Even at the highest levels, fundamentals are key..

I had the opportunity last night to attend the opening home game of the UW Huskies who were playing #5 ranked UCLA Bruins under the lights. This was the first night game at home for UW. Very nice.

The game was a real pitching duel between Danielle Lawrie and UCLA’s Donna Kerr. We’ve come to expect a superb performance by Lawrie, but I was equally impressed by Kerr who threw a great shutout game. At 5′ 7″, Kerr did a great job of keeping UW hitters off-balance with a nice screwball that she threw both in and outside of the plate. UW only managed 4 hits over 7 innings.

So what was the difference in the game? It came down to a couple of plays by UW that proved costly. For any of you who have played for me, you probably are sick of hearing me harp on the importance of controlling the lead runner. Well, UW didn’t and it cost the game. In the top of the 6th inning with the score tied at 0-0, UCLA took advantage of a lead-off walk. They sac’d the runner to second. Then, a hard hit ball straight to the short stop… This is where trouble began. The runner blindly took off for 3rd.. Instead of easily getting the lead runner attempting to advance, the ball was thrown to 1st allowing the runner to safely reach 3rd. This setup the scoring play when UCLA’s Dani Yudin hit a two-out single to right field. Had UW stopped the lead runner (and it was not a difficult or close play), the score would have stayed tied thru the 7th.

One play, one decision can be the difference in the game. So we will keep focusing on stopping the lead runner, right?

See you on the field.