air with one hand on the fence and snagged the ball before it left the park. It ended up being a long out and TT could not score. The play by Mani was the defensive gem of the tournament so far. CNU went down one, two three in the bottom of the fourth. Texas-Tyler needed the bats to come through to get the Patriots back in the game and that’s just what happened. Thomason and Petrick got on board with singles and a fielder’s choice by shortstop by Candice Zollars did not get an out so bases were loaded .Ashlee Johnson banged a single driving in Thomason. The Patriots has another single to score the third run of the inning and Texas-Tyler moved ahead 7-6 in the top of the fifth. The Captains of Christopher Newport managed two base runners in the bottom of the fifth but were unable to get any runners across the plate. The score after five innings of play, Texas-Tyler was ahead 7-6 over CNU. CNU’s Whitney Haller walked Whitney Wyly to open the top of the sixth and Thomason moved her to second a a nice sacrifice bunt. Taylor Petrick drove a sacrifice fly to right field and Wyly moved to third but Taylor Freudenberg grounded to short and the throw to first was in time to end the inning without a score for Texas-Tyler. Kristina McLaughlin opened the bottom of the sixth with a single up the gut for the Captains and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Ashley Mani. That brought Jessie Atkinson to the plate and she drove a double to deep center to plate McLaughlin to tie the game. The dangerous Jennifer Falin was up next but she would be facing reliever Katelyn Thomason in relief of M’Lynn Tillery. Jennifer Falin wasted no time in showing who the captain of the ship was when she drove one over the left field fence for a two run home run to move CNU ahead 9-7. This was Falin’s third home run of the tournament. Mitchell and Rawley got on base by way of a walk and a single. Katelynn Thomason did not retire a batter and Stacy Shepard, who started the game, game back in as a reliever. She retired Bedford native, pinch hitter Hannah Martin, on a sacrifice fly and struck out Candice Zollars to end the inning. Texas-Tyler was coming up for their potential last at bat unless they were able to come up with three or more runs. Ashlee Johnson was the first batter for the Patriots and was put out short to first. Jessie Bross was up next and took ball four on a 3-2 count. Brittani Hanna, who had been on base four times then sent a fly to center that was corralled by Ashley Mani for out number two. Lauren Robenalt was up next and went down on strikes to end the inning and the game. Christopher Newport University earned its way into the national championship game on Monday at 2;30pm with a 9-7 victory over Texas Tyler. Texas-Tyler was still alive in this double-elimination tourney and will play Monday at 12 noon against the winner of the Linfield College and SUNY Cortland game later this evening. Virginia’s Christopher Newport University is in the 2011 D-III National Championship Softball game on Monday at 2:30pm.

