Aug 7, 2015 4 min read

It was one of the stranger moments of the season, and that is saying something considering some of the weird happenings to the Pennsylvania Rebellion in their second year of existence.

Rebellion players were on each of the bases with no outs in the fourth inning of the first of two games against the Akron Racers Friday night at Consol Energy Park. Maddie O’Brien had just hit a soft liner that was dropped by third baseman Jill Barrett but picked up by shortstop Nerissa Myers, who slapped the third base bag and threw to second base.

Was it:

A) A force play?

B) Double play?

C) Unassisted triple play?

The Rebellion have experienced many poor outcomes in these kind of situations, but in this game, a completion of a suspended game from June 14, things were different. It was not an unassisted triple play, just a double play and the Rebellion erupted for three runs after that play on the way to a 9-1 victory over Akron.

The Rebellion followed that win with a 4-3 victory in Game 2.

The Rebellion are 1 1/2 games behind Dallas for the fourth and final playoff berth in the national Pro Fastpitch Softball Championship Series in Hoover, Ala. The Charge lost to the defending champion USSSA Pride Friday night.

The suspended game began in the third inning with the Rebellion leading Akron 3-0.

The strange play in the fourth inning of that game had the umpires baffled – they discussed it for three minutes – but Rebellion manager Craig Montvidas knew the right call.

“I’ve seen some weird situations before,” said Montvidas. “The umpires blew the call at first but then ended up making the right call.”

Virginie Anneveld led off the fourth inning against Akron’s Alison Owen with a single to left field. Brittney Lindley beat out an infield single, one of her three hits in the game, and Courtney Senas bunted for single to load the bases with no one out.

O’Brien then hit a soft liner to Barrett, too low for the infield fly rule, and she dropped it near third base. Myers gloved it and tagged the base, a mistake. Had Myers tagged Anneveld, who was scurrying back to the bag, she could have stepped on third and thrown to second for a triple play. When Myers tagged the base, she took the force off Anneveld. Myers did throw to second base but the umpires didn’t make a call.

Then, everyone just stood on the field staring at each other.

“When the ball was in the air, I thought (Barrett) caught it,” said Anneveld. “The coach said stay here. It was very confusing. Everyone was panicking and I tried to stay calm.”

Originally, the umpires ruled only one out. Myers throw to second however forced Senas, and the call was changed to a double play, leaving runners on first and third with two out. Mandy Ogle then hit a grounder to third that Barrett misplayed for an error that scored Anneveld. Alisa Goler doubled to drive in O’Brien and Ogle to make it 6-1.

“The error was the play of the game,” Montvidas said, “because it stays 3-1 and keeps them in the game.”

Kristyn Sandberg had an unusual game, hitting two home runs, a three-run blast in the seventh inning that made it a 9-1 bulge and a solo shot seven weeks ago before the game was suspended because of rain in Akron.

“It was a good hitter’s count and a good count to hit the ball,” said Sandberg. “We’ve struggled to score runs. We’re in a playoff push and we need to win every game we can.”

Dagmar Bloeming picked up the first victory of her professonal career, going 1 2/3 innings, allowing 1 run and three hits.

In the second game, Alexa Peterson hit a two-run home run in the first inning, and doubled and scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Goler in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Emma Johnson, who started the first game back in June, moved her record to 4-1 and struck out eight.

Johnson allowed a two-run home run to Taylor Schlopy in the fifth that tied the game, 3-3. Ashley Thomas had an RBI single in the second inning.