THE ROCKET REPORT
HARRIS’ 3 HR, 9 RBI NIGHT ROUTS TIGERS
by Brianne Henry,(OOC: This is written IC-ly before it became known Florentssen committed suicide. That will be covered separately).
If you didn’t watch the game last night (and the real question would be, why didn’t you watch the game?) And I told you that the Rockets defeated Super-Llamaland 17-3, you would have likely responded, “I don’t care about the World Bowl friendly, how about the baseball game?” Then you would begin to ponder a couple things, first being that Super-Llamaland isn’t known for having a gridiron team, and second, you’d be confused that the Rockets won a gridiron to begin with. So then, yes, 17-3 was indeed the final score of the game last night. How could this happen?
On the mound for the Tigers was Axel Florentssen, and there would be no reason to think that things were about to go as south for him as they would here tonight. Jennifer Hughes would be on the mound for the Rockets, with the team in theory needing to get nine big innings for her because the Tigers pitching staff has been so dominant during this playoff. Sometimes, when it rains, it pours. But in this case, it poured and caused flooding for Super-Llamaland. What that team knows, though, is it is just one game. The most important score right now is 2-1, with the sky blue holding the edge in this series. The Tigers know they are much better then that, and the Rockets know they are as well. Manager Ashley Stevens also is well aware that her team isn’t really that good. Will there be carryover from such a lopsided victory? All too often we see it happen in baseball where the day after putting up a big number like this, they can’t get a run in the next game. Though there’s actually a reason I speculate for that, as a team likely gets the runs against a #5 starter then goes up against an ace in the game. So, the key for Newmanistan is to realize that what happened in game 3, stays in game 3. It means nothing for Game 4 and beyond.
That’s not to say we can’t, as fans, enjoy a flashback of what happened last night. Let’s get started.
Bottom 2nd- With the score 0-0 after one, Mallory Harris destroyed a high fastball, sending it 446 feet, to give the Rockets the advantage. “I felt good coming into the game. I saw the pitch well and I knew I could get a good swing on it, so did I, at that time, swing for the fence? Yes. Yes, I did.” Harris said. Kayla Carey was walked to follow, on four pitches. Florentsson’s next three pitches were balls as well, but Stephanie Reynolds got the green light to swing at the 3-0 pitch, and she continued her hot streak, lacing a double into right field to make it 2-0. Michelle Covington and Hannah Kent were retired, but the next batter may have set the tone for the game. Opposing pitcher Jennifer Hughes stepped up to the plate, and Florentssen may have got a little lazy to Jennifer, tossing her a very hittable pitch. Hughes got good wood at it, and it went a long way. All the way over the fence in left field to give the Rockets the 4-0 lead. Hughes will hit 2 or 3 homers a year, so she is not worthless with the bat. Of the homer, Hughes said, “In that situation, you just go up to the plate and want to do something to bring in the run or at least continue the threat. I have confidence in myself to do that. I’ve hit a few home runs before but you never expect to hit one. To do it in that situation was amazing!” Florentssen seemed rattled, and would hit Hannah Bates with his next pitch. Bates gave him a long stare as if wondering if it was intentional. But Florentssen’s quick apology convinced Hannah it was not, as she could be seen nodding to him. A nice defensive play on a Lexi Alcorn liner ended the inning.
Bottom 3rd- After retiring Brittany Morgan, Florentssen conceded his third home run of the game, and second to Mallory Harris. It was if he wanted to prove he could beat her with the same pitch that she hit out of the park before, but that would be a big mistake. The same pitch, got the same result, with the exception being that this one only traveled 427 feet. The threat was over at that point, but the Rockets had now opened up a five run lead.
Looks good, right? Well, remember how they lost Game 2 of the series, where they also jumped out to an early lead, and then got quiet. Clearly manager Stevens had something to say about that, and clearly the message was about to be delivered. After the Tigers cut into the lead to make it 5-2, the team was not about to let it happen again.
Bottom 4th- Hannah Kent leads off the inning with a single up the middle, and is sacrificed over to second by Hughes. Bates would be the next one up to the plate, and she would bloop a single into left center, with Kent only able to get to third. She would score on a Lexi Alcorn single, and Bates and Alcorn would execute a double steal, to put runners on second and third with one out. Florentsson would walk Brittany Morgan, which proved to be his last batter of the night. Up next was Mallory Harris, who was 2-for-2 with two solo shots, up with the bases loaded. There would not be a grand slam, but Harris would double into left field to clear the bases, and make it 9-2 in favor of the Rockets, bringing her RBI count up to five. She would score on a Kayla Carey single to finish the threat.
In the top of the 5th, the Tigers would score one more in what would end up being the last inning of the game for Jennifer Hughes. Not because there was anything wrong with her, but because manager Stevens knew the best way to use this lead to the team’s advantage in a later game, would be to keep Hughes as fresh as possible for a future game, probably game 6, if needed. In came Kaitlyn Carroll at that point. Besides, the Rockets were up 10-3. Who could ever blow a 10-3 lead in a critical game at the World Baseball Classic playoffs? Manager Ashley Stevens was right on top of it. “I told the team in the dugout to remember Drawkland-Scootalove City. Anything is possible.”
Bottom of the 6th- Lexi Alcorn stepped up to plate and would lead it off with a triple, and would score on a Brittany Morgan single to make 11-3. Next up is Mallory Harris, who had been having a huge game, and she would add to the stat line, smacking her third home run over the fence, this one at 433 feet, to make it 13-3. Bring the RBI count up to seven.
Bottom 7th- The Rockets continue to smack the ball hard as Hannah Kent leads off the inning with a home run to make it 14-3. Pinch hitter Kenzie Magee singled, followed by a walk to Hannah Bates. Alcorn and Morgan would be retired, but Mallory Harris stepped up and singled to bring in two, giving her nine RBI’s in the game. She would score on a Stephanie Reynolds single.
That would do it for the scoring. After the game, Harris told reporters, “It was a special game, and we’ll enjoy it tonight but there is a lot more to be played. They are certainly going to want to prove that they are a better team then this, even though we know that they are. In a series like this, you have to keep on pushing. We’ve seen teams blow seven run leads in one inning in the playoffs. You cannot let up, and we didn’t.” The short game by Jennifer Hughes will mean she will be good to go for game 6, if needed. Courtney Duvall will go in game 4, with Hannah Lee going to go in game 5. For game 7, potentially, it can be Duvall again, but we’ll have to see how things go. If the Rockets jump out to a big lead, or if the Tigers do, expect to see Duvall also have a shortened start, with Jessica Gray likely utilized.