Samantha got her first pitching start tonight, and she showed a vast improvement over her last relief appearance. She is still throwing way more balls than strikes, she did manage to strike out three (3!) boys in her inning-plus of work tonight. She hit her pitch count during the second inning and had to be removed from the mound. In this level of baseball there is a 7 run per inning limit, and Sammie didn't allow the other team to score that many in either of her innings pitched. She also tagged a runner out at home, saving a run.

    Unfortunately for Sam, the hitting from the vast majority of her team needs a lot of work. Because she batted in the middle of the lineup tonight, and because our defensive half of the innings tend to take a long time, she only got to bat once during this game. She had a some good swings, but just couldn't make enough contact to turn one of them into a hit. She struck out in her only at-bat.

    While the team still struggled, and gave up more runs today than in their last game, I still think I see improvement in a number of areas. As this season wears on I am certain progress will be made. Either way, we are proud of Sam and the rest of her teammates for all of the hard work they are putting into getting better this season.

Game 2 - vs. Tigers
	Samantha (#8) and her teammates lined up getting some direction from the umpire before the start of today's game.
	Sam started and played most of the game at second base.
	Here Sammie is looking to the dugout for some guidance from her coach.
	Sam in her second at-bat.
	Sam swung at a high pitch and missed...
	...but didn't miss the next one, hitting a pop up that resulted in her being safe at first.