The comeback of all comebacks in a fog

The 1997 Ocean County Softball Tournament semifinals had come down to the top four seeds remaining, all converging at Toms River High School East on Saturday, May 31, 1997.

The first game featured the top seeds and host Toms River East Raiders against fourth-seeded Toms River North. East won the Class A South title and had earned the top seed for the tournament as voted on by the coaches. The Mariners had struggled a bit, but got better as the season went along and came in to this game at 19-4.

In this first game, a 5 p.m. start, it was never a contest. East hit North hard-throwing righty Lauren Anderson for eight hits, but they never got a clutch hit throughout the game, stranding 13 runners, while North hitters hit Nicole Brigandi around for 12 his and turned the Raiders away, 10-2. Anderson only had four strikeouts on this damp, grey-skied evening, but it was enough for North to advance to its first final since 1993 and third final in the 1990s.

The game dragged on for two hours and 22 minutes and, in actuality, was a snooze-fest. Now North had to wait to see who it was playing in the title game.

For the third straight year, it was Central Regional facing the defending champion of the tournament, Jackson Memorial. At the same seeding meeting where East was made a No. 1 seed, Central Regional, which had been scuffling during that part of the year, was given the second seed. And now at 21-5, the record was shining as brightly. These Golden Eagles were playing to the same level as the 1996 Golden Eagles that made history by becoming the first Ocean County team to win a state title, taking down Paramus, 1-0, for the NJSIAA Group III championship in storybook fashion.

And most of that team was back for the '97 season, led by three-year starter Kristy Tice, and All-State first-team centerfielder Cheryl Zellman, both seniors. Other seniors led the way -- first baseman Jill Homage, catcher Kelly Honecker and right fielder-pitcher Robin Pepper, who was the winning pitcher in that Cinderella story of the 1996 state championship at North against Paramus.

Shortstop Toni Penniman and left fielder Becky Barrett were among the junior leaders on this experience-laden team of third-year coach Joe Winkelried.

But coach Al Aires had a number of key returnees to his third-seeded Jackson Memorial Jaguars team, led by senior shortstop Kerri Gleason. The rest of the team was filled with underclassmen with plenty of experience in their own right -- junior second baseman Rosanne Rocca, junior third baseman Tracy Goldych and catcher Erin Leonard. They were there when the Jaguars won that OCT title over top-seeded Southern Regional the year before. They knew the ropes.

But Jackson Memorial had a wild card at first base who was going to deliver a terrific career eventually at shortstop named Toni Williams. She didn't play like a freshman.

Those dark, damp, humid conditions at East were about to add a new element as the first pitch was about to be thrown sometime after 8 p.m. when both teams had finished out warming up.

The fog. In the distance where the trees were well beyond the outfield, it was starting to get tougher to see anything there. Little did I know this was going to be the telling tale of what would become an absolute classic.

Sitting in the same public address spot on the first base side behind home plate, I read the lineups and got Central out onto the field to get it all started.

For Tice, this was a senior year to finally win a championship for herself. As a sophomore, she was the winning pitcher when Central beat Jackson for the crown, 11-4. But she got injured badly in that state championship game in the first inning when she fouled a riser off into her face and did awful damage to her teeth and face. Pepper stepped in to throw that two-hit shutout at Paramus.

Right on cue, Tice was strong out of the gate. She struck out Cheryl Fossati and got Rocca on a comebacker. However, things changed quickly. Gleason walked on four pitches. And Goldych rocketed a shot to the right-center field gap to bring home Gleason. Goldych ended up on third with a triple. Williams hit a grounder that Penniman could not come up with, and the error allowed Goldych to make it 2-0. Tice struck out Leonard, but the early damage was done and the Jaguars had control at the start.

Starting pitcher Fossati got the dangerous Zellman to fly out to left fielder Krissy Sherman, and though Homage walked, Barrett hot a rope at Rocca, who caught the ball and tagged out Homage to finish out the double play.

Tice got herself in trouble in the second when No. 9 hitter Jen Kubinski reached on yet another Penniman error, was sacrificed to second by Fossati and moved to third on a Rocca single. But Tice got Gleason to pop out to second baseman Dawn Wilson to end the threat.

Fossati handled matters in her half of the second with a popout, groundout and strikeout.