SUNY Cortland Vs Depauw 5/22/11

Game two was another elimination game in the losers bracket featuring the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons and the Depauw Tigers. Both teams had big offensive production in their tournament victories and got blasted by ten and eleven runs in their losses. Who knows which type of team will show up for each squad? If you could design a nightmare inning for a college softball pitcher, the first at bat for Depauw would qualify as nightmarish for SUNY Cortland pitcher Lyndsey Rowell. She gave up a lead-off single to Rachel McBeth, a sacrifice bunt to Brianne Weeks, and then errors by the Red Dragons shortstop and second basemen allowed the first of five unearned runs to score in the inning. Amy Hallett stroked a three run homer, deep over the left field wall. Depauw managed two singles wrapped around another error by second basemen, Donnalyn Cross and after one half inning, it was Depauw 5-0 over Cortland. SUNY Cortland could have packed it up and gone home psychologically but instead, battled back to score two runs. Donnalynn Cross plated a triple and set the D-III career record with (42) and was driven in by Lucia Meola who plated a single. Jessica Harman went deep to left field and after one inning of play it was Depauw 5 and Cortland 2. Depauw managed to get another runner on the base paths on another Jessica Harman error but the Red Dragons managed to get out of the inning without any runs being scored. The Red Dragons went down in order in the bottom of the second. Depauw added to their lead with an additional run in the top of the third because of two more errors by Harman and Cross. The bottom of the third began with three consecutive hits by Harman(2b), Cross(1b) and Meola(1b) with two runs scoring. Meola was thrown out trying to stretch that single into two bases and two ground outs third to first allowed the Red Dragons to Fight back to a 6-4 deficit after three innings. The Tigers got a runner on base via an error by third baseman, Lucia Meola, and followed that up with two singles to score their seventh run of the game. The Red Dragons went down in order in their half of the fourth and it was 7-4 after four innings. Depauw managed Jen Kosinski’s fourth hit of the game but three infield ground outs ended the top of the fifth inning without any runs being scored. The Cortland Red Dragons began the bottom of the fifth with four consecutive hits, and two runs scoring. Emily Bichler managed a wild pitch and smart base running by Cortland and poor judgment by Depaw allowed two more runs to score. A single by Meaghan Kohler drove in the fifth Cortland run of the inning and put them ahead 9-7.The Tigers of Depauw opened the top of the sixth with a single by Haley Buchanan followed by an error on a throw to first by catcher Amy Hallett and a fielders choice allowed a run to score and make the score 9-8 Cortland. Depauw was within one and the question now was how would SUNY Cortland answer? The short answer was with five more runs in the home half of the sixth. It was the third five run inning in this game, two by Cortland and one by Depauw. Emily Bichler walked three Red Dragons and Cortland managed three hits including Donnalynn Cross’s second triple of the game and the forty-third of her career, a NCAA D-III record. Your score after six innings played was Cortland 14 and Depauw 8. Lyndsey Rowell put the Tigers down in order in the top of the seventh and Cortland earned their way into the 7:30pm elimination game with Linfield College, a team who beat them in five innings 10-0 on Thursday’s first round. How to describe this game? Three five run innings, an NCAA D-III record tying eight errors committed by SUNY Cortland and the team that was behind five runs after a half inning wins by six runs 14-8. Great hitting and aggressive and savvy base-running by Cortland helped them win this wild and wacky game. This great victory by Cortland earns them the unenviable task of taking on the Linfield College Wildcats tonight after a two and one-half hour rest. This game had everything a softball fan could imagine. What would the next game hold? Stay tuned for the answer.

