Going soft this week

CEDAR GROVE, N.J. -- As my wife Ann and I pulled onto the narrow street near the Cedar Grove High School softball field late Saturday afternoon, I turned on ESPN Radio to hear the sports update and said, "Wait. Let's see if Derek Lowe got the no-hitter." Sure enough, he did. Lowe, of my Red Sox, no-no'ed the Devil Rays (OK, so it was a Class AAA lineup). I said to Ann, "That's a good omen for our game today."

We needed a good omen. Our Montclair High softball team hadn't won an Essex County Tournament game in three years. We were seeded 11th in the 17-team field, and we were about to face the sixth-seeded Panthers of Cedar Grove, our neighboring town to the west and only a few long Kerry Collins spirals from the Meadowlands. Though we were 7-3, our seeding was probably justified because we hadn't beaten anyone good in the county yet, and the coaches who did the seeding remember our three straight single-digit-winning seasons.

Many of you should probably go straight to the other items in the column. This is another one of those personal King columns -- featuring daughter Mary Beth, a Mountie softballer -- and I'd understand if you don't want to read about Mountie softball in another installment of my meanderings. Remember the trials and tribulations of the Montclair field hockey team? The death of my dog, Woody? It's OK. There's some football at the bottom, so you can go jump there now if you'd like.

List of the Week The top quotes of the week from 49ers receiver/fledgling USBL basketball player Terrell Owens, who will soon begin moonlighting in the minor hoops league ...  1. On whether he can handle playing two sports: "Yeah, I will be cool. I play basketball all the time. I'll be all right."  2. On whether he's in shape for basketball: "You have to work a lot of different muscles, so to speak. Definitely your legs are very involved in that. I am out of shape when it comes to basketball and so I have got to definitely get myself into shape."  3. On playing basketball instead of just sticking to football: "I am just competitive. With the other tragedies that have happened -- I had a friend and a teammate that died in a car accident. He got hit by a train. Little things have been putting things into perspective for me."  4. On how the 49ers feel about him playing: "I don't think [GM Terry] Donahue is taking it too well."  5. On which NBA player he would compare himself to: "I would probably say Scottie Pippen."  6. On whether he's glad to still be with the 49ers after the controversies of the past two years: "Things happen at certain times. Emotions at those times are running wild. At this moment I am content."  7. On his relationship with his coach, Steve Mariucci, after their battles of the last two years: "We are fine. I think he is the greatest guy in the world right now."  8. On his chemistry with quarterback Jeff Garcia: "It can only get better. It is good now. We can only get better. You don't want to get worse."

For those of you who are staying, county softball tournaments in New Jersey are pretty big deals. The championship games might have 500 or so people there ringing the field. One kid from Montclair might have played against another kid from Caldwell or Belleville or Verona or Cedar Grove since the fifth grade, so great rivalries are built in, particularly when playing a school from another conference might be the only matchup against that team in your high school career. That was the case here. Cedar Grove has one of Mary Beth's best friends in softball, junior pitcher Kaitlyn Sweeney, as its star. Kaitlyn and Mary Beth took pitching lessons side by side for two falls and winters under Seton Hall coach Ray VanderMay, and Kaitlyn went on to become a first-team all-county pitcher two years ago for Cedar Grove. Three years ago she had joined us on a travel-team trip to Virginia and was an absolute stud. Mary Beth respects her hugely; 15 months ago she had to see a kinesiologist to address elbow and shoulder problems, and it worked out well for her so I recommended the same guy to Kaitlyn's dad, Kevin, when his daughter came down with back problems last season.

Well, Mary Beth was getting the ball to pitch against the storied Sweeney. And she was handling things better than her nervous father. After warmups at our school, she called home to ask for something to eat. "I'm starving," she said. So I brought some crackers and an Odwalla Bar (healthy energy food), which she chowed a half-hour before the game. The last time I saw her nervous at a sporting event was in first grade. The kid just doesn't get nervous. Or if she does, it doesn't show. That would help this time out because the crowd of about 150 was loud throughout, for both teams.

