Photoessay #680 - Howe Field Scene

Naomi is taking care of a neighbor's dog this weekend. Their daughter, two years younger than Susanna has also played softball in college for a Maryland School. The dad said they were going back for senior day. We agreed that, like everybody says, the time goes SO fast. One minute you're the parent of a new freshman, the next, it's Senior Day. He also said that it's been two years since he's seen her play and this would be the first time at their home field.

This gave me pause. The first time you see her play at home and it's Senior Day? During the time that Susanna played, I was always wondering how much effort and resources to spend to go watch her play. I didn't want to miss anything and rather wanted to err on the side of going too much. We went to one or two pre-season tournaments every year (including Hawaii twice(!)), made the trip to the Bay Area every year (Cal and Stanford), made most not all home dates. Went to Regionals once (senior year, South Carolina, how regional is that?)

I certainly learned that the experience of being there at the game was very different than watching it on Gametracker or similar. I was also lucky that I had Doris Harris to call me every single time Susanna was up for several seasons and stayed on the phone through the at bat. In fact, I was on the phone to Grant Chaput her senior year when she had that famous 3 ball walk against Arizona State to disrupt Katie Burkardt's perfect game. "Cliff Meyers (ASU's coach) is coming unglued" reported Grant.

But what if we had missed that Howe Field scene? That would be so sad; we were really part of it. We were there for lots of games, ok many of them losses to other Pac 10 teams, but still. We knew the parents, the players, the fans, the event staff, the grounds staff, the Daisy Ducks, everybody's kids, lots of extended family. The event staff recognized us when we showed up to take advantage of the player's pass. When Coach Roger sent flowers to the field on Susanna's Senior Day, the event staff brought them straight to me. We were there for the 'world record 'of pulling the tarp and then replacing it 4 times during a game with Stanford. We got wet lots of times and huddled in the hallways of Mac Court with everybody else. Sometimes the other moms and I would sit up in the top row with pom poms and make a lot of noise. We were there when Amy Harris pitched a 17 inning game against somebody. No tiebreaker in Pac 10. At the end, it was only loyal parents who remained. We were there when after an infield Suzie Play, Peg, the announcer intoned "#1 on your program folks, Suzie Barnes!" We were there when they lost a fall game to a community college team that didn't have uniforms. We watched an exciting finish defeating Arizona. I remember Jo Gail saying "just give me a ground ball, just give me a ball" when Arizona had the bases loaded in the 7th with two outs. She got the ground ball. We were there in the bottom of the 7th against Washington when AnnMarie hit innumerable foul balls over the fence just to the left of the foul pole and then struck out ending the game. We were there when the Ducks won both sides of the double header against UCLA and, believe me, that was NOT supposed to happen. Sue Enquist kept her team on the field a LOOOOONG time for that one. We were there when the DePaul coach completely fell apart and the umpired walked off the field calling the game. We were there when AnnMarie did color during the broadcast.

And the tailgates outside that we had a large part in organizing. Really fun! I know I've written quite a bit about them. Where we fed the players before the game and the coaches would come over; Coach J cooking with Grant.

My huge victory in getting the Mac Court bathrooms open banishing the portapotties. Let's not forget that achievement.

Remember the time that.... Remember the time that....

I may have used this shot before, I have many others but it is really the best. Taken last year on Senior Day. Including the big stuffed duck that Kate put on top of the dugout!

Susanna is in the picture, can you find her?