558 N. Main St., Prineville, OR 97754 | (541) 447-6205
Thunder rolled and lightning filled the sky, cutting short Wednesday’s softball doubleheader between the Crook County Cowgirls and the Summit Storm.
The Storm won game one of the series 9-3, and were leading 4-1 in the top of the third inning of game two when conditions became unplayable.
Although weather was the big story, it was not the only fireworks of the afternoon.
“I got booted out of the game,” said Crook County head coach Garry White. “We had seven close calls go against us in a row. We finally got one that was real obvious, that the girl wasn’t on the base and he didn’t make the call, so I decided I had had enough and told him what I thought.”
The problems for Crook County started long before White was kicked out early in the second game of the contest.
Summit pitcher Jacqueline Manley limited Crook County to just four hits in the contest, while the Storm pounded out 11 hits. Adding to their woes, the Cowgirls made four errors in the contest.
The Cowgirls managed to take an early lead with a run in the top of the first inning. However, the Storm scored a pair of runs in the second inning, then added another run in the third, and two more in the fourth as they took control of the contest.
The Storm finally broke the game wide open with three more runs in fifth inning.
Crook County tried to rally, scoring a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning, but it was too little, too late as the Storm cruised to the easy win.
“It was the same thing,” White said. “We just didn’t hit the ball and we did not play good defense. I know it sounds like a broken record, but you could take what I said about almost any of our recent games and it would apply to tonight’s first game.”
Summit jumped on top again in the second game, before White had finally seen enough.
“I don’t know what happened in the second game because I wasn’t there,” White said. “I’m sure our athletic director, Scott Polen, and the OSAA are going to want to talk to me about that.”
With the win, the Storm breaks a three-game losing streak while moving their record to 4-18. Meanwhile the Cowgirls fall to 10-14.
The two teams will meet again this afternoon in Prineville, picking up where they left off Wednesday before playing the third and final game of the season later in the afternoon.
OSAA regulations require a coach to miss the next game following an ejection, so White will not be there for Friday’s game, which is the final game of the year for the Cowgirls. He will be replaced by assistant coaches Stevie Howard and Jessica Cross.
The game was originally scheduled for 4:30 p.m. However, White said he expects the two teams to start earlier now that they are playing more than one game.
“Obviously I won’t be there,” he said. “But I expect that we will start at 3 or 3:30 p.m., now that we have more innings to play.”
Summit 9, Crook County 3
Crook County 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 — 3 4 4
Summit 0 2 1 2 3 1 x — 9 11 1
