THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 19, 1995 TAG: 9506190134
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Father's Day everywhere else, Sunday afternoon was a time for daughters at sunny Harbor Park.
On the field, the Colorado Silver Bullets, the nation's only women's professional baseball team, showed a crowd of 3,729 that women can field, throw and run the bases at a high level, losing to a group of Navy men's all-stars, 9-8.
Dozens of young girls got a dose of inspiration, as well as a measure of satisfaction in watching the Silver Bullets give the Navy team all it could handle.
``It shows that not all guys are better than girls,'' said Elizabeth Outten, 12, of Kitty Hawk, N.C. ``They must feel pretty bad when a girl strikes them out.''
Outten and two teammates from the Farmer's Daughters, a softball team from Kitty Hawk, were standing on the concourse behind home plate, hoping to snag a foul ball. So were 11-year-old Julie Glover and 12-year-old Jennifer Gustafson, teammates on the Island Girls, an unbeaten fast-pitch softball team from Poquoson.
``I think they've got guts to play against the guys,'' said Glover, a catcher.
``It looks like a lot of fun,'' said Gustafson, who plays leftfield. ``I wouldn't mind playing for this team.''
Reactions like that are just the type the Silver Bullets are hoping to inspire. Formed two years ago, the touring team never plays a home game, but seems to win over the home fans wherever it travels, said second baseman Michelle McAnany.
``It helps,'' she said. ``Because I don't want to say we're under pressure, but we want to show people we can play baseball.''
They showed the Navy all-stars, a team made up mostly of players from the USS Enterprise. The men had a 6-1 lead through five innings, but then the Silver Bullets scored seven runs - just one of them earned - in the top of the sixth to take an 8-6 lead.
The Navy all-stars scored two in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game then won it in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI single by centerfielder Doug Clark.
``They're fundamentally sound,'' Clark said. ``It's not very often that they're going to make a stupid mistake, and a team like that is hard to beat.''
``They don't have quite the power that the men do,'' said Jackie Cooper, who traveled more than 300 miles from Fort Mill, S.C., to watch her daughter, Angie Marzetta, play centerfield for the Silver Bullets.
Marzetta, born in Virginia Beach, had 10 family members on hand to watch her play.
``I just wish I could have given them a win,'' she said. ``I can't tell you how many games we've lost in the bottom of the ninth.''
Still, the Silver Bullets, now 2-12, are far more competitive than they were a year ago, when they finished 6-38, McAnany said.
And no one in the crowd of autograph seekers after the game seemed much concerned about the score. One 60-ish woman, after having a baseball signed by Marzetta, seemed to speak for many when she leaned over the rail and told the player in quiet voice:
``Thank you for playing the game.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by BILL TIERNAN/
Silver Bullets starter Lee Anne Ketcham lets loose with a pitch
Sunday. She struck out four in five innings, but yielded 11 hits and
eight runs, five earned.
by CNB