DENVER - Classes are
winding down at the University of Denver. That, of course, means
different
things to different people.
For some, it's a waiting
game until summer vacation. For
others, it's a time to cram for finals. For those of us around the
Denver
basketball program, it means we need to gather at a local diamond to
play our
semi-annual Players vs. Staff softball game.
The numbers were a little
skewed this year because there
were more players, and a few of the regular staff members were unable to
attend
(see note at the end of this blog). So, Andrew Hooper, Trevor Noonan, Rob Lewis and Alex Pickert
joined Joe Scott, Mike McKee, Jon Jordan,
A.J. Kuhle, John Fitzgerald and a
blogger
(who provided little defense and no offense) on the Staff team.
Nate Rohnert, Tyler Thalken, Chase Hallam, Travis Hallam,
Kyle Lewis, Tom Chott, Kyle Chynoweth, Justin Coughlin, Blake Foeman, Brian Stafford and
manager Tyler Martin played on the Player team.
The young team jumped to an
early lead with two runs in the
first inning and another in the second, while Martin pitched a
masterpiece
shutting down the Staff hitters.
With a strong wind blowing
in from left field, both defenses
buckled down in the middle innings. Chase Hallam unloaded in
two at-bats, but
McKee and Hooper both leaped up and robbed Hallam of would-be home runs -
the
kind of plays that may have been ESPN-worthy. On the other side,
Coughlin made
some plays in which he stretched his 6-9 frame to prevent a few sure
extra-base
hits.
The Staff found its groove
with two out in the bottom of the
seventh, stringing together three runs to tie it.
In the eighth, the Staff
broke it open with another two-out
rally, scoring four runs off six hits, and held on for a 7-3 victory.
The Players will be seeking
revenge when the teams reconvene
in the fall.
From Softball to
Baseball: Mitch Hyder, the Voice of the Pioneers, was disappointed
to miss out
on the softball game.
However, his absence was
highly excused.
Hyder was in Murfreesboro,
Tenn., at the Sun Belt Conference
Baseball Championship, where he was named the SBC Broadcaster of the
Year.
As part of the honor, Hyder
fired out an honorary first
pitch at the tournament. When reached for comment, Hyder swore that he
threw a
fastball right down the middle.
Regardless of whether his
pitch was indeed as good as he
claimed, all of us would like to send our sincerest congratulations to
Hyder
for a very deserving award. He is a true professional, and we appreciate
working with him and listening to him call so many games for basketball
and all
the other sports at Denver.