Linfield  vs East Conn State University  5/22/11  

The million dollar question in press row this morning was will Linfield College come back this afternoon and find their bats and become the run scoring juggernaut everyone expected to see. The smart money is that they will come back strong in today’s first game and make it through the losers bracket to the final. The first stop in that journey may be the toughest as they take on the Warriors of Eastern Connecticut State, the tournament’s second leading run producing team who also is batting .328. ECSU pitcher, Molly Rathbun has registered the most strikeouts in the tourney (21) and leads the tourney with her bat hitting two home runs and producing twenty-one total bases.   The Linfield Wildcats hit eight balls deep but inside the park at Moyer on Saturday. The question is, can they muster a little extra juice to get them over the fence today? Molly Rathbun of ECSU has more speed than the other pitchers that Linfield has faced so far in the 2011 D-III Softball Championships and that should be to their advantage as more speed coming in often means more jolt going back out into the field if they get the bat on the ball. Lauren Harvey started this critical elimination game for Linfield College and brought a 13-0 record into the contest and a 1.92 ERA. Harvey wasted no time getting through the top of the ECSU lineup, striking out two and catching a line drive.Linfield managed two base runners in their half of the first with a walk and a single by Emilee Lepp. Rathbun managed two strikeouts and a pop out to third and left two Wildcats on base.Harvey took out the Warriors one, two three and was cruising along after two innings pitched. Linfield left a runner on second base as Molly Rathbun struck out the final two batters of the inning. Nothing to nothing after two with these high-powered offenses both in check. ECSU got their first base runner of the game when the leader off hitter was hit by a pitch by Harvey. She proceeded to strike out batter number two and did the same with Rachel Soychak. The Warriors final batter grounded out third to first and ECSU was still looking for their first hit of the game. Linfied finally ended their scoring drought via a base-on-balls to Jaydee Baxter, a single by Emilee Lepp and a perfect sacrifice bunt by Staci Doucette to get a run across the plate for the Wildcats. The Wildcats led after three innings of play, 1-0.Arielle Cooper managed a double down the third base line after two outs for Eastern Connecticut State’s first hit of the game. Rachel Soychak found a hole between third and short for a single and drove in Cooper from second. The Warriors tied the score 1-1 after three and one-half innings of play. MollyRathbun retired Linfield in order in the bottom of the fourth and the game was tied 1-1 after four. Lauren Harvey struck out two of the three Warrior batters that she faced in the top of the fifth and ECSU failed to score. East Connecticut State made a pitching change in the bottom of the fifth, bringing on ChristineAkcer. She proceeded to walk the first two batters that she faced and Molly Rathbun came back in to pitch and retiredJaydee Baxter on a pop out. The flood gates opened up after that as the Wildcats recorded a triple by Lett, a double by Doucette and a single by Keagbine and four runs crossed the plate. Rathbun walked Karleigh Presstianni, then recorded an out on a line drive that knocked her glove off. Rathbun struck out pinch hitter Sami Kiem to end the inning but the damage was done and after five innings in this elimination game, Linfield College had a 5-1 lead over East Connecticut State University. ECSU threatened with two runners on base in the top of the sixth but Lauren Harvey struck out Rachel Soychakto end the threat. Jordon Mixsell started off bottom of the sixthinning with a single and Kayka Hubrich hit a bad hop double to left scoring Mixsell. Jaydee Baxter hit a drive to right and plated Hubrich but was thrown out trying to get to third. Emilee Lepp stroked a single to right and Staci Doucette was intentionally walked and the Warriors had runners on first and second Emily Keagbine was retired on a fly to centerfield andKarliegh Prestianni drove a shot over the right fielders head to score Lepp and Doucette and allow the Linfield College Wildcats to win 9-1 by the eight run rule. Linfield answered the question about their ability to move forward in the tourney. They did it by strategic hitting and taking the pitches offered and placing them to right field. They seemed to stop going for the long ball on each trip to the plate and that adjustment resulted in a 9-1 victory and another game at 7:30pm tonight against the winner of the game between Depauw and SUNY Cortland.

Christopher Newport  Captains vs DePauw  5/21/11  

Christopher Newport’s victory over East Connecticut State University 8-7 in eight innings should give the Captains a great deal of momentum going into this afternoon’s game with theDepauw Tigers. The Tigers eked out a 2-1 victory over Messiah in ten innings on Thursday afternoon and should their own momentum. The Captains started the game strong. Depauwpitcher, Emily Bichler, walked two of the first three batters and Jessie Atkinson drilled a double down the third base line and drove in two. The Captains continued to score with threesingles wrapped around some uncharacteristic poor fielding by the Tigers and CNU scored five runs in the first half inning of play. Depauw fought back to score one in their half of the first and the score after one was 5-1 in favor of the Captains. Christopher Newport kept the bats hot in the second whenKistina McLaughlin and Jessie Atkinson both went deep. CNU was up 7-1 after just two at bats. Whitney Haller walked two Tigers in the second inning buy got out of the second frame without any runs scored. The third inning was scoreless for both teams. Christopher Newport played long ball again in the top of the fourth when  Jesse Atkinson went yard again in this game and CNU led 9-1 after four and one-half innings played.Depauw put runners on second and third with one out and Jamie Story came up as a pinch hitter for the Tigers. Story lined a sharp hit just past the outstretched hands of the shortstop and two runs scored for Depauw. Your score after four innings was CNU 9 and Depauw  3. The Captains kept the pressure on with two more runs in the top of the fifth to go up 11-3 in the top of the fifth. Depauw must score three times in their part of the fifth in order to avoid the slaughter rule and the end of the game. The Tigers went out one, two, three and that was all she wrote.The hitting stars for the Captains were Kristina McLaughlin with three hits and three rbi’s and a stellar performance in the outfield. Jesse Atkinson had three hits as well including a double and two home runs. The Captains will play Texas-Tyler in the winners bracket in a 5pm game. Both teams came into the tourney with the most losses of any of theteams.    