The third came and darkness had covered the East field by now. On four pitches, Tice walked Goldych, bringing up Williams. Tice got ahead 0-2, but made the mistake of putting a pitch with too much strike zone in it.

"Plink!"

The sound reverberated around the East complex as the ball hunted the gap on the fence-less East field. Zellman and Pepper seemed to be running after a thoroughbred the way the ball kept tracking in the right-center field gap. Goldych scored easily and by the time the ball reached the infield, Williams had circled the bases with a two-run home run to make it 4-0.

Not a good start for a Central team that was looking at the end of its season if it did not get its act together. Sherman popped out and Leonard flied out, but up stepped No. 8 hitter Katie Barry. She singled and promptly stole second on Honecker and Tice. On another 0-2 pitch Kubinski took advantage of a ball that had enough plate by stroking a single to right field to score Barry.

Jackson 5, Central 0. And when Fossati struck out Pepper and Wilson and got third baseman Tricia Friedman on a soft liner to Rocca, reality was quickly setting in that Jackson had control of this game and really wanted one more shot at Toms River North in the final.

Tice finally had an easy inning with a strikeout, lineout to her and flyout against the Nos. 2-4 in the Jaguars lineup in the fourth.

Central was running out of outs. There was 12 left for the Golden Eagles. And it took the simplest of plans to get things going on their side of the field. It was a bunt on the right side of the infield that had every Jaguars player on that side flustered as Zellman beat it out for a hit.

Within the first two pitches, Zellman stole second and took third on a wild pitch. Homage singled to center to score Zellman with the first Central run, but she got greedy and Kubinski threw a strike to Rocca at second to nail Homage for the firsts out.

The out was costly -- Barrett boomed a triple to right-center field that would have delivered an RBI. She would come home on a Penniman groundout to Rocca.

The Golden Eagles had chipped into the 5-0 lead. But they weren't done.

Tice settled in the next two innings, allowing just one hit. In the bottom of the fifth, Honecker walked, moved to second on a Pepper groundout to Williams and scored when not only did Rocca fumble Wilson's groundball, but threw it away, making it 5-3.

Chip. Chip. Chip. Chip. Chip.

Homage began the sixth inning with another clutch moment -- a triple to the right-center field gap. Barrett struck out against Fossati, but Penniman walked. This is when Winkelried rolled the dice and took a chance. He had Penniman take off for second. Homage started down for home, but Rocca's throw to the plate missed the target and got by Leonard, allowing Penniman to move to third and 70 feet from being the tying run.

When Tice hit a grounder to Williams, Williams took the out instead of trying to make a play at home. Penniman easily scored and that 5-0 lead was now gone and over with.

A 5-5 tie made this game a lot more palatable for softball fans.

If the first six innings offered the drama, the suspenseful seventh was going to tell us the who, what, when, where, why and how of the game. And as I looked out at Central warming up in the seventh, I noticed something that was becoming way too obvious -- the fog had finally found its way to the outer stretches of the outfield.

Could it play the role in the end?

Gleason started the seventh with a walk. Goldych made good contact on a 3-1 pitch and singled to left to send Gleason to second. That brought up Williams. Williams worked the count 3-2, then Tice offered her a pitch that looked like a beachball to the freshman -- she roped it over Zellman's head in center field.

Yes, Cheryl Zellman had a ball go over her head. But Gleason and Goldych scored and Williams stopped at third with a triple and the Jaguars regaining the 7-5 lead.

On a team with experience, the hero was going to be this freshman phenom named Toni Williams, who was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBIs. But the inning was far from over.

Sherman bombed a double to right field to bring in Williams and it was 8-5 ... and still nobody out.

At this point, Winkelried made the walk out to the mound. I know he didn't want to do this, but the reality had set in -- Jaguars hitters were timing Tice's pitches perfectly. He painfully had to take the ball out of Tice's hands and bring in Pepper from right field. Pepper had more motion in her windup than Tice did and that fooled the Paramus hitters in that 1-0 victory at the state Group III title game the year before.

But things did not start so well for Pepper. She walked Leonard. Then she walked Barry to load the bases. For a moment, though, Pepper recovered to get Kubinski to pop out to Penniman, then strike out Fossati. But on a 3-2 pitch, she walked Rocca to force home Sherman.

