Originally appeared in Silent News, November 2001.
After battling nine other teams in the tournament, Greater Tampa Bay and Colorado Springs Thundersnow came face to face in the National Softball Association of the Deaf (NSAD) championship game. If Tampa Bay lost this game, the two teams would be forced to play a second game in the double-elimination bracket tournament.
Colorado got off to a fast start in the second inning, going 7-0. Their strong defense held Tampa to a no-scoring game, winning 10-0. The second game was equally powerful for Colorado, though Tampa Bay fared slightly better offensively.
Tampa Bay immediately got up 3-1 over Colorado in the first inning. However, by the second inning, Colorado, a team full of experienced player such as Alicia Flores, Angela Kuehn and Ruth Lummer, was back on top, 9-3. Donna Osborne was deliberately walked by Tampa Bay, and the bases were loaded. Colette Stoker then hit a drive into outfield and brought two Colorado runners home for a score of 11-3.
Colorado’s Jamie Fisher, who was pitching and batting with an obvious leg injury, remained steadfast in her mission for the championship. The Tampa Bay players, consistent in their hitting fly balls, were showing fatigue in their hitting, and Colorado took advantage of this. By the top of the third inning, Colorado’s Alicia Flores, who played for Gallaudet’s softball team, was able to run home thanks to a hit by Michelle Malcolm, a Deaflympian in the sport of team handball and the tournament’s most valuable player. The score now stood at 13-5.
In the bottom, Tampa Bay had some luck with McKee’s hit to right field that brought four runners home, bringing the score up to 13-9. By the fourth inning, McKee had also run home, and Tampa Bay was down 13-10.
The game remained somewhat sleepy with no runs in the fifth and sixth innings, until Fisher hit to right field, running to third base and bringing Flores home for a score of 16-10. Kuehn was then intentionally walked for the second time by Tampa Bay, and due to a Tampa Bay catcher error, Lummer, also a Deaflympian team handball player, brought the score up to 18-10. The championship was sealed with easy outs, and a tired Tampa Bay team congratulated the buoyant Colorado women.
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