Linfield College vs. Texas-Tyler

The” Legend of Linfield’ was about to be revealed to the fans in the stands of the of the James I. Moyer Softball Complex as they take on the Texas –Tyler Patriots in the winners bracket of the 2011 NCAA D-III Softball Championships. The number one, nationally ranked Wildcats have a reputation that proceedsthem. Ninety-seven home runs on the season, a record of (46-2), not allowing a run in the tournament so far and not playing a seven inning game in the tournament as well. What makes Linfield great? The answer is great players. I overheard two coaches talking about the fact there are only two major D-I institutions in Oregon and no D-II schools so Linfield gets their choice of some great players. They looked great in warm-ups and might have been more solidly built than players from the other teams we have seen so far. The first inning for the Wildcats saw a single, a pop out to first and two towering fly balls to the outfield that stayed in the park. Tyler also got the first runner on base in their half of the first but the next three batters were retired to end the first inning with a 0-0 score. Each inning that Linfield ends the inning with a zero on the scoreboard is a victory for the opposing team. Top of the second and still zero’s on the board for the Wildcats so the Patriots have two victories in the book after two more deep fly balls to right. The Patriots went down one two three in their half of the second. There is a solid contingent of Texas-Tylerfans  in attendance as evidenced by a bevy of cowboy hats in the stands behind the Patriots bench. A brilliant play by second baseman, Whitney Wyly, after a layout and a flip to the shortstop resulted in the final out of the inning. Another zero on the board for Linfield. Three innings and three victories for University of Texas-Tyler. Brittanni Hanna drove a double to deep centerfield and the Patriots had the lead off runner on second in scoring position. Claire Velaski made an errant throw to first base on a grounder to her and the ball got away from the first baseman and Hanna came around to score and give the Patriots a 1-0 lead after three innings of play. This was the first run scored against Linfield since April twenty-third when they were playing in the North West Conference Championship game. The question of invincibility for Linfield was beginning to come into play. Linfield managed to get runners on second and third in the top of the fourth but Patriots pitcher, StacyShepard, was involved in three straight putouts to get out of the inning without any runs scoring. Linfield threatened again in the top of the fifth with a single and a fly ball to the base of the fence in left field but two harmless pop outs to center ended the inning with no runs scored. Five victories in five innings for Texas-Tyler over Linfield with only two more innings to go.Staci Doucette walked to lead off the sixth inning and was sacrificed to second. That brought up senior shortstop, EmilyKeagbine. Keagbine reached on a four pitch walk and Alex Hartman came up to the plate with runners on first and second. Stacy Shepard picked up a third strike on the outside corner and the Wildcats were down to their last out in the sixth. Shepardretired Sami Keim on a 3-2 pitch on a held foul tip and the Linfield College Wildcats still had goose eggs next to their name on the scoreboard. The mighty Wildcats were down to one last at bat and UT-Tyler was trying to ad some insurance runs going into that final inning of play. Texas-Tyler scrapped out three singles and a throwing error by the Wildcats right fielder allowed run number two to score for the Patriots. Taylor Freudenberg stroked a single up the gut to centerfield and two more runs came in for the Patriots. Texas-Tyler plated three runs in their half of the seventh and went in to the top of the seventh ahead 4-0. Stacy Shepard retired the side in the Linfield top of the seventh with two long fly outs and a ball hit back to the pitcher. Shepard has now pitched fourteen innings in the tournament so far without giving up a run. Today’s game answered the question about legends very nicely and reinforced the old adage that games are won on the field and not on paper. Don’t count the Linfield Wildcats out yet because they had at least eight balls that were close to going out of the park and remember that an angry Wildcat is nothing to fool with.  

