Home 2012 Season Coverage2012 CBD Journals Ginger Poulson’s Reflection on the 21-inning thriller of the Gary Regional

Ginger Poulson’s Reflection on the 21-inning thriller of the Gary Regional

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The Never-ending Baseball Game

Now, as a lover of college baseball who is fortunate enough to have a job covering the sport I loveā€¦I am constantly reminded about why I love this game. One thing that constantly reinforces this love is the reality that anything can happen in a baseball game.

In the past week alone Iā€™ve seen triple steals, crazy comebacks, and now something even more insaneā€¦a 21-inning ball gameā€”in a regional to add even more excitement to the craziness!

For those of you who didnā€™t know how it ended, Kent State defeated Kentucky 7-6.

After talking to players and coaches on both sides of the outcome, it made me realize just how many emotions get thrown into a game like this.

ā€œI told the kids in the top of the 21st before we hit ā€œFellas, we win this game and youā€™re going to tell your grandkids about itā€ā€™ Kent State coach Scott Stricklin said, ā€œyouā€™re going to tell your kids and your grandkids about this gameā€¦now lets win it.ā€

To be honest, after covering a game like that, itā€™s one Iā€™m going to tell MY grandkids about.

As I said before, with this job I frequently get reminded about why I love the game of baseballā€¦but there are few games in your life that are so incredible that they make you actually fall in love with the game all over again.

In baseball Iā€™ve found that this love of the game begins with a momentā€¦a moment of awe, and from that very moment a light inside of you starts burning, that one that keeps you in your seat until the very last pitch is thrown because you donā€™t want to miss anything.

Last night I had that moment again.

I felt like I did back when I went to my first baseball game as a kid: my mind was blown, my heart was in it and I was hooked.

“I know that’s not the longest game in NCAA history, because Texas and Boston College played a 25-inning game a few years ago,ā€ said Stricklin, ā€œbut that has to go down as the best baseball game in college baseball history, just with the twists and the turns, the ups and the downs.”

678 pitches thrown, 154 at-bats, 6 hours and 37 minutes of baseball, 21 inningsā€¦

Wow.

Since the game wasnā€™t televised, Iā€™ve been getting a lot of questions as to what all this craziness is that everyone who was there keeps talking about aside from the actual length of the game.

Coach Stricklin highlighted that craziness quite well.

ā€œThe game-tying hit in the ninth actually hit second base and ricocheted into the outfieldā€¦they had a guy miss first base. Just the crazy things that happened in that gameā€¦you just canā€™t explain them.ā€

You know when people tell you ā€œyou just had to be thereā€ and it just makes you roll your eyes? Well Iā€™m truly sorry to do that to you, but it was a ā€œyou just had to be thereā€ kind of gameā€¦and since it wasnā€™t televised, it made it even more of that type of game.

One thing that I learned that I can tell all of you who werenā€™t there is this:

Games like this happen when you least expect them. Never would I have thought that the most incredible game that I have covered would take place in Gary, Indiana. That being said, get to the ballpark as much as you can. Few things in life have the ability to make you feel like a little kidā€¦but sports are one of those things, especially baseball. Itā€™s an amazing feeling to be a part of something that special thoughā€¦a feeling that I hope you all get to experience multiple times. Let your love of the game growā€¦because nothing is better than falling in love with the game all over again.

 

*If you want to know just how the 21 innings played out, follow me on twitter at @gingerpoulson and check out my tweets from the game!

 

 

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