I cost Maize softball the regional championship
May 15, 2008 @ 10:12 p.m. by Joannaby joanna
At least that’s what the woman sitting next to me at the Class 6A regional championship game at Maize thinks. No lie. All because of my innocently mentioning extra innings. Not that I expected them.
OK, let me explain. The woman sitting next to me — whose name I do not know — was there because her daughter is a JV player at Maize and her daughter sang the national anthem (unbelievably well, mind you!). This lady and I chatted all game and toward the end I mentioned something, I couldn’t even quote it exactly, about extra innings. At the time Maize was leading 1-0 and I did think, based on how Northwest kept missing opportunities to score, that Maize would win and would go to state. Well, as soon as I committed this cardinal sin, she turned to me and said (half-joking, mind you) that I would be blamed if Maize ended up going to extra innings and would be even more to blame if Maize lost.
Now I don’t want to hear from anyone who thinks she was being ridiculous. I know how fans are — you watch your favorite team on TV and if they start doing poorly suddenly, you try to remember what you were doing when they were playing well and start doing it again. Don’t hate. You know if you’re a fan, you’ve partaken in this before. I admit it. I’ve done it. It doesn’t work, but you think it does.
Anyway, Maize ends up losing the game and she does blame me. I felt it. So I’m sorry. I am. I don’t care who wins or loses, but I’m not out to be part of any jinxes, either.
Moving on…..
I really did not think that Northwest would win this game. Especially after Maize swept the Grizzlies last Friday night 3-0 and 7-2. But Northwest came through in the top of the seventh with three two-out hits and a walk. Very, very impressive win. Now can Northwest make any noise at state? That I do not know about. (Isn’t Olathe East just going to win 6A again anyway? I mean, come on.)
Now onto my evening. This was one of those nights when I absolutely love my job. Whereas Tuesday night I had to deal with the obligatory complaints about where someone’s paper always ends up (really, I have no clout, I don’t know who the delivery people are and I’m asleep when they’re delivering your paper. I would help if I could).
But tonight, the weather was gorgeous, I sat in the very cool stadium seats at Maize, I looked out at a wonderful field that had a large M mowed into the outfield. There was a good crowd, I could see the Maize baseball scoreboard so I could keep up with that game (it’s a much nicer scoreboard by the way. Why don’t any businesses come through for the softball team? It’s a fair question.) The crowd was nice and I loved eating my Dill Pickle seeds. And Maize junior catcher Taylor Funk came up to me between games and said that she appreciated what I had written, that she was my new favorite athlete. Can I just say that solidified even more how cool she is? And after the game she talked to me about the loss — which makes her even better? None of that — “sniff, sniff, I can’t talk right now.” Nope, she did her business with the dang media and moved on.
On top of that I saw a wonderful game. Who can beat a night like that? Probably not many of you being that there wasn’t much going on. So I win.
Now, where were you? See anything interesting?
May 15th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Courtney White and Jessica Odell both had phenomenal games. Maize’s defense made a lot of big plays to keep the score 1-0 through 6 innings.
Northwest just got the clutch hits they needed in the 7th inning to get 2 runs and Maize couldn’t capitalize in the bottom of the 7th.
This was a very heart-breaking loss for Maize.
Goddard baseball pounded Heights 15-5 to advance to state.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
It was all your fault Joanna. You should know better than saying stuff like that.
Now Maize wont advance. I really wanted to see them get demolished by Goddard.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Joanna, I was at TRYC watching the 3A Regional last night. Independent handles Chaparral as expected, and Medicine Lodge beat-up on Halstead (no surprise there either). However the Championship game was one of those “keep ‘em hangin’ around long enough and it could get interesting” games. That is what happened to Independent. They have previously beaten Med Lodge four times, but the Lady Indians were pretty pumped after beating Halstead, and they kept hangin’ around with the Panthers. Good game, lots of action, a homerun by ML (to tie the game), a great deal of umpire controversy, upset players, coaches, and parents. Great weather and a couple of Polish sausages! Good game, good winners, and good losers. ML should be very proud for hangin’ in there. They played with a lot of heart and never gave up. Good night for watching a good ball game.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Thanks for the update on Independent. That’s a game I would have liked to have covered, and I’m bummed that I didn’t get to see an Independent game this year. But I’ve certainly kept up. What I like about this post is the person didn’t dog anyone, just laid it out there. There was controversy, but it was interesting, Medicine Lodge was tough, it was a good night. I like this person, whoever you are.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:29 am
jay how can you talk trash about maize? wanting to see them “demolished” by goddard
They split during the regular season. Which means each team won one game a piece. (i wasnt aware if you needed me to clear that up for you) :)
neither side has earned the right to open their mouths about future meetings. you make yourself sound dumb by saying two teams so evenly matched would not be a good game. Even though maize is not going to be there next week, you cannot take anything away from the season they had. doing so is foolish!