LUTHER College Norse vs SUNY-Courtland game (5)  11am elimination game  

It was a picture perfect day in southwest Virginia, with partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the low 70’s and the 2011 NCAA Softball Championships got under way at 11am at the James I. Moyer Softball Complex in Salem, Virginia. The first game matched SUNY-Cortland versus Luther College, both losers in the tournament’s first day on Thursday. The loser of this matchup would be heading home. The pitching matchup featured Lexy Determan of Luther College Courtland againstLyndsey Rowell of SUNY Cortland. Cortland’s Red Dragons got on the board first with single runs in the first and the third innings with shortstop Jessica Harman stroking a double in each inning and driving in the two Cortland runs. This quick moving game saw Cortland up 2-0 and Shari Huber of Luther with only two singles for the Luther Norse at that point in the game. On the top of the fifth, SUNY Cortland cranked out three singles and aggressive base running and Luther mental mistakes allowed them to plate two additional runs before the first out was recorded. Lyndsey Rowell kept shutting the Luther Norse out and the Red Dragons kept adding runs with two more in top of the seventh as two runs scored on a wild pitch by reliever, Becca Girvan. Luther loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the sixth and Kelsey Kittleson, the Norse catcher came up to bat. Kittleson send a grounder toward second and Donnalynn Cross fielded it cleanly and tossed it to first to end the Norse threat. After six innings of play, SUNYCourtland had the lead 6-0. Cortland went quietly in the top of the seventh one, two, three and Luther was down to three outs to score six. Christopher Newport did it last night to tie the game against ECSU. Could lightening strike twice at Moyer? A fabulous diving play by SUNY Cortland shortstop Jessica Harman to knock down a sure single up the middle and toss the ball to second for an out diminished Luther’s chances of starting a rally. The Red Dragon defense and aggressive base running allowed SUNY Cortland to win this elimination game 6-0 against the Luther Norse. The Red Dragons will move on to play Sunday at 2:30pm. Lyndsey Rowell was the games winning pitcher and she moved to 25-3 on the season.       

