From the Sidelines
Mike Norris
Sports writer
Twenty-one runs in one inning is a lot. Especially when the team that gave up those runs only used two pitchers.
This past Friday the Marion High School Warriors softball team completed a sweep of the Haven Wildcats when it finished off its 4A rival 26-2 in the second game of a doubleheader.
After losing the first game 14-6, Haven started the same pitcher in game two.
Through one inning the score was tied at one. After two, MHS led 5-2.
Then they poured it on.
A 21-run third inning that seemed to last longer than the entire previous game, gave Marion a 2-0 record.
Don't get me wrong, it was fun to watch, but the Haven coaching staff made an error bigger than anyone in the field.
They left their pitcher in entirely too long.
After just five runs were scored in the third inning and no outs, the Wildcat staff changed pitchers. The new one, who has some heat but was wild, proceeded to give up 15 runs over the next 30 minutes.
Walk after walk, hit after hit, run after run, the staff still left her in. It was obvious she was struggling. At least to everyone outside the Wildcat dugout.
Not once did the coaches even go out and talk to her, until finally, after 15 runs and just two outs, they made a change.
The original pitcher was coming back in. It seemed an obvious choice about eight runs before. While she was getting hit hard earlier, at least she was throwing strikes.
Result: one pitch, line-drive out. Inning over.
The move needed to be made much earlier. The second pitcher left the field in tears, and probably wondered if she ever wanted to step foot on a softball field, much less a pitcher's mound, ever again.
If a major league manager left a young pitcher out on the mound for that long, even he would have his confidence crushed.
Now, imagine a high school athlete the center of attention for more than a half hour, and not the center of good attention.
It was humiliation.
High school aged athletes are old enough to understand not everyone plays and winning is a big deal. At the same time they are still learning and when your softball opponent is ahead by 20 or more, a coach should do all she can to end the game quickly.
The obvious way to do that would have been to insert the previous pitcher long before she did.
The Warriors should be applauded for their 40 runs scored over two games, they did nothing wrong.
Unfortunately, the Haven coaching staff did.
