Photoessay #184 - Susanna talks to the reporters

From the last weekend at Howe Field last spring. Athletes need to be able to talk to sports reporters. Susanna tended to be a reporter magnet, even in high school, often she was the one chosen to speak to reporters. I remember Charlie, our dedicated newsman on the prep sports beat, catching her game after game "Suzie, you have a second?"

In high school, her quotes often appeared in the weekly local paper. Nothing too exciting but there she was, in print just about every week. My next door neighbor relayed a story about talking to her mother

"Suzie was not in the Enterprise this week, why not?"
"I don't know, mom"
"Well is she injured, is something wrong? I read about her every week"
"I have no idea"
"Well, I'm worried, what's going on? I need to keep track of her" grumbled the mom
"You can call and complain if you want, mom"
etc

The reporters in college also wanted to talk to her. Senior weekend, I don't remember which game. The series was Arizona and Arizona State. For the softball crowd, playing 3 games in three days against those two teams is rugged! They did win the last game on senior day against ASU. It was a close game and their star Katie Cochran was the last up. She gave it EVERYTHING to get safely to first but was thrown out. You could see that she really really did not want to lose because she didn't get up for a minute or two (she had tried to slide in head first). She wasn't hurt, I think she was just mad.

Don't remember why they were talking to Susanna but she had had some major role. As she often did.

But a good way to end it for the seniors. Those Pac 10 kids are competitive. One of Susanna's former teammates transferred to school in what's called a Mid-Major conference. She writes me that the players are skillful but not at all as competitive as the Pac 10 players.

The second picture shows the ASU pitching ace Katie Burkhardt who is wicked good. AnnMarie is up to bat and looks like Sari Jane on first.

Here's the Katie Burkhardt story. Some weeks previous these two teams played in Tempe. I wasn't there but I heard the story over the phone as it happened. Katie Burkhardt has a perfect game going, it's rather late in the game. Susanna up to bat, she swings at first pitch, takes 2 balls. Looks up at the scoreboard, the count shows 3-0. Susanna calls time, she knows the correct count is 2-1. She asks Blue (the umpire) for the correct count. He says 3-0. She asks him to confirm 3-0. Ok, she'll take it. She takes the next pitch and Blue awards her the base. And the ASU coach goes nuts. It's a 3 ball walk and broke the perfect game.