WVC Fastpitch

NWAACC Softball Tournament - Crazy opening day for WVC


Eric Gordon
World sports writer
Posted May 17, 2008

PORTLAND — Friday’s opening round of the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges softball championships was a mixed bag of luck for the Knights of Wenatchee Valley College — some good, some bad.

The Knights beat Chemeketa 5-4 in thrilling fashion in the first round, then lost a nail-biter to Olympic 3-2 in the second round after a very controversial no-call in the field.
WVC trailed 4-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh and final inning of Game 1, and a rally didn’t appear likely at first.

After Katy Lafferty and Katrina Plucker both flied out to lead off the inning, the Knights needed a miracle — and they got it.
Leadoff hitter Kalena Keffler hit a hard shot to short that was bobbled briefly, and she outran the throw to first. Slugging pitcher Ranzy York followed with a deep fly to centerfield that was overrun and misplayed at the fence, and she ended up on second base after scoring Keffler. Miranda Rosebrook, the team’s leading hitter, then ripped an RBI single to cut the deficit to 4-3.
Meanwhile, cleanup hitter Rachael Glaspie anxiously awaited her turn.
“We had two outs, but I just knew she was going to get on,” Glaspie said of Rosebrook.
After falling behind in the count with two strikes, Glaspie sent a high flyball to center.
“When I got up, I was thinking, ‘Just a line drive in the gap, and she’s gonna score — hands up, and drive through,’ “ Glaspie said. “As soon as I hit it, I knew I hit it hard enough, but I hit it high.”
But it cleared the fence. Game over. And WVC coach Shelly Pflugrath wasn’t surprised.
“There’s no quit in them,” Pflugrath said. “It’s not the first time they’ve done it. That’s the product of hard work and confidence.”
Rosebrook finished 3-for-4, and Glaspie 2-for-3. They and York had WVC’s only hits in the game.
The Knights may have used up their ration of mojo for the day in the opener, as the breaks went the wrong way late in the game against Olympic, one of few teams in the tournament the Knights hadn’t seen yet this season.
WVC took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning after Ashley Gustin hit and RBI single and Laurel Wyatt later scored on a wild pitch by Olympic pitcher Erika Quint. But that was one of very few mistakes by Quint, who was otherwise dominant in an 11-strikeout effort. She had no walks, and hit just one batter.
Still, Knights’ starter Bri Compton was having a nice game of her own. Compton took a shutout into the seventh inning, having allowed just four baserunners to that point.
Then things began to unravel.
Olympic’s Natalie PaePae led off the seventh with a double. The next batter, Keri Leaverton, laid down a bunt that was fielded by WVC third baseman Jocelyn Slack, who properly looked PaePae back to second but never went back for the out at first base.
“We made a wrong choice on the bunt and didn’t get the out at one, then they got a double and it changed the inning,” Pflugrath said.
Controversy reared its ugly head three batters later, the score tied at 2-2 with two outs.
Olympic’s Carolyn Ebendo hit a routine grounder to Wyatt — a National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-American — at short, but baserunner Megan Kreifels never diverged from her course between second and third. The ball appeared to nick Kreifels’ foot, and Kreifels appeared to make contact with Wyatt as she bent down to scoop up the ball. Instead, the ball squirted under Wyatt’s glove and into the shallow outfield. The go-ahead run scored.
“She hit me — that’s all I have to say,” Wyatt said.
Pflugrath argued the play for several minutes to no avail — on both counts.
“Either way, that’s a dead-ball (out) and the run doesn’t score,” Pflugrath said.
Neither umpire would comment after running off the field immediately following the game.
Despite the loss, the East Region champion Knights can still win the NWAACC title in the double-elimination tournament, but they have a lot of ground to make up in the consolation bracket on Saturday, when they could play as many as three games, all in loser-out status.
Pflugrath said she’s confident her team can do it. She added that the bizarre loss won’t have any lingering effects on her or her team.
“It won’t change how we come to the ballpark tomorrow,” she said.