You couldn't have asked for a better day -- 64 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. When Kaitlyn went to warm up, our girls saw what they were in for. She's a tall, lean, smooth and gifted right-hander. So natural. She pops the catcher's glove with her fastball and lays a soft change in for strikes consistently. Excellent drop, too. And competitive. You watch her pitch and you say, "Man, I don't want to cross her." Her arsenal is more well-developed than the fastball, riser, curve, drop and change that Mary Beth, a southpaw, is still working on. But both entered the game hot. Kaitlyn had allowed six earned runs in 91 April innings. Mary Beth was working on an 11-inning scoreless streak, and she'd thrown her first career complete-game shutout (2-0) last Wednesday against Columbia.

First inning. Our Allison Farley led off and belted a 2-2 pitch deep to center. Caught. Mary Beth, batting second, and from the right side, lined out to second. Meghan Shapiro, hitting third, singled. She died at first. But the girls at least knew they could get good aluminum on a very good pitcher. Bottom of the inning. Their first batter, Holly Calcagno, a professional hitter who has never had a bad at-bat, lined a single to left. But the Panthers went 1-2-3 after that.

And so it went, dueling zeroes. In the fourth, Mary Beth induced three straight grounders to second. Still 0-0. Leading off the fifth for us, tri-captain Courtney Epps -- a basketball player bound for glory at Montclair State -- led off with a ground single to left. Farley sacrificed her to second. Now it was Mary Beth's turn.

Dinner Interlude I: That night, at dinner with Mary Beth and her two friends, I asked Mary Beth what was going through her mind when she stepped into the box against Kaitlyn, who had already retired her two straight times. "I was thinking, 'This is it. This is when it matters. This is what you've worked for. We might not have many more chances, so you've got to do it,'" she said.

One-and-one count. Fastball on the outer half. CHING! Line drive to the gap in right-center, falling, falling, falling, shoestring-catch try ... No! It's in there. Courtney had to wait to see if it was caught, but now she was on her horse, and I knew she would have run through the stop sign at third if there'd been one, but our coach, Tricia Sanchelli, who is doing a heck of a job revitalizing our programs in her rookie year, was waving her home, and there was going to be a play at the plate, and the throw was five feet up the third-base line, and Courtney shimmied her torso one way and dove for the plate with her hands. Safe! Mary Beth moved to second on the throw, and she came around to score when her batterymate, Jess Sarfati, whacked a shot to short that the shortstop threw wide to first.

Cedar Grove wouldn't go quietly. Two singles in the fifth. Two singles in the sixth. Mary Beth got a two-out pop to right that ended the fifth and a strikeout to wriggle out of trouble in the sixth. One inning to go.

We were drained, the bleacher bums from Montclair on the first-base side. We hadn't won a game of county or state significance in three years. Most often, unfortunately, we'd found a way to lose the close ones and the big ones, and so no one on our side was getting too chest-puffy as the game entered the bottom of the seventh. As our infield gathered around Mary Beth before the start of the inning, Jess Sarfati, who runs these little mound huddles, said, "This is so important, guys! You know we're better than they are! We gotta get three outs!"

Dinner Interlude II: "What were you thinking, Mary?" I asked. She said, "It was getting really loud. Crazy. The noise was, like, madness. That makes me so much more excited. But I will never show it. That would break the focus. It's just me and the batter. Forget the crowd. I was just thinking, 'It's so important to stay composed. It's so important to win.'"

The leadoff hitter looked at strike No. 3. Now it was Kaitlyn, last-gasping. She fouled off five pitches. Mary Beth wound and threw, and the fastball caught a sliver of black on the outside corner. "Strike three!" the ump yells. Two down. The dangerous Calcagno. CHING! Hard grounder to short. Our Jeter, Kaitlin Giannetti, scooped it and rocketed the last out of the day over to first. Ballgame. Montclair 2, Cedar Grove 0.

