SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS: Coming into tonight’s game the Queens and Firebells were tied 2-2 for the season, but three of the boxscores were as lopsided as a little kids’ seesaw.
The Firebells beat LA in a blowout to climb to the top of the leaderboard on the back of their Captain, Kelsie Whitmore, who had a Shohei Ohtani kind of day. The two-way killing machine now has back to back six-RBI games against the SoCals, four from the grand slam that eluded her hitting for the home run cycle last night. And her pitching stats? Four innings of two runs on five hits, two free passes, and a pair of K’s.
LA’s starter Suzu Narasaki, making her WPBL debut, brought her methodical delivery to the mound and the Firebells just stood at the plate, with their bats cocked, lying in wait. Everyone in SF’s starting lineup got on base – many, many times. The Queens, who went back to the drawing board to shuffle the batting order, popped up, grounded out, and sent fly balls to all the wrong places.
Ashton Lansdell gave LA the offense they hoped she would, but her prolific 3-4 ended on a sour note when she tried to rally her team from an insurmountable deficit – racing to second on a long outfield single, only to be tagged out at second to end the game.
Alexia Jorge continued her torrid hitting, 3-4 with four RBI’s. Amanda Gianelloni, the first to sign a WPBL contract, always finds a way to get on base – she walked, got plunked twice, singled and scored a run.
And SF’s Skylar Kaplan had a coming out party, going 4-4, sending three teammates across the plate, while being a line of dazzling defense in the outfield. On any other night, she would’ve been Player of the Game, but on this night, Whitmore was the belle of the ball.
San Francisco will try to make it four in a row against a New York team that got the best of them the first time around, while LA will look to rebound against the surging Boston Hunters.