Pepper would strike out Gleason, the 10th hitter of the inning. But the damage was done again -- four runs, three hits, no errors, four walks, three left on base. The inning could have been much, much worse.

Now the Jaguars and Fossati had three outs to get. But again, I'm watching the outfield and the fog has now rolled in to nearly the central part of the outfield. That's how long the inning to play! And it still was damp and yucky.

For Jackson, I was hoping the inning was not going to be long enough for where the fog may take effect somewhere.

Immediately, Fossati got in trouble by walking Wilson. From the side of the Jaguars' first base dugout, I could see Aires visibly upset. And when she threw a first-pitch ball to Wilson, Aires came out.

That was it for Fossati, who had her moments of trepidation in the circle, but was still in control of this game at 9-5 with three outs to get. What could possibly go wrong?

Fossati moved to left field, Sherman moved to right field and Barry came out of the game. And in came a freshman who had seen some time in the circle and would become the fulltime Jaguars starter the following year.

This was Dara DeVincenzo's time to shine. The daughter of Freehold Township softball coach John DeVincenzo, now she was asked to come up with the final three outs and secure the victory. That's not asking too much of a freshman, is it?

DeVincenzo got the count to 3-2, but walked Wilson to put runners on first and second with no outs. Friedman would loft a flyball to right fielder Sherman for the first out. Now, though, DeVincenzo had to face the teeth of the Central lineup.

Zellman was what we call the "trouble maker" of the Golden Eagles lineup. Her bunt eventually led to the first Central run and ultimately, a 5-5 tie a couple of innings later. She fell behind 0-2. Then she hit a groundball that she was going to beat on the right side of the field for an infield hit. But instead of swallowing the ball, Rocca made the mistake of throwing it past Williams and into dead-ball territory, scoring Pepper to make it 9-6, but both runners were now in scoring position.

What happened next was about to make things worse and intriguing. On the first pitch, Homage hit a grounder to Gleason at shortstop. The Jaguars were going to concede the run to get an out, but the moisture and dampness did something terrible and Gleason's throw went astray for another two-base error, scoring both Wilson and Zellman and moving Homage into scoring position.

Worse, it was 9-8 with Jackson holding on by its fingernails. After the walk to Wilson, DeVincenzo was throwing good pitches to Central hitters, but could only get one out in the deal.

Out came Homage and in came Meghan Barrett to run for her at second base as Winkelried was needing some extra speed for the occasion. Would it be Barrett's older sister, Becky, who would deliver the big hit to send her home? On a 2-2 pitch, the older Barrett grounded out to Gleason, this time taking the time to throw an accurate strike to Williams.

But Meghan Barrett was 70 feet away from tying this game ... again.

It came down to Penniman, who was 0-for-2 with a walk and an RBI. She had a good hack at DeVincenzo's first offering, but fouled it out of play. With the 0-1 count, I'm thinking, "Dara, just throw the ball at the corner of the strike zone and down or jam her. Whatever you do, don't give her anything good to hit!"

On the very next pitch, Penniman got a pitch she could handle and hit a flyball toward left field.

I'm watching Fossati out in left field thinking she can line this ball up. But there was the fog about to play havoc on her and Jackson's hopes of moving on. By the time Fossati had picked up the ball in that fog, she was starting to chase it down behind her. Meghan Barrett scored and Penniman did not stop until she slid into third base with a triple, popped back up and gave Winkelried an emphatic high-five.

Jackson 9, Central 9. How could this happen? Why did it happen? Well, you know the circumstances from reading those last few graphs on the bottom half of the seventh. As Central fans began to vociferously cheer and Jackson fans were trying to encourage their daughters and friends on that field, only one thought came to my mind.

Please don't go into extra innings. It's 10:27 p.m. and this game and day have gone on too long since I'm the one who had to beat a 12:30 a.m. deadline to write BOTH stories. Lucky me!

But all those worries went away with Tice. It was earlier in the seventh the senior was taken out of the circle by Winkelried and placed in right field while Pepper got to finish it up.

It was one pitch ... one pitch only. A high pitch that Tice thrived on. She laced her shot into left field to score Penniman and end the game in an improbably 10-9 victory. Just 20 minutes later, I was ready to write Central's obituary and the greatness the team generated in the '96 and '97 seasons, including that state championship.

