After getting out to an early 5-0 lead, the “visiting” Boston Hunters were smoked by the SF Firebells with 13 unanswered runs on the way to the Firebells’ 13-7 victory in the final game of the WPBL’s regrettably brief regular season. Kelsie Whitmore tied Denae Benites for the league home run lead in 3rd inning and tried very hard to go ahead in her final at-bat, but ultimately struck out swinging.
The Hunters got things going early against Firebells starter Nicki Eckert. Lexi Hastings singled and promptly stole second. Denver Bryant hit a hot line drive that Eckert nearly gloved as it sailed over her head. Firebells 2B Amanda Gianelloni corralled the ball and got Bryant at 1B but Hastings moved to 3B. Alli Schroder grounded to 1B to score Hastings. Molly Paddison hit a grounder to 2B which Gianelloni bobbled, allowing Paddison to reach. But Edith De Leija hit a bouncer back to the mound to end the inning. 1-0 Hunters.
Hunters starter Olivia Bricker faced the minimum in the first and second innings, aided by a first inning double play off the bat of Skylar Kaplan. Eckert gave up a leadoff hit to Ticara Geldenhuis in the second, but got the next three batters to strand Geldenhuis on the basepaths.
Things unraveled a bit for Eckert in the top of the third. She gave up back to back walks to Hastings and Bryant to start the inning. Alli Schroder, who has really been turning it up on offense lately, doubled to score both baserunners. Paddison grounded to third, but Schroder advanced on the play. De Leija doubled to score Schroder. Ticara Geldenhuis grounded to 3B but Ayaka Yamamoto threw the ball into Firebells’ dugout. De Leija scored and Geldenhuis ended up on second. Eckert buckled down and struck out Suzu Yamamoto looking and Raine Padgham swinging to end the inning. But the score was now 5-0 Hunters.
Nothing else went right for the Hunters offensively until the seventh inning as Eckert along with relievers Rosi Del Castillo and Peyton Coria combined to keep the Hunters off the board. But the Firebells lit up Boston pitching after the first pass through their batting order.
Having only faced six batters in the first and second, Bricker started the third inning against the bottom of the Firebells’ batting order. Jua Park grounded out to second, but then Ela Day-Bedard was hit by a pitch and Ayaka Yamamoto singled, bringing up the top of the Firebells’ order. Amanda Gianelloni flied out to shallow center. Up stepped Kelsie Whitmore who has been torturing Hunters pitching– her last four home runs have all come against the Hunters. Whitmore proceeded to pull the first pitch out to left field for a no doubt three run homer, tying Denae Benites for the league lead in homers.
Skylar Kaplan singled and Andreanne Leblanc hit a hot shot to 3B that ate up Denver Bryant. Alexia Jorge walked to load the bases. Joely Leguizamon grounded to short, and Bricker may have breathed a sigh of relief.
Relief was short-lived, however, after the Hunters went 1-2-3 in their half of fourth inning. Hunters reliever Maika Dumais gave up a leadoff four pitch walk to Jua Park. Sub Mendoza line hitter Ela Day-Bedard singled. Ayaka Yamamoto hit a bouncer to the hole between 1B and 2B, but Hunters 2B Suzu Yamamoto reached out and snow-coned the ball, flipping to Alli Schroder at 1B for the Yamamoto-Yamamoto put-out. With the runners now in scoring position, Amanda Gianelloni doubled on the first pitch she saw to tie the game. Whitmore grounded to short, setting the stage for one of the Firebells signature two-out rallies.
Kaplan singled, scoring Gianelloni who had moved to third on Whitmore’s ground out. Leblanc walked, and Jorge was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After grounding out in the last inning to end a bases loaded threat, Leguizamon singled cleanly to score Kaplan. Park doubled in her second at-bat of the inning to clear the bases, and Dumais’ night was over, having failed to get out of the inning. Kate Blunt got Day-Bedard to ground out to short, but the Firebells were now up 10-5 after scoring seven in the fourth.
In the bottom of the 5th, Yamamoto led off against Blunt with a single and Gianelloni doubled. With a runner at third and no outs, Whitmore hit a sac fly to deep center. The incoming throw clanked off relay Suzu Yamamoto’s glove and trickled into the infield, allowing Gianelloni to score a second run on the play. Kaplan singled, Leblanc fouled out, and Jorge singled, which chased Kate Blunt from the game. Gigi Schiano became the Hunter’s fourth pitcher of the night and got Leguizamon to pop up to the catcher to end the inning with the score 12-5 Firebells.
Again Boston went quietly in the top of the sixth, which brought up an intriguing subplot. With the bottom of the Firebells order due up against Schiano in the sixth, would Whitmore get another at-bat to try and take sole possession of the home run lead? Park walked and Day-Bedard collected her second hit-by-pitch of the game. Things were looking probable for another Whitmore at-bat, but Ayaka Yamamoto hit into a 4-6-3 double play, with Park moving to 3B. Luckily for Whitmore and the rest of the Firebells, Amanda Gianelloni is finding her stroke leading into the playoffs. Gianelloni hit her third double in a row, scoring Park and giving Whitmore a chance to come to the plate.
With the Firebells up 13-5 at this point, Whitmore could be forgiven for taking some rips in her final at-bat. She took a vicious cut at the first offering but swung through a high fastball. Ball outside, strike on the outside edge, ball outside– Whitmore has pull power and it was clear the scouting report says to stay on the outside edge when pitching to her. Whitmore tried to time the next soft breaking ball on the plate, but again swung through it for the strikeout. Mad respect to both Denae Benites and Kelsie Whitmore for a highly entertaining home run chase this season.
In some sense this was a meaningless game because the post-season alignment has already been settled, with the Hunters squaring off against the “home field advantage” Firebells in the semi-finals. But the Hunters did not want go quietly in the seventh and leave with no momentum going into the playoffs.
After a 1-2-3 sixth against Firebells’ reliever Peyton Coria, Hastings led off against Coria the seventh with a double. Denver Bryant singled home Hastings, but was nailed trying to stretch a double when a perfect throw from RF Skylar Kaplan arrived just before Bryant. That baserunning glitch loomed larger when Schroder homered for the second run of the inning. Paddison struck out swinging. De Leija singled, bringing up the Hunters’ most consistent offensive threat, Ticara Geldenhuis. Coria eventually prevailed and Geldenhuis flied out to left. But the Hunters put the Firebells on notice that they would not be going quietly in the playoffs.
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