Pitch Counts and Hugs

 The Valpo pitcher brought out my inner Branch Rickey over the weekend.  For starters, there was her pitch count, 477 (!) over 72 hours.  Talk about the superiority of the male athlete all you want, but nobody in baseball outside of a knuckleballer could come close to matching that figure.  So, is it the underarm windmill delivery, female physiology or some mix of the two that allows for this kind of performance?  If it were up to me, I’d put away the sabermetrics long enough to find out, because the answer to that question could have a profound effect on the national pastime.

Girls pitch differently than boys, and they express emotion differently, too.  In the top of the eighth inning with two on and one out, the Valpo coach lifted her starter.  In baseball, this usually means a pat somewhere on the back or butt followed by a tip of the cap to the fans in case the performance was good enough to merit applause.  Something entirely different transpired on the UIC softball field Saturday, when the Valpo reliever and the departing starter hugged one another.  This may have been the most endearing expression of emotion I’ve ever seen in sports.

It was not to be confused with Kirk Gibson or Jose Bautista letting the world know how great they are or any football player confusing a sack with the cure for cancer.  Nor was it Tim Tebow giving thanks after a score.  That Valpo starter could have been tagged for the loss just as that reliever could’ve given up ten runs.  The hug was before the fact.

In the White Sox dugout, Carlos Sanchez has taken to cradling teammate Adam Eaton in his arms every time Eaton scores.  That’s stupid.  What I witnessed Saturday was sublime.