Now it was Central mobbing Tice after her hit, happy she was the one who delivered the RBI smack. And while that was happening, I was watching Leonard leave to go back to the dugout in absolute shock. Jackson players walked to the dugout like it was a funeral procession. Aires and his brother, Marco, who helped him that season, did all they could to keep the players' spirits up.

But it was the end of the season for the Jaguars at 14-11. How do you even try to find a positive after seeing your season end like that -- the walks, the costly errors, the triple that got lost in the fog and the single that ripped their collective hears out? How?

I quickly grabbed Winkelried and talked to him about his win and he was grateful for the effort his team put into it by not just coming back once, but twice. I packed up all my PA gear, got into my car and sped back to the Observer office to type in two agates and then the details on the two games in one story.

Looking back, this was the greatest Ocean County Softball Tournament game ever. Just when Jackson had this game won and had the opportunity to become the first team in the history of the tournament to win back-to-back titles, Central Regional came back to win this thriller.

And five nights later on the same East field, Central and North played another classic. It ended with Zellman hitting a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off Anderson in her final high school at-bat for the 2-1 victory.

Within those five days, the two greatest games in the tournament's history were played.

Jackson would make it back to the OCT final the next two years and lose to North in 1998 and beat East in 1999. Central Regional would lose in back-to-back years to Anderson's North Mariners, but in 2000, the Golden Eagles would win their last of eight OCT crowns, beating Pinelands in the final.

When I have to talk about this game between Central and Jackson in 1997, it's hard to really describe in in a few years. Jackson got a big lead, Central tied it. Jackson took a four-run lead into the bottom of the seventh, only to have Central score five times to win it.

Let's just say I was proud to witness it and report about every detail in the end.

Even the fog that had the final say.

The future was on display in the circle

Back in the day when the Ocean County Softball Tournament was a well-run machine and coaches handled the tournament directing duties, there was Quarterfinal Saturday.

Whether it was at Lakewood High School or Point Pleasant Boro High School or Toms River High School East, it was an all-day, all-night Saturday of softball at one particular site.

And in 1996, that site was East, the first full year the Raiders' field had lights on it. The lights were to be installed to play in the 1995 season, but it took a while -- like the whole freakin' season -- for the lights to finally be put up for the county tournament championship on May 20, 1995. And for the record, Central Regional defeated Jackson Memorial, 11-4, for the title.

The lights now fully in use for 1996, it made running the county tournament all that much better, and gave us back a true Quarterfinal Saturday with all four tournament games on the same day.

And so this Quarterfinal Saturday was held on Saturday, May 25, 1996. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon at East. The first two games in the late morning and afternoon were blowouts -- defending champion Central Regional went first and pummeled Lacey, 10-2. The other game saw Jackson Memorial handle its business against coach Amy Tice's Brick Green Dragons, 12-3.

One semifinal was set for the following weekend with Central and Jackson having a rematch.

Now we had the other half of the quarterfinals to play. Top-seeded Southern Regional was to face No. 9 seed Toms River South in the prime-time game starting at 8 p.m. But at 5 p.m., we had the showcase game between No. 5 seed Point Pleasant Boro and No. 4 seed Toms River North.

The one girl on Point Boro's team, coached by former tournament director Ric Malta, with any name recognition was shortstop and leadoff hitter Jodie Cheasty, who had been a member of the Panthers' NJSIAA Group II championship girls basketball team two months before, the first Ocean County team to win a girls basketball state championship.

North's Mariners had a mostly young team, though senior second baseman Dawn Albruzzese and senior center fielder Carrie Brown were the upper-class leaders. North's team was building toward a stronger future with sophomores Lisa Miller at third base and Teresa Andreani behind the plate and shortstop Kathy Acosta at shortstop leading the way.

But the game featured two promising freshmen stars in the circle on this day. For Point Boro, it was Kristin Handwerk. I had seen her pitch maybe once that year, and the only other thing I knew about her was that I knew her father, Tom, who was a longtime basketball coach at the Boro and previously at Lakewood.

The other pitcher would eventually become a legend -- Lauren Anderson. L.A. The "Big M."

