September 26th: Softball vs. Rhode Island

Event: Women's Softball vs. Rhode Island Rams
Date: Sunday September 26th, 11 AM
What I saw: I came in the top of the 6th, with UConn down 5-1. I left in the top of the 9th, with URI up 10-6 and about to get more.
Result: I don't know. I assume UConn lost, but I couldn't find a score anywhere, or a summary, or anything. Strange.

Summary: I was on Uconn's athletic website this morning around 11:50 to see what time the volleyball game (which will have a review in a minute) was. I saw we had a softball game going on then. At first I thought it was an error because it was the fall, but I confirmed that there is in fact a brief fall softball season. I got to Softball Field (no name) around 12:15, and the game was in the Top of the 6th, URI up 5-1 having gotten 5 runs in the 5th. We hit a 3-run homer in the bottom of the inning to make it 5-4, and took a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the 8th. URI went up 10-6, and had runners on second and third with one out, when I left to go get some lunch because it was already after 1 and the game was basically over. I cannot find a summary or score anywhere, but I assume the Rams won. If anyone knows what happened, please comment. There was also no PA announcer, so I have no idea who any of the players were. They didn't distribute programs (in fact there was nobody even watching who was coming in; bin Laden could have waltzed in there unnoticed). It was an interesting stadium. No restrooms; even the girls had to use the Port-a-Pottys. And they wound up hopping over the chain fence in left field to do so because the gate to get out of the field and onto the grass where the outhouse stood was locked. Anyway, here are the ratings:

Atmosphere:

Fan friendliness: Most of the fans were parents or other family members of the Players. They seemed to know eachother pretty well. They kept the language clean, and not offensive at all. One of the moms even baked cookies for the other families. She was sitting right behind me and offered all of them cookies, but not me. They all were commenting on how good and amazing they were. But I let them have them. I'm not related to any of the players; she didn't know me and I didn't know her. So that's ok. Other than that, they were all very nice. Rating: 10/10

Fan Enthusiasm: The fans seemed to get excited at times, yelling encouragement such as "Come on girls, everyone get on" and "Rally!". They really didn't seem to say much of anything when we were in the field other than a golf clap of sorts when we got an out. They clapped when someone got on for us, and "good try" when an out was made. They seemed to be cheering very casually, but not apathetically by any means. Rating: 10/15

Event Atmosphere: Few if any students there other than me. Nothing going on other than the game and conversations in the stands (and the cookies). No PA announcer either. Players didn't seem to be ignoring the fans, but they were focused on the game. While there wasn't much going on, it wasn't boring either. Rating: 6/15

Overall Atmosphere Rating: 26/40

On-field:

Quality of play: No mistakes that I saw. Both teams played hard and well. But given that UConn gave up 5 runs in two separate innings (5 and also 9 where they may have allowed more) it wasn't perfect by any means. Rating: 16/20

Excitement: We rallied from 4 down to get runs in the 6th and 8th, then URI rallied. So it was somewhat exciting until they kept scoring after they'd pretty much sealed it. Rating: 8/10

Quality of UConn play: We played hard, then fell apart in the 9th. We did a good job overall though. Rating: 7/10

Result: Assuming we lost (if not I'll update later) this will be handled accordingly. Rating: 0/10

Overall On-field rating: 31/50

Other:

Clarity of fan Communication: No PA announcer, so I didn't really know who the players were. But the umps were good about communicating ball/strike, safe/out etc and there really were no unclear calls. Rating: 4/5

Magnitude of Event: Not a big game, but one of the first of the year, and one of only a few fall games before we go to spring. It counts like any other regular season game, and it's against a former football rival of ours. Rating: 5/15

Size of Crowd: Fans were somewhat full, mostly with parents and family. Not really any locals or students. Rating: 5/15

Other total rating: 14/30