To say Live Oak’s game Thursday was an odd one would be an understatement.
Between gamesmanship, debate over substitution rules and touching the wrong first base, the Acorns saw a little of everything against Leigh in an 8-4 loss.
Fast forward to the seventh inning with Live Oak and Leigh tied 4-4 when leadoff hitter Teri Darenberg hit a dribbler to first.
Live Oak’s first baseman picked up the ball and tagged first. Darenberg ran through the bag as hitters are taught to do and the umpire bellowed a loud “safe.”
The first baseman had tagged the wrong bag. Live Oak plays with a double first base and the fielder touched the bag designated for the runner instead of the base in the traditional spot.
“It’s our field and we’re one of the few teams who has an orange bag,” said coach Sarah Locarnini. “The ball just drew her that way and it caught just a little too much orange.”
After Tiffany Verner bunted Darenberg to second, Leigh loaded the bases with a pair of infield singles.
Ramos got the next hitter to strike out, but with two outs, Ashley Millet doubled to left field, driving in two runs. Behind her, Allyson Greco singled to left, scoring two more.
Despite Live Oak staging a mini two-out rally of its own in the bottom of the seventh, the Acorns couldn’t get any runs across.
The first base gaff was just the conclusion of an overall bizarre day.
It started before the game when coach Sarah Locarnini sat one of her starters for showing up late. She subbed the player into the game in the second, but traded her out for one of the team’s two available pitchers.
That seemed fine until Vanessa Ramos got in trouble in the third and Locarnini tried to sub her out.
The new pitcher would have to go in for the player who came in for her, and not for Ramos, meaning Live Oak would lose one of its biggest bats in the lineup. After some debate with the umpire, Locarnini accepted the ruling, but there was another problem.
Pitcher Maddie Gallagher had earrings that couldn’t come out and the umpire was tipped off about the jewelry and said Gallagher had to either take them out or she had to come out.
Gallagher exited the game forcing Ramos to continue.
“Because she threw her warmup pitches, she took herself out of the game and unable come back,” Locarnini said. “Vanessa had to do it alone and she did a great job.”
But from the point where she would have been taken out until the seventh inning, Ramos gave up four hits and struck out three.
Locarnini miffed at her pitcher needing to exit because of earrings, pointed out to the umpire that Leigh’s pitcher Megan Bowden was wearing gold eye black. She was asked to remove it, much to her consternation.
“If we’re going to play by the rules, we’re all going to play by the rules,” Locarnini said.
A parent from the Leigh’s crowd shouted, “Let’s see if the eye black makes a difference!” Locarnini said she was hoping it would do just that.
“I figured it might ruffle some feathers and get my girls a little momentum,” Locarnini said.
As it turned out, it might have.
The inning after the eye black was removed, the Acorns rallied for three runs on four hits, including doubles from Ramos, Kaylie Lowery and Hayley Martinez.
Ramos scored on a bunt from Jackie Orta who laid down a bunt to move Ramos to third, but Bowden tried to throw Orta out at third with no one covering the bag, allowing Ramos to score.
Orta scored on Martinez’ double, who scored two batters later when Lowery doubled to pull the game to 4-3.
Live Oak tied the game in the next inning when Tiffany Moore launched a shot to center that the fielder booted, allowing Moore to advance to second.
After Moore advanced to third on a wild pitch, Bre Sabala drove her in with a single to tie the game.
“It shows they have some fight in them,” Locarnini said. “It’s a great thing to see especially in a game like where things aren’t going our way one thing after another.”
For the game, Ramos went seven innings, giving up four earned runs on eight hits and four walks with four strikeouts.
Orta went 2-3 at the plate with a run scored.
For Leigh, Darenberg went 1-3 with two runs scored, reaching safely in all four of her plate appearances. Verner went 2-3 with an RBI and Greco had the big bat of the day, going 2-3 with four RBIs.
Live Oak will now have a week off for Spring Break and will next play at Piedmont Hills on April 16. Meanwhile, the Acorns will host an alumni game starting at noon on Saturday.