Already, she had begun to build her reputation as a bad-ass, hard-throwing right-hander who used every inch of the plate made possible to her, but preferred wiping you away with her fastball. Riseball? She did not need one. No one in most of these teams' lineups was catching up to the No. 1.

And as the sun shined brightly over Toms River East behind the field for the 5 o'clock start, I settled into my public address spot behind the plate to watch what I thought had every right to be a pitcher's duel from start to finish.

The Panthers had first crack against Anderson. In 10 pitches, Anderson vanquished Cheasty, Jessica McMullen and Summer Marini on a flyout, groundout and strikeout. North had its first crack at Handwerk and she went 1-2-3 in 11 pitches as Albruzzese popped out, and Miller and Andreani flied out.

Then Anderson got it cranked up in the second against an offensively challenged Panthers team. She struck out Meghan Shank, Handwerk and Dawn Christie all swinging.

Meanwhile, Handwerk ran into trouble in her half of the second. With two outs, Acosta walked. Toni Lynn Trombino walked and both stole bases. But Handwerk worked her way out of the jam by getting Melissa Dague to pop out to Christie to keep it scoreless.

The third inning for Anderson was more of the same -- three-up, three-down as she got a lineout, flyout and strikeout. Nine up, nine down so far for the star-in-the-making Anderson.

The Mariners mustered up another threat in the third inning. With one out, Albruzzese beat out an infield hit. Miller put down a sacrifice bunt that Handwerk fielded and threw to first baseman Julie Bishop for the out, but on the play, Albruzzese hustled all the way to third. Yet another Mariner in scoring position. Was THIS the moment to break through.

Turns out it wasn't. Andreani flied out to right fielder Wendi Baenziger to end the threat.

It was now the fourth. The Panthers had one go-round with Anderson and had no hits and four strikeouts to show for it. And it wasn't starting any better when Cheasty grounded out weakly to Anderson.

But Malta had a different strategy for No. 2 hitter McMullen. She had her lay down a bunt on the right side of the infield. McMullen beat the play at first and the Panthers had a baserunner and hit at last.

This brought up Marini, the Panthers' durable catcher. Marini hit a 1-2 pitch on the left side of the infield, a slow roller that it seemed to take forever for Miller to get to. Miller did retrieve the ball, but she was late in getting Marini at first. While all this is going on, McMullen was not stopping, heading for third base. First baseman Alyson Barnett fired back across the diamond to Acosta covering third, only to miss her target.

Badly, no less. The ball rolled on East's open field into dead-ball territory, allowing McMullen to come home with the first run of the game, making it 1-0. Chaos in no more than eight seconds and the Panthers had a run after doing nothing for three innings. Shank walked after Marini was allowed to advance to third on that errant throw. Shank stole second, but Anderson got a strikeout and flyout to end the inning.

Now the Mariners had to battle back. Seemed easy for them throughout this '96 season as they had a 14-7 record going into the game. With one out, things got started for North when a throwing error by third baseman Shank allowed Brown to get to second. An infield hit, followed by a stolen base, by Acosta put runners on second and third. But Handwerk showed the large crowd at East why as a freshman she had ice water in her veins, striking out both Trombino and Dague to end another North threat.

After the errant throw that allowed the Panthers to score, Anderson allowed the Panthers practically nothing the rest of the afternoon and early evening. She would retire 11 of the last 12 batters she faced, five of which were strikeouts, giving her 10 for the day.

For Handwerk, though, things were not as easy. In the bottom of the fifth inning, she hit Albruzzese with a pitch. She was forced out on a Miller grounder, then Miller moved to third on a bloop single to right-center field by Andreani, who would take second one pitch later. But against her counterpart, Handwerk prevailed by getting Anderson on a groundout to Cheasty.

The real battles, though, were about to take place. Brown started the sixth inning by booming a double over left fielder Diana Shank's head. Acosta bunted successfully for a hit to put runners on first and third with no outs.

Could this be the moment that North finally -- FINALLY -- broke through against Handwerk, who had navigated rough waters throughout the game? Trombino came up. On the first pitch, she hit a flyball to right fielder Baenziger. She caught it and North coach Becky Miller sent Brown home. Baenziger threw a strike to Marini at the plate. As she caught the ball, she turned to make the tag and right on top of her was Brown.

