CROWD, TV PRESSURIZE A.V.'S FINALE.Byline: Lee Lamberts Special to the Daily News KALAMAZOO, MICH v. i. 1. To lie hid; to skulk; to act, or carry one's self, sneakingly. . - Did the massive crowd finally get to the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley District 51 All-Stars? Hard to say. But there was no reason to believe it didn't. On Monday, Antelope Valley played in front of an estimated throng of 1,800 but still managed to beat Michigan in the opening game of the Big League World Series. The thing is, probably all but a handful of those 1,800 were cheering for Michigan, since the District 2 All-Stars came from in and around Kalamazoo. Then, on Saturday, more than 3,000 people crammed cram v. crammed, cram·ming, crams v.tr. 1. To force, press, or squeeze into an insufficient space; stuff. 2. To fill too tightly. 3. a. To gorge with food. into Wilson Field to root for the hometown girls as they played Antelope Valley in the championship game of the series. Add to that a crew from ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network 2 and the accompanying commercial delays between innings INNINGS, estates. Lands gained from the sea by draining. Cunn. L. Dict. h. t.; Law of Sewers, 31. and well. . . ``There were a lot of people at the first game, so I didn't think that was a problem,'' said Antelope Valley pitcher Marciea Ball, who beat Michigan the first time, but came up short 3-0 in Saturday's finale. ``But I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. about today. It sort of seems like they're all closing in on you. I tried not to think about it and I tried not to think about being on TV. The only thing that made me notice it was having to wait for commercial breaks, but other than that it wasn't glaringly obvious and annoying.'' Still, having all those people surrounding a field with fences only 200 feet away from home plate can be unnerving un·nerve tr.v. un·nerved, un·nerv·ing, un·nerves 1. To deprive of fortitude, strength, or firmness of purpose. 2. To make nervous or upset. . Right? ``The crowd is, like, not for you and the majority rules,'' Ball said. ``Seriously, it felt like it was closing in on us like they were not wanting us here. But they're the home team and that's got to be expected.'' It's not like the fans were hostile and rude; far from it. But the Antelope Valley players agreed it's hard to stay focused when there are about 3,000 people cheering for the other team and just a couple of dozen fans trying to make noise for your team. Antelope Valley coach Lester Ball tried to downplay down·play tr.v. down·played, down·play·ing, down·plays To minimize the significance of; play down: downplayed the bad news. Verb 1. the impact of the crowd, citing the effort of Michigan pitcher Anna Ollgaard, who allowed A.V. just two hits, as the key to his team's demise. ``We kind of had that Monday, but I don't really know what it was,'' he said. ``But Anna pitched a great game and they deserved to win. We lost our composure there a little bit (when the California girls committed two errors and Michigan scored three runs in the sixth inning in·ning n. 1. a. Baseball One of nine divisions or periods of a regulation game, in which each team has a turn at bat as limited by three outs. b. innings (used with a sing. ), but it's a big game, there were a lot of people here and there was a lot at stake.'' Third baseman third baseman n. Baseball The infielder stationed near third base. Noun 1. third baseman - (baseball) the person who plays third base third sacker Monique Saldana certainly noticed the crowds. She was much more succinct suc·cinct adj. suc·cinct·er, suc·cinct·est 1. Characterized by clear, precise expression in few words; concise and terse: a succinct reply; a succinct style. 2. about it. ``We didn't feel a lot of love from the fans today,'' she said. --Look - I'm on TV: Though many of the players tried to downplay the fact that their game was being played for tape-delayed broadcast - Antelope Valley vs. Michigan will air Friday - several players acknowledged the camera's presence in the form of, shall we say, body art. Pitcher Marciea Ball's right arm, for example, contained messages such as ``Hey Boo'' and ``Erin'', while the name ``Shanna'' was written on her left arm, a tribute to some of her friends back home who might be watching the replay this weekend. Center fielder Sayoko Rutledge was a bit more discreet, putting the number ``4'' on her right bicep - for those, perhaps, who couldn't read the number on the back of her uniform - and the word ``Koko,'' her nickname, on her left arm. The most-creative artwork, though, belonged to left fielder/pitcher Amanda Wachsmuth. The words ``Mommy,'' ``Paige'' and ``Dad'' were printed on her left arm while a small heart, followed by the numbers ``8-2-3'' were printed on her right bicep. ``That's a page code for my friends that means, `Thinking of you,''' Wachsmuth explained. ``There are eight letters in the word ``thinking,'' two in ``of'' and three in ``you.'' CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) Antelope Valley's Heather Nix is forced out at second by Maryland's Jennifer Parks, who looks to complete relay to first. (2) Erin Yasumoto of Antelope Valley beats the throw to catcher Erin Minto to score a sixth-inning run against Victoria in Big League World Series. Terry Miller/Associated Press |
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