ESPN and the WCWS

I just watched the women's softball team of Arizona State totally destroy Texas A&M at the Women's College World Series (WCWS) in Oklahoma. Katie Burkhart, the left-handed pitcher for the Sun Devils, was in total command. She only needed one run to get the shutout victory, but her team gave her 11 runs unanswered by the Aggies.

Women's softball is an interesting and unique sport. It's only sort of baseball, but I really enjoy watching it. It's so girlish - I don't know what other word to use. In what other sport do the players hold hands in the dugout and throw kisses to the camera? I also don't know of any sport - except perhaps volleyball - where they have as many team meetings during a game. The coach will call time out in the middle of an inning and have all the baserunners, the batter and the on-deck batter will form a circle to discuss what? - "strategy?" No, I think it's more of a "feel-good" moment where they validate each other as an important person somehow.

I had never heard of Beth Mowins, the announcer for ESPN, but I was very impressed. She's got a classic female sports announcer's voice, conveys great enthusiasm and really seems to know her stuff. She's articulate and intelligent, and does a great job of keeping the flow going. They teamed her with three former NCAA women's softball players, all of whom did a good job of sharing their expertise with the viewers.

The only male on the crew was John Kruk. Wait...what? John Kruk? Where the heck did they drudge him up - and more importantly, why? Even though he played professional baseball for 11 years and did OK (a lifetime .300 average), he certainly has no particular insights into women's softball! He seemed totally out of his element and was more comic relief than color commentator. Particularly sad was a little filler segment in which Michelle Smith, who has two Olympic gold medals and is in the American Softball Association's Hall of Fame, threw him a few fast balls while he just stood in the batter's box and watched them go by. It reminded me of the All Star game several years ago where he faced Randy Johnson and looked like a Little Leaguer popping out of his too-small uniform. I remember him just laughing and waving the bat at the ball. Good bye. K. Sit down. The topper was when Smith tossed him a grapefruit - a real grapefruit - and the crew got a good laugh as Kruk splattered it all over the place. Yep, comic relief.

Anyway, it was an interesting series to watch and well produced. Congratulations to Arizona State for their first national title. They deserve it, and Katie Burkhart should be given the MVP.