SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS: It was 79 degrees at game time – felt like 84, but a beautiful night for a California rival battle royale.
Righthander Amayi Sato, coming off her player of the game performance, locked horns with Liz Gilder – a versatile lefty, equally adept at starting and finishing. A fixture on the Canadian Women’s National Baseball Team, Gilder set the stage for San Francisco’s proficient pitching staff, giving up a pair of unearned runs on seven hits in four innings of play.
Sato had another uncharacteristic outing, knocked out of the box after four innings of six earned runs and three strikeouts – all from looking. The WPBL’s number two overall pick did not get a whole lotta love from the home plate umpire – some of her pitches were centimeters out of the strike zone.
Firebells captain Kelsie Whitmore was the star of the night – repeatedly rocking the celebratory chain with a solo, a two and a three-run dinger – one shy of hitting for the home run cycle. The Banana Ball favorite was 3-4, raking in six RBI’s.
Amira Hondras, who broke out on Opening Day with a 4-4, 4 RBI game, was back in the lineup after getting beaned in the head a week ago. She led off the show with a single to center, scoring the Queens first run of the night. Maggie Foxx followed suit in the same area code, and Jamie Mackay made it 2-0 with a first pitch ground rule double.
Jill Abayati brought the Firebells within one in the bottom frame with a sharp ground ball up the middle, scoring Amanda Gianelloni, who reached on an error, then flashed some heads up baserunning sliding into second on a failed attempt at the plate.
San Francisco DH, Rosi del Castillo led off the fourth with a double the opposite way which opened the floodgates for a four run inning on five consecutive hits.
The two-way player from Puebla, Mexico became the reliever for an inning and two thirds, keeping batters off balance with a mix of off-speed breaking balls, surrendering one hit to go with her three K’s. After tossing her 24th pitch, she left the game prematurely, hobbling off the field after an existing knee injury flared up.
More rivalry to come tomorrow with the East Coasters as Boston tries to bounce back after a drag down eighth inning loss against NY.