The Ping of the Bat

Nothing says spring like hearing ping, ping, ping all across campus! Particularly when your team is hosting a NCAA Baseball Regional!

Yesterday marked the first time in not only school history, but West Coast Conference history when the NCAA Malibu regional kicked off with UCLA beating UC Irvine 3-2 then Pepperdine beating Missouri by the same score.

Say what you want about aluminum bats but college baseball, particularly playoff college baseball is great sports! It's purity. The players go all out all the time. Very few know their names and even fewer know where they came from. They are playing for the love of the game. Yesterday's Tigers/Waves game was amazing. The hero was definitely unsung.

A little over two weeks ago, we, the Waves, lost our all conference, all time conference leading hitter, second sacker, David Uribes to a season ending leg injury. His replacement, Denny Duron. Who? Exactly! A sophomore from LA (I found out yesterday, and NO that's not in Cali) and I follow the team! He had been hot since stepping in, but yesterday he went 2-3 with a run and an RBI (against a pitcher many are saying is going in the top five of the draft this year). However, it was his glove that did the damage. In the 7th with game tied and Mizzou runners at 1st and 2nd with one out, he turned a double play beating the runner at first by a step while getting rolled over at second by a BIG CORN FED boy! Then to end the game, Waves up by one, runners on the corners, after a 13 pitch at bat, Duron dives in the hole between first and second snagging a potential game tying grounder and throws out the Tiger at first from his knees! AMAZING! Pepperdine wins the all important first game in a double elimination tourney.

To see athletes play their heart out every game is special. In a world that is so focused on who's on what and how much money such and such is making, it is nice to see a game with high level talent (over 20 scouts in the stands yesterday) played well, and with emotion! I love sports...