Storm stops chance to sweep Stars
The ?second season? begins today for the Pioneer baseball team. Everybody?s 0-0. It?s anybody?s tournament to win. Win, or go home.
Pick your clich?, any one will do. Because it?s tournament time, and if the Pioneers want to make any postseason noise, they?ll have to do it on the road.
Tuesday night?s thunderstorm did more than just erase the Pioneers? 1-0 lead over Siegel. It also fried the scoreboard at Ramsey Field, it forced a ?duck-and-run? scene among players, coaches and umpires that fans will be talking about for years, and in this columnist?s opinion, it severely hurt the team?s chances of hosting a pool in the 7-AAA tournament.
When the storm hit, the Pioneers were as pumped up as they could get. They?d gotten a huge home run from Jordan Underhill, a diving stop of a line shot from Clint Newman, a gem of a play from Coty Grissom at third base, and two solid innings of work on the mound from sophomore pitcher Josh Mullins.
Siegel was far from out, but they were certainly down, and their starting pitcher, Derek Faust, looked prone to give up a big inning at any moment. He had walked the bases loaded with two outs in the second, only to get out of the jam with a clutch strikeout. He showed the next night that his control issues weren?t a one-night fluke, when he walked three more Pioneers during 1-1/3 innings of relief.
So could Warren County have roughed up Faust, scored a win over Siegel and wound up hosting its pool had the lightning stayed away? We?ll never truly know. But it sure opens up the floor for discussion, doesn?t it?
? Speaking of being pumped up, let?s stir up a hornets? nest on the subject of music.
No matter what?s being broadcast through the speakers at a given ballgame, fans are going to complain. And yes, there is music that ?fits? sporting events, and music that doesn?t.
But in the end, it?s just something to fill in the gaps between plays. It has no affect on the team?s performance.
Pregame music at Pioneer football games drew the ire of fans for years. And while I?m as big a John Denver fan as the next guy, I admit ?Rocky Mountain High? didn?t exactly put me in the football mood when I pulled up to Nunley Stadium.
But was the music the reason the Pioneers lost 39 straight? No, it had much more to do with the Pioneers, and even more to do with their opponents.
Earlier in the week, I saw an elaborate sound system used to entertain fans with between-innings tunes. I also saw batters spend their entire time in the on-deck circle worrying about what song they were going to hear as they approached the plate, then after hearing that song, they failed to get the ball out of the infield.
Back in my softball days, we used to rock out to Jimi Hendrix and his timeless hit ?All Along the Watchtower? before games. But Jimi didn?t win any games for us, because Jimi is dead and couldn?t hit. It was just a song, and had no affect on our win-loss record.
Bottom line, unless you?re flying an F-16 under the call sign ?Iron Eagle,? the theme music you play has no impact on your performance. And if you?re an athlete, or an athletic supporter, who feels differently, you?re probably already a ?head case,? so just tell the voices you normally hear in your head to say something encouraging the next time you come up to bat.