NCAA D3 Softball Championships at Moyer

 Salem Virginia- One of the Shining Stars in the NCAA Championship Universe   If you are a ESPN in Virginia listener, you know one of the Sports Center sponsor identifications says, “Sports Center is brought to you by Salem, Virginia’s Championship City”. That fact was in evidence again Thursday night as the opening round of the 2011 D-III Softball National Championships began with four games. The James I. Moyer softball complex was all spit-shined and polished with NCAA banners and placards everywhere. The new six foot high semi-permanent chain link fence was in place and covered with the dark blue banner material with all the NCAA Softball Championship logos on it. It was a great background for hitters and fans and made the field even more festive looking. The crack ground crew of the softball complex had the field in great shape for each of the four games played on it Thursday. Give credit to CareyHarvecutter, John Shaner and all of the city of Salem employees who help make Salem Virginia’s ChampionshipCity. They do a fabulous job with the annual Stagg Bowl D-III Football Championship game and the Men’s D-III Basketball Championship Tourney and the D-III and this year D-II Softball Championship Tourney. They operate like a finely oiled machine to create a life-long memory for players, coaches, fans and all involved in the event. I’ll be reporting on the events of the D-III Softball Championships all weekend long for ESPN Radio in Virginia. I hope you’ll come out and see these young women play softball with four games on Saturday and Sunday and the championship on Monday and possibly Tuesday. It will be worth your price of admission.   I was in place for the first rounds nightcap that began at 6:45pm between the Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors and Virginia’s Christopher Newport University Captains. The earlier action on Thursday saw the Linfield, Oregon Warriors, the tournaments eight-hundred pound gorilla, beat SUNY Cortland 10-0 in a five-inning slaughter rule game. The Warriors cranked out eleven hits and allowed on one hit and ran their tournament opposing team scoreless streak to seventy-nine innings. Texas-Tyler was a 1-0 winner over the Luther Norse from Decorah, Iowa in the day’s second game.The Depauw Tigers from Greencastle, Indiana nosed out the Messiah College Falcons of Granthan, Pennsylvania 2-1 in a ten inning affair. This double-elimination tournament will see all the teams in action again beginning at 11:00am Saturday morning.   That brings us to the final game of the day between Christopher Newport and Eastern Connecticut State. All the games are being broadcast on NCAA.com and it was great to have the broadcast crew in the downstairs press room at Moyer with the play-by-play crew, game producers and big screen monitors in front of we other media types who would be writing stories for newspapers and websites. We could see how the broadcast came together and could see all the field action on the big screen monitor though the eyes of four cameras stationed at key spots around the field. The story of this game dramatically changed as it proceeded towards an improbable ending and Katrina Waugh of the Roanoke Times and Gene Marranno, who was stringing for a Newport News paper, had to do multiple rewrites over the final two innings of the contest. They sure earned their money tonight and the frustration in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife.   The game featured pitchers with contrasting styles. TheCaptains pitcher, Krista Townsend, was a finesse pitcher hitting her spots with a variety of pitches. None seemed to be thrown with any great velocity. The Warriors, Molly Rathbun, was the opposite and struck out thirteen and walked eight during her eight innings of pitching. Hot hitting, Jennifer Falin, got Christopher Newport on the board first in the bottom of the second when she laced one over that new six-foot wall in left center. The previous fence was four foot high and movable. The reason for the change in fence height and mobility was because these young ladies can jack the ball out and too many players were running through the fences in pursuit of those deep hits in past seasons. Falin had two grand slam homers the previous weekend in tournament action. East Connecticut State plated three runs in the fourth and seventh innings with one run in the fifth for good measure and a 7-1 lead going into the Captains last at bat. Pitcher, Molly Rathbun, helped her own cause with a single, double, and home run that drove in three runs. She spent some time on the base paths with that offensiveoutput and that may have lead to the resulting outcome of the game. I heard the NCAA’s play-by-play guy utter these famous words, “East Connecticut got stronger as the game went longer”. The game was the slowest softball game that I have ever experienced and it lasted three hours and fifteen minutes which was close to the time it took to play the other three games of the day in total. I love college softball because it is such a quick-paced game that is full of action. I can’t tolerate college baseball because it is so slow-paced and laborious.   You have probably heard the expression that,’ it’s not over till the fat lady sings’. Well the expression and this game were made for each other. Before I explain what happened next, a word of caution. Never reference anything about women’s or girls sports and the FAT word. I still have the physical scars from an episode involving that combination earlier in my life. Now, here’s why the newspaper reporters had to do the rewrite. The Captains sent eleven players to the plate in the bottom of the seventh and yes they scored six runs and tied the game 7-7 after seven. Jesse Atkinson game up big with a triple over the head of the center fielder and Jennifer Falin hit another four-bagger for two for the game. There were also base-on-balls, hit batters, infield singles and regular singles. The Christopher Newport mojo was working and unbelievably, they tied that game up. Molly Rathbun, the ECSU pitcher, was cruising along with a sure victory when the wheels game off for her. I think all that hitting/running she did and extra pitches she had to throw to overcome the walks she gave up did her in. She had a .79 ERA going into this game and gave up seven earned runs in the game and five in the seventh inning. Well, do want to guess what happened next and how this game ended. Yes, you are correct, Christopher Newport scratched out a run in the bottom of the eighth inning after a leadoff walk to win the game 8-7 in eight innings. Joy and heartbreak were both present depending on which dugout you were associated with.   The first round of the 2011 D-III Championships was in the books and we had three one run games and two extra inning games. It was great excitement but the sphere of the Eight Hundred Pound Gorilla, the Linfield Wildcats, lurks in thebushes. No, I did not say that gorilla was FAT. Actually, the Wildcats are ready to show their strength again at 4:30pm Saturday. I plan to be there to see what happens. I hope you come out and see great college softball with me as well.