Marini, who had successfully blocked the plate, got plastered by Brown. Somehow, though, Marini held on to the ball and home plate umpire Jerry Caldarise called Brown at the plate. I'm pretty sure over 25 years later, that would not be allowed (blocking the plate, that is), but in this moment, it meant the Panthers secured their one-run lead. However, with Acosta now on third after the bang-bang play at the plate, the Panthers still had to hold their ground. Handwerk dominated Dague in striking her out to end the sixth.

One more inning and the Panthers would advance to their first OCT semifinal since 1991.

The bottom of the seventh began with pinch-hitter Nicolette Schellato beating out an infield hit.

There was the spark North needed for one last rally. Albruzzese, though, grounded into a force play as Cheasty fielded the grounder and tossed to second baseman Christie for the out. Lisa Miller then hit a grounder to Christie, who could have thrown to second to force out Albruzzese, but opted to throw to Bishop for the second out.

That was downright dangerous. That put Albruzzese in scoring position with two outs and a dangerous hitter at the plate in Andreani, who two years later would earn first-team all-state honors as North's catcher on a memorable 24-3 team. This lefty-hitting catcher was a star in the making like her battery mate. For this game, Andreani was 1-for-3 with each ball going to right-center field.

Boro played her straight away with McMullen edged a tad over toward right fielder Baenziger. Handwerk was 1-1 in the count to Andreani when she threw a waist-high pitch that Andreani got a hold of.

Boro fans stood up. North fans stood up as the ball was heading for the right-center field gap. If the ball lands, Miller easily scores, and if it goes by the two outfielders, there's no question that Andreani gets at least a triple, maybe an inside-the-park home run to win it.

It looked like a sure hit. But out of nowhere came McMullen, who had only one play -- stretching out and diving to make the catch. She went for it ... and the ball found its way into her glove.

Boro fans jumped up and down in joy. North fans stood in disbelief. And Panthers players raced out to where McMullen was still on the ground with the ball in her glove, saving the Panthers' 1-0 victory.

I'm pretty sure McMullen never made another play quite like that in her life. But the senior had delivered in the biggest of moments and had sent the Mariners packing for the rest of the tournament.

On the field, our writer for that game, Nick Huba (because I took the day off), was interviewing both coaches Malta and Miller afterward. I had seen the Boro state title win in girls basketball and, at this point, it was just more Boro magic.

Ironically, it was a throwing error on a play at third base by a first baseman, this time Bishop, that let the go-ahead run score and lift top-seeded Southern Regional to a 2-1 win over Boro in the following weekend's semifinal matchup.

And by the way, the final game of the Quarterfinal Saturday after that thrilling Boro victory was a 10-1 no-hitter by Southern's Dana O'Hearn against South that saw her set a then-OCT record 15 strikeouts.

North would get to the OCT final the following year behind Anderson's brut pitching force and lose on a dramatic solo inside-the-park home run by Central Regional's Cheryl Zellman, 2-1, in nine innings. But in 1998, the year belonged to North as it won the OCT and Shore Conference Tournament titles with Anderson as a junior and Andreani as a senior.

Then in 1999, North and Boro hooked up again, this time in the SCT second round. And just like in 1996, Boro won the game behind senior Handwerk. Anderson was the hard-luck loser as she had to do a lot more for a team that could not hit its way out of a paper bag after those players in '97 and '98 had graduated.

But it's always wonderful to go back to when those players were so much younger, most notably Handwerk and Anderson as freshmen, facing each other in a tournament game like that one.

I knew the future was pretty secure the rest of the 1990s.

The most bizarre event I've ever covered

There are practically hundreds of events I've covered in all facets of sports over my 37-plus years as a journalist. There are those events that are memorable for many a reason, some for a great occurrence, others for record-breaking moments, and some because of the magnitude of what was happening.

But there are the rare events I've covered where Rod Serling needed to be called in to narrate because they were that strange and that preposterous in what happened.

One of those moments may be the most bizarre event I ever covered in all these years. It was Monday night, April 18, 2011. It was the opening round of the District 4-4A softball tournament between third-seeded and host Palatka and sixth-seeded St. Augustine.