Kaitlyn's mom came over to tell me how great Mary Beth had played, and I told her how great Kaitlyn had played. Kaitlyn had given up six hits, walked two, fanned eight. Mary Beth had allowed seven hits, walked none, K'd four. Just two errors on the day. There was much hugging on the Montclair side. Mary's middle-school guidance counselor, Mr. Evangelista, hugged her; his daughter is the CG center-fielder. Mrs. Sweeney hugged her. "I'm proud of you," Ann said into her ear. "You were great."

We had all just witnessed a great high school sports event, and we were grateful to have been there. There is nothing like high school sports when done right, when the kids are pouring every fiber of themselves into trying to win. It is why, one day, I would love to be a high school coach. Of something.

Ann and I walked over to the Cedar Grove side. The kids were silent. This one -- the only real upset of the first round of the county tournament, as it turned out -- hurt. I found Kaitlyn, hugged her and said, "You are a great pitcher," which I meant sincerely. Classy kid. "Mary Beth was so great," she said. "If we have to lose to anyone, I'm glad it was to you guys -- and to Mary."

Mary reported later that she celebrated with a chocolate donut, courtesy of her donut-dispensing teammate Chloe Carden, on the bus ride home. We took Mary, teammate Becca Weitzman and their friend Jan Hartigan to dinner.

"We did something really good today," Mary said. "These are the kind of games you play where you say: 'This is why I play softball.' It feels so good."

"We stood up to them and wouldn't back down!" Becca said.

"Like Bif Naked says, 'We're not gonna take it!'" Mary said.

"Bif Naked?" I asked.

"They sing that song, Dad," she said.

"Oh," I said.

Before bed Saturday night, I went online to check the baseball scores. Mary Beth had her instant-messaging thing on, programmed to deliver the same message to anyone who might IM her while she was away from the computer. It read: "I live for days like today, for moments like these, for memories that will last. Go Blue!"

Just another day in paradise.

The (Newark) Star-Ledger reports that there is a man in Ramsey, N.J., Mike Uris, who, every day for the last five years, has had a medium Domino's pizza with four diet Cokes as his complete daily intake of food. He eats six slices for brunch at 11:15 a.m. with two of the sodas, one slice for dinner at 6 p.m. with another soda and one for a bedtime snack at 11 p.m. with the last soda. When asked why he eats a Domino's pizza and Domino's pizza only, Uris said, "They deliver."

1. I think the spate of players holding out of minicamps is the biggest overplayed story of every offseason. Let me know when they hold out of training camp and then I'll care. By the way, Edgerrin James, you're the best, and you're the man, and I think you're coming back strong. But don't come crying to me about your contract. Absurd. You've made $21 million over your first three years, or right in that neighborhood. That's Peyton Manning money, bro. Let's not get greedy.

2. I think one of the dumbest firings in recent NFL history came last week when the Jets canned radio color man Dave Jennings. I listen to a lot of radio guys on my little headset while watching games from NFL press boxes. Some are useless. Some are a little helpful. Some are inane. Three are very much worth listening to. The Steelers' Myron Cope is the best of all time, a great mix of football knowledge and Pittsburghese and irreverent fan-stoking Yoys and Double-Yoys. Babe Laufenberg in Dallas brings a player's voice to the booth, and not just a I-will-protect-the-players-at-all-costs player's voice; he hammers when necessary. Jennings is absolutely superb (I say "is," because if someone doesn't pick him up to do football on radio or TV, it will be a crime) at almost every aspect of the game: doing his homework, knowing every arcane rule, being honest and having the good judgment to know when it's smart to rip and when it's smart to soften the blow. The Jets wanted to go in the proverbial different direction. Whatever direction that is, I say, is idiotic. I just lost a tremendous teacher on the radio during Jets' games. Seems like the Giants are angling to pick him up now, which would be a great move for them.

