Emotional Overload at the Women’s College World Series

This year’s Women’s College World Series has left me emotionally drained. We have seen, in a 48 hour period, a walk-off grand slam, a walk-off bases loaded walk, great diving catches, blazing speed, a record number of home runs, brilliant coaching decisions, poor plays, umpiring controversies, constant smiling from Kristin Schnake, tears and dogpiles. And we saw Jazlyn Lunceford.

After 11 hours of watching yesterday, and 12 hours the day before, I can honestly say I have never seen a series of baseball or softball games like the ones we saw this weekend. I don’t think I have ever seen a walk-off grand-slam, like the one by Florida’s Ali Gardiner, hitless in her last 15 at bats, with two outs and a team down by three, in an elimination game.

I’m quite sure I have never seen a coach take out a four time All-American (or whatever the baseball equivalent is), and send up a freshman pinch-hitter, with the bases-loaded, trailing by two late in an elimination game. But when Alabama freshman Jazlyn Lunceford launched the ball over the left-field fence for what would be the game-winning grand slam, in an elimination game, I realized I would never see a play like that again. I'm quite sure I have never seen a home run hitter, rounding third base, chest-bump the coach the way Lunceford did. It was a pinch-hit for the ages, one that would be remembered years from now when you think about the 2009 WCWS. That would be the most memorable moment of this world series, so I thought. Until Gardiner hit her slam.

Along the way, we saw the National Player of the Year, Washington’s Danielle Lawrie look sharp, then struggle, then with the entire crowd on their feet, give up a walk-off, full-count, bases loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth inning; then come back in the second game of the day and pitch a complete game win, and hit her own grand slam.

We were treated to the constant smiling of Georgia’s Kristin Schnake, making her final appearance in a collegiate game. Not only was the grin on her face still beaming as her team faced elimination, but after the game, and Georgia was eliminated by Washington, Schnake and her teammates continued to beam huge smiles, prompting announcer Jessica Mendoza to comment that you couldn’t tell which team won by looking at their team reactions.

I have been a baseball fan all my life, and yet I find the Women’s College World Series much more entertaining than the Major League Baseball World Series. In the WCWS, you get game after game (sometimes 4 in a day!) of high drama. In every game of the weekend, a team may be eliminated and careers ended. You see constant emotion, positive and negative, and the team celebrations during and after the games are much more intense than anything you will see in a pro baseball game, except perhaps when a team wins the World Series. You see the top pitchers for each team pitch game after game after game, and pitcher’s duels where the starters pitch extra inning complete games. In fact, earlier in the Regionals, both Lawrie and Massachusetts' Brandice Balschmiter pitched 15 epic innings into the darkness, both pitching for the second time that day. We'll never see most of this in Major League Baseball.

Which sadly brings me to the umpires, and specifically Sally Walker. It has not been a good series for the umpires. And while Sally Walker has been one of the top softball umpires in the country for a long time, regularly advancing to the WCWS and chosen to umpire World Cup of Softball, she has had made some very bad decisions in this tournament. She ruled a fly ball to be foul, which then landed fair beyond the fence in left field, taking a home run away from Washington. She ruled no-catch on a caught line drive to the firstbaseman in one of Friday’s games, and then by umpiring decision, advanced the runners to advance a base they shouldn’t have gotten to. And she failed to call a single illegal pitch, even though it was obvious to everyone watching the Georgia’s Christie Hamilton was throwing illegal pitches by the dozens. Walker’s explanation to the Missouri coach, of why she hadn’t called any illegal pitches, was a classical example of deflecting the question. Walker told the Missouri coach that she was watching where the pitcher was starting from ... even though the rule in question speaks about where the pitcher’s foot lands and not where the pitcher starts from.

The illegal pitch problem is one softball needs to solve. While most fans, and probably many players and coaches wouldn’t recognize most other illegal pitches when they happen, this particular rule requires a pitcher to land with her foot inside or on a chalk line. When the foot is entirely outside of the line, this is an illegal pitch. This particular rule is easily understood by everyone, and easily seen on TV and I presume, at the game. Why put in lines to make it easier for the umpires to call the play, if the umpires aren’t going to call this? Softball has a real credibility problem here, and the leaders of the sport need to fix this to prevent the feeling, voiced by some fans on Twitter and I’m sure elsewhere, that Georgia didn’t deserve the success they had.

Looking forward, the WCWS continues tonight with the Championship Round. Number one ranked Florida, versus number three ranked Washington. Best two out of three. And most likely, the two top pitchers in the country will take the mound each and every game. The anticipation is killing me.