Tough Slide for the Rocks
It actually started out as a pretty good weekend for the varsity shamrocks softball team. They had a big 12 to 2 run rule win on Friday against their local rival Upper Arlington. Then on Saturday they played two games. The first was against Thomas Worthington and they came away with a 14 to 9 victory. The second was against Big Walnut and they took a 16 to 5 win in that game. Based on that score, I would guess it was another run rule. I don't remember for sure though.
The run rule or mercy rule basically states that after the fifth inning if one team is up by ten runs or more at the end of that inning, the game is over. At the university level the threshold is actually 8 runs after five innings I believe.
The intent is to keep a game from getting out of hand or keeping another team from getting absolutely destroyed by foregoing those final two innings. The problem is, if the one team has a monster first and second inning, you can still see some pretty lopsided scores as we have in the past. Sure, the game may have stopped at the fifth inning, but the score might still be 25 to 2 or something outrageous like that.
Unfortunately, for the lady rocks, the bats have suddenly went quiet the first part of this week. I know my niece has been in a bit of a hitting slump and my heart is breaking for her. She has still been making some fantastic defensive plays at short stop, but I just know deep down it is bugging her that she hasn't been hitting well.
Monday the ladies faced a Hilliard Bradley team that is ranked pretty high in the state. They lost 0 to 10 in that game and as you can probably guess by the score it was a run rule. There was a bit of drama during the game as some of the parents got into a heated exchange with each other.
Clearly I am a bit biased, but my sister in law who is pretty level headed explained it like this: Bradley is a good team, and they know they are a good team. Unfortunately, they aren't very humble about it, nor are their parents. So arguing calls with the single umpire in the game (usually there are two, so he was obviously doing his best) when you are up by seven runs is kind of bad form.
So, shout out to you, you classes trash parents of the Hilliard Bradley squad. I hope you are proud of your podunk behavior and may this post that is forever on the blockchain come back to haunt you frequently and forcefully.
Last night, the Shamrocks faced a team from Olentangy Liberty team that they previously lost to earlier in the month of April. That meeting saw a 14 to 4 loss for the Rocks. The loss last night wasn't quite as bad at 0 to 7. Like I said, the bats have been pretty quiet lately, and I hope they can get them in gear soon because they still have nine games left to play in the regular season.
It's possible they might squeak into the playoffs too.
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