3. I think Correll Buckhalter's knee injury is a grave blow for the Eagles. He tore his ACL in a non-contact drill Friday, and head coach Andy Reid summed up the feelings of the organization when he said, "It's not good." The Eagles will have to go back to running-back-by-committee led by Duce Staley, that is if they can resurrect Staley's ego after putting Buckhalter over him on the coaches' mental depth charts.

4. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:

a. Coffeenerdness: I have gone back to a simple coffeemaker, making Italian Roast every morning. I have cut down my unsatisfactory trips to Starbucks for latte because the pods are not regularly cleaned. Not cut out, but cut down. Seattle, are you listening? That's $3.60 a day you're losing because of my mini-boycott.

b. After a lousy episode two weeks ago (too much gratuitous sex and nastiness), Six Feet Under is back to greatness. I like the Russian mafia getting involved. And is there a better actor on edge TV today than Michael C. Hall, who plays David? By the way, the Brenda character is not attractive.

c. By the time The Sopranos returns, Meadow will be a grandmother.

d. Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) performed a nice rendition of the U.S. national anthem at the Maple Leafs-Islanders game Sunday night.

e. Hockey is ridiculous. The banging and face-smashing and violence makes the postseason more about mugging than scoring.

5. I think no rookie had a more impressive minicamp weekend than Lions quarterback Joey Harrington. Detroit has had 11 starting quarterbacks over the past 10 years. Now the Lions might have one over the next 10. He was accurate, very sure of himself and a quick read over the weekend, but what really impressed the Lions was his arm strength. He threw a 30ish-yard out route right on the numbers, with zing, on Friday, which opened eyes. In the last team drill of the weekend, coach Marty Mornhinweg gave six plays to nominal starter Mike McMahon, seven to Harrington and two to Ty Detmer. Meaning: As fast as Harrington can learn the plays, that's how fast the Lions are going to feed him action.

6. I think I'm looking forward to my first Fenway pilgrimage of the season Tuesday. As far as I can tell, Pedro is still slated to go. I wonder if a pitcher has ever thrown three one-hitters in a row. Asterisky, though. Martinez pitched eight innings and allowed one hit two starts ago, in Kansas City, and threw a seven-inning one-hitter last Thursday.

7. I think if you want to read an interesting perspective on the Drew Bledsoe deal, and why you shouldn't be in total mourning about it if you're a Patriots fan, check out Bill Simmons (and I know I shouldn't be pubbing a rival Web site, but it's a good piece) on ESPN.com. He writes: "Hey, it's never fun to admit something didn't work out exactly the way you thought it would. This happens in life all the time. People hold onto jobs for too long, or lovers, or dreams, or even memories ... and they don't realize they should cut the cord until it's too late. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and move on."

8. I think the Ravens are making a terrible mistake if they don't give Chris Redman every chance to start and work through the initial problems young quarterbacks have. It's nice to have Jeff Blake there for insurance, and I like Blake, but the Ravens loved Redman two years ago as a third-rounder, and he's done nothing to tarnish their feelings. He's a tough kid with a good-enough arm and all the smarts a quarterback needs.

9. I think I must be confused about this Jeremiah Trotter guy. He didn't want a $5.515 million, one-year deal from the Eagles. He was angry that Philadelphia was disrespecting him. (Oh, disrespect me like that, Jeff Lurie. Please.) And so he signs a deal with the Redskins that, including bonus money, will pay him $1.525 million in 2002, $7.5 million in 2003, and $2.7 million in 2004; after that, Washington will likely cut Trotter or re-do the deal because the annual salaries get heavy. And so Trotter, who wanted this great big deal, is playing the next three years for $11.75 million. He could have played one year for half that, then tried to get his big money again. This logic escapes me.

10. I think you should all relax, Raider Nation. Rich Gannon will be under center for the opener.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Monday Morning Quarterback appears in this space -- no kidding -- on Monday mornings.

 

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