After Atalanta

A story about the baseball team from Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrows Academy forfeiting a state championship because there was a girl playing on the opposing team . I thought it was a farce. It is ridiculous--but it is true. The academy, located in Arizona, is founded and adheres to the principles of the Society of Saint Pius X, a separatist branch of the Catholic Church. One of these tenets is the separate teaching of boys and girls--which extends to sports. Perpetual Sorrows is a regular season opponent of Mesa Prep--the state winner, by default--but the players in questions, second baseperson Paige Sultzbach had voluntarily sat out of previous encounters. But she didn't think it was fair to forfeit her own rightful place as a player in a state championship. So Perpetual Sorrows opted not to compete. It's their right to do so of course.  But I wonder what lessons their students are learning from this? Opting out is not new. Stories about male wrestlers "choosing...

I was up late last night watching a very tight game two of the WCWS championship series. Tennessee had won the first game and so this was an elimination game for Arizona. Tennessee pitcher Monica Abbott was on and though a few Arizona batters got hits off her, she was able to keep her no runs against streak going through regulation. She has not allowed one run in the entire world series. Arizona pitcher Taryne Mowatt doesn't have Abbott's velocity, but she does have a very effective change-up. And she, and her defense, got out of some sticky situations including a bases-loaded, one out, inning late in the game. Tennessee had more chances in extra innings (of which there were 3) to get a run across the plate and take home the championship--the first in school history. But they just couldn't do it before Arizona finally was able to execute their small ball game plan and use their speed on the base pads to get a runner across home plate. This is all to say that Game 3 is tonig...