May 16th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
“jay how can you talk trash about maize? wanting to see them “demolished” by goddard”
Its called a rivalry guy.
And thanks for the info on what a split is, I had no idea (sarcastic).
May 16th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
-Joanna
Not sure if you were informed or not but their are regional track meets tonight…what? no love for track?
May 16th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
rivals should still have the dignity among themselves to respect the other teams quality.
like i said…to undermined a good team is foolish, it makes you look dumb..
so please keep up the entertainment, IM BORED AT WORK!
May 16th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Joanna,
Please stop with the Taylor Funk stories, as I am sure your job is safe. I don’t think Taylors daddy will fire you if you don’t write about her just one time. Yes, we all know Taylors daddy works at the Eagle!
Shouldnt’ the story be about the pitcher of Northwest and their team? The pitcher threw a 3 hitter or something like that, and the team rallied with 2 outs and 2 strikes to win the game.
No offense to Taylor, but please show some sense of fairness to all the kids….not just those whos dads work for the paper!
May 16th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Amaized, yours was the second laugh-out-loud post I’ve read today. This is a blog, my friend. A blog. Did you read the story? The blog is for extra stuff, which for me, Taylor Funk was. Does her dad work at the Eagle? Yep. He sure does. I see him about, oh, once every two weeks an nod and smile. Could he fire me? I have no idea. Hopefully I’ll never be fired but will leave on my own terms. Has he ever come and told me to write about his daughter? Not once. Just like he never did when his son was at Maize.
Why didn’t I blog as much about Northwest (my god, I can’t believe I’m even defending what I blog about)? Because the story was about Northwest’s comeback. My goodness. As for Jessica Odell, I did not see one comment about my posting about her the other day on my softball notes post. Not one. Not one positive, not one negative. And I don’t even know who her parents are.
Again, I laugh. Taylor’s a good kid who I happened to enjoy interviewing. Let me tell you, there aren’t many who fall into that category regardless of who daddy, mommy or their employer is. Goodness, goodness, goodness.
May 16th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
get him joanna…haha
May 16th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Joanna,
Ok, glad I gave you a good laugh. You are right it is just a blog, just found it funny that your blog was about the losing team and your new favorite player…also on the losing team.
It is funny you should mention her brother though. Many moms from Maize told me that he would get a lot of press from the eagle, even though he wasn’t one of their better players. I can’t speak from fact, as my child does not attend Maize
Glad to make laugh though
May 16th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Amaized, you are right, I mentioned one player and it was a Maize player. A clear slap in the face to all Northwest fans and players. (sarcasm, folks. sarcasm) Come on. I mentioned a kid as a follow-up to what I had written before. It’s not that serious. As for Jordan Funk, he was mentioned a handful of times in stories — I did the research and he was the team’s leading scorer in 2007. Daddy tells me nothing. The editor of the newspaper doesn’t tell me who to cover or what player to write about.
Give me credit for having done this for a dozen years and knowing my own mind. Seriously. This is akin to the KU-K-State fans who think we hate one school more than the other. I’m just covering games. So I mentioned a kid. I’ve mentioned lots of kids from lots of schools. This reminds me of the innocent Independent post I made that turned into hell. Too much taken too seriously and too much read into it.
I had one reader wonder why I was surprised at Jaydan Bird going to Conway Springs. Well, when a kid leaves his school late in his junior year, it’s a surprise. That’s not me saying I don’t like Conway, it’s me saying, huh, I’m surprised. Whew. I’m tired.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
You’re asumptions are absurd Amaized, Jordan was a phenomenal player in highschool so I’m not sure how you’re saying he wasn’t very good.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Joanna,
Don’t sweat the small stuff….
May 16th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Jordan was a good player, phenomenal is an the overstatement of they year. Although I wonder what he would have done with more playing time.