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SPORTS
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Photo by TIM MANDELL
Owen County shortstop Aaron Sutherland, right, tries to hold an
Oldham County player close to second base on May 30 during the
8th Region semifinals in Shelbyville. Oldham County won the game,
7-6. Shelby County won the regional tournament.
Baseball
season comes to an end
Hoop
places 11th at state
Fun
at football camp
Images
from the regional track meet
On
the sidelines
Momentum swings are part of sports
TIM
MANDELL
Momentum
is such a driving force in sports.
When one team grabs the momentum, it becomes contagious, filtering
from one player to the next until the entire team is playing on
such a high, they feel invincible.
On the opposite spectrum, losing the momentum can be like a nasty
gremlin ripping away at your sanity and wreaking havoc at every
turn.
During the 8th Region baseball semifinals, Oldham County seized
the momentum and Owen County began to unravel.
One bad inning was the difference.
In the second inning the Rebels allowed four unearned runs, falling
behind 4-0.
By the end of the inning, they were no longer a team.
Players were yelling and swearing at each other, and one player
had to be restrained from going after a teammate in the dugout.
The finger pointing had begun and the frustration had set in.
Even though it was only the bottom of the second inning, there
was a sense that that nasty little gremlin was eating away at
every player on the team, and this game might be history.
On the other side of the field, Oldham County players were smiling
and cheering and celebrating.
Oldham County added three more unearned runs in the fourth inning
to take a 7-1 lead, and with their pitcher sailing along, it seemed
like the game was over, and the only thing left was to get the
rest of the outs out of the way.
But a funny thing happens in sports.
Momentum swings.
Teams recover.
And they come alive.
Owen County began to play solid defense. Then, in the bottom of
the sixth inning, their bats began to come alive and they stole
small a piece of momentum with a pair of runs to cut the lead
to 7-3.
In their final at bat, the Rebels snatched the momentum full-on,
and began to reach that level of invincibility.
Even though they came up one hit — or one wild pitch or
one error — short of scoring the tying or winning run, those
final few innings were almost magical.
And even though they lost, the Rebels went down fighting.
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