Grantsburg played its first conference game on the new field on Thursday night. The visiting Clayton team got an early start home as the Pirates ended the game in 5 innings. Strong pitching from Doni teamed with defensive play and baserunning gave the home team an 11-2 victory.

Clayton would score its only run in the first inning thanks to a sun aided single by Grossenbacker. Clayton would only threaten one more time but the runner was gunned down at the plate by a perfect Jocelyn throw. Clayton would end the game with only two hits and two walks.

The Pirates, on the other hand, would have runners all over the place every inning. The game started with Jocelyn walking. Pitchers are finding this 3 inch strike zone to be tough. Callie quickly boarded the merry go round followed with a walk by Kelcy. After Doni grounded into a fielder's choice, Caroline and Susan had back to back singles to give Grantsburg the lead after one inning by a score of 2-1.

In the second inning, Jocelyn walked again followed by a Heather single. Both runners were left stranded as Jocelyn tried to reach third on a passed ball but was tagged out. Kelcy started the third with a single to left. Doni quickly added her own single. After Caroline added her second hit of the night, Kelcy and Doni's runner Katie would both score giving Grantsburg a 4-1 lead.

Jocelyn led off the 4^th with her 3^rd walk. Heather and Callie both singled. Doni drove in a run with a single of her own. Combining the hitting with a couple of Clayton errors, the Pirates added 4 more runs. In the 5^th inning Clayton again booted the ball allowing Callie and Kelcy to each score their 3^rd run of the night. The game would end by a score of 11-1

Offensive summary: Grantsburg picked up 11 hits. They cut down on the errors by committing only two. Heather, Kelcy, Doni, Callie, and Caroline each had two hits with Susan picking up the other one. In addition to Kelcy and Callie's runs, Heather and Doni scored twice each. The Pirates struck out twice in the first inning, but never again for the rest of the game.

Sweet Play of the game: It was a tie, but they both involved Jocelyn. Jocelyn snagged a line drive and doubled up the runner on first. In a later inning, she backed up another fielder and threw a strike to the plate to nail a Clayton runner.

TWIS: Tom took his Marine hair cut and made it shorter. Don tried to steal a car. Visiting fans enjoy the geese. Liz split her pants. Jocelyn looked up at a grounder. We are also trying to teach her proper last names. We are headed to the dome. Northwood will play some JV innings. The Drummond pitcher has struck out 31 batters in 10 innings….. you do the math. The ump told us that we have two good pitchers and two of the toughest strike zones he has ever seen. When does electricity show up along with the electronic scoreboard, announcer stand and microphone system? The sod in the outfield is loose. Kelcy has most of her finger nails on top. Doni Jo is a sliding machine. Have you oiled your gloves lately? Have you thanked Brian for helping with the field? Remember the fake player at Northwoods? The Clayton pitcher scored 37 points against us in basketball. The dugouts were really nice and warm for us. They will look very nice when painted. I still miss the 8:03 phone calls. My pontoon is ready. The digital camera is nice.

More pictures to come later…. Just trying to see how this works…..