PEORIA - GAME RECAP

The game we saw featured a first for me as a baseball fan - a female umpire. She is 24-year-old Ria Cortesio and she is the only female umpire in pro ball. She was fairly consistent, but on a couple of occasions didn't voice her calls loudly enough so the players misunderstood and walked to first when they had just been struck out. As an aside, MLB.com had an article on her exploits about a week later, so keep your eyes open for her in the future.

To the game - the Fort Wayne Wizards were in town to take on Peoria. In the first, Fort Wayne scored on two singles