Palatka's Panthers were expected to win the game. They came into the game with a 14-11 record in what could be considered an up-and-down season. One of the biggest adjustments these Panthers had to make was new coach Leslie Lewis. I always felt like Lewis inherited two strikes against her when she took the job because she was taking it from a very demanding, but popular coach in Rick Breed. Breed had been with the program for 14 years, first as the longtime assistant to Curt Smith, then taking the program over in 2008. Unfortunately for Breed, he was a government worker and whatever his agency 

wanted to do with his job, he had to do it no matter the hour, so he couldn't keep the job at that time.

Breed could be feisty. He could be sarcastic. He could be a grizzly bear, but there was one thing about his players that made him who he was -- he was behind them 100%, And his players loved him, gruff exterior at times and all.

So being a new coach was a bad place to be if you were Lewis. This team had some talent, too, starting with senior third baseman Lizz Smith and junior pitcher Jessica Gornto. There was also junior designated player Dawn Averett and senior center fielder Kori Osteen.

Gornto was the rock in the center of the diamond in the circle. And she thrived as the "go-to" pitcher. In 2009 as a freshman, she was the pitcher of Palatka's last district championship team, and faced down a terrific Dunnellon lineup in the regional semifinals before the Dunnellon High bats got going and put the Panthers away, 8-0. Trust me, it was a closer game than the final score indicated.

So after I did my normal routine at work, which was get the scoreboard page set up and get some other things out of the way, it was back up St. Johns Avenue to Mellon Road and into the sports parking lot where the track, tennis courts and softball field were all in the same area. It's normally hard to get a  halfway decent parking spot when a lot is going on, but at this point, it was just the softball team playing, so getting a parking spot wasn't too bad.

I get to the field and upstairs to the press box overlooking the softball field. Now, my mind is a little rusty here as to who was in the press box with me this particular night, but I already was tipped off that some of the Panther players came to the field on this evening not in the bestest of shape. Seems earlier in the afternoon, they ate something during lunch together that did not sit well in their stomachs. So a number of players came in with stomach issues.

Oh, boy. Here we go. Now was this going to give a St. Augustine team that was 8-15 going into this game any ideas of an upset?

Umm, no. Not at all. There was a reason why the Panthers beat the rival Yellow Jackets during the season and beat them handily, too. Even with stomach issues, these Panthers were still head and shoulders above the Jackets.

Honestly, I didn't expect anything out of the ordinary on this night whatsoever. This should be a "take care of business" kind of game and get ready for the next game in the semifinal round.

But this night was going to be a wee bit different.

Right from the very first batter, as a matter of fact, this game was going to be a little different. Hannah Hudson came up against Gornto to start. And on the first pitch, she's trying to slap-hit her way on ... except she made the mistake of stepping out of the batter's box when she hit the ball. Automatic out to start it off.

Though Sam Baker, the No. 2 hitter, walked on four pitches, she was forced out at second and K.K. Shaw struck out to end the inning. Onto the bottom of the first.

Sierra Riter is pitching for the Yellow Jackets and I don't exactly see her blowing fastballs by this Panthers lineup. The first hitter is Smith. She hits a laser only to have it snagged by first baseman Baker for the first out.

That now brings up Osteen. The count gets to 1-2. Riter sets her up with a low pitch that Osteen waves at for strike three. But the ball goes off catcher Kiersten O'Niel's glove. She has to go track the ball down, then make a throw to first to complete the out.

That's when the three-ring circus parked its tents and made itself at home on Palatka's field.

O'Niel's throw to Baker was nowhere near the mark and scooted out to the outfield. Second baseman Lauren Avolos and right fielder Linzy Hayes were literally M.I.A. on the play. The ball rolled all the way to the right-field fence and Osteen kept running, then got the windmill go-ahead arm wave of Lewis to continue home to score the game's first run.

On an inside-the-park strikeout.

Yup. This St. Augustine team was bad.

Riter struck out freshman shortstop Ashley Burney and Gornto, and the inning was over. But things were about to get even more bizarre after the bottom of the first took place.

I'm literally watching the Panthers take the field from my perch up in the press box. I see eight Panthers going out to the field, and one leaving the dugout and walking past everyone on the way to the parking lot beyond the outfield fence, getting in her car and driving away.

It was Osteen. She just left. And was never to come back again. In all my years of covering sports, this one I never saw -- a player just up and leaving. This one had nothing to do with a stomach problem. This had everything -- I found later -- to do with her relationship with Lewis. Osteen was one of the more devoted players under Breed. And she and Lewis didn't exactly see eye to eye.

But in spite of all the differences, you stay! You just don't up and leave ... in the niddle of a game! Those of us in the press box knew what was happening and this was the culmination of a year's worth of frustration. In the end, she hurt herself and lost her All-County bid to another player for just walking out the way she did.

And if that wasn't enough, Shelby Moody, the team's second baseman, had to come out because she wasn't feeling well. So Hunter Harper had to play right field, Shelisa Oliver came into the game to play second base and Katelynn Smith, Lizz's younger sister and freshman, had to move into Osteen's center field position.

On top of that, when you looked at the scoreboard, you didn't see any runs up there. The scoreboard wasn't working! I guess it cost a lot to get an electrician to come out to the school on this particular night.

As stated before, this was Rod Serling territory we were traipsing into this night.

Gornto got things back to some kind of normalcy and showed her dominance by getting the three hitters in the second inning -- Hayes, O'Niel and Teri Tate -- on strikeouts. 

In the bottom of the second, Averett was hit by a pitch with one out and Allison Lewis singled her to second. Harper hit a flyball to center field where Tate was. Except Tate dropped the ball, then punctuated the error with a throwing error to score Averett to make it 2-0. One out later, Smith hit a groundball that shortstop Taylor Magnan flubbed for the team's fourth error of the game, bringing in Lewis to make it 3-0.

Gornto went strikeout, comebacker, strikeout in the third to give her five strikeouts in three innings.

In the bottom of the third, Arielle Driggers singled to center field with two outs and Averett belted a shot that almost cleared the fence. It hit the fence and went for a double as Driggers, running on the hit, scored to make it 4-0.

The teams played a scoreless fourth inning and we were about to get into the fifth inning. Somewhere in the top of the fifth inning, I hear a noise. Then I look down on the field ... the sprinkler system went off!

Can anything else go strangely wrong?! The delay was about five minutes, and before long the teams went back out to play. Gornto struck out two of the three outs she had in the inning to give her eight strikeouts on the evening.

The Panthers put this thing away with four runs in the bottom of the fifth as Burney singled, Gornto walked and one out later, Averett won a 12-pitch battle with Riter by hitting her second double of the game to bring in Burney and Gornto to make it 6-0. Lewis would single Averett in and Lewis would eventually score on a Harper sacrifice fly.

At 8-0, the lead was safe in Gornto's hands. St. Augustine, though, wanted to send a message that it was there not just for purposes of background art. Baker singled and eventually came home on a Lydia Hough passed ball in the sixth. In the seventh, Tate reached on an infield hit and eventually came home on a Gornto wild pitch.

And when Gornto made Hudson the 10th strikeout victim of the night, this bizarre hour and 45 minutes was over in an 8-2 Palatka win.

Gornto called it "a little different from your normal game." That was an understatement.

I remember talking to coach Lewis afterward. I asked what happened with Osteen and she confirmed my thoughts on the matter.

"Kori is done with the team," she said. "'She's leaving' was what she said and then she just walked out and left."

I go back down St. Johns after the bizarre events of this Monday night back to work and find out that No. 2 seed and tournament host Ponte Vedra was upset by No. 7 seed Menendez. If Palatka could beat Menendez, it was on to to the district final and the state tournament as an automatic district finalist.

But the Panthers were stunned by the Falcons a couple of nights later and did not make the state tournament.

Lewis left after one year as coach and Averett's dad, Todd, who had experience with coaching most of these Panther players through club ball, took over in 2012 as coach. But he gave it back up to Breed, who in 2013 returned as coach and got Palatka back to the state tournament as a district runners-up, losing the final, 1-0, in controversial fashion to North Marion.

Palatka got to host only one postseason game since that night in 2011. The next year, the Panthers lost a district semifinal to Belleview, 2-0.

I think about the bizarre events -- and unfortunate ones -- from that night in 2011 and I still have a hard time trying to truly describe what I saw.

Every so often, you get lucky with a game like this one.

Or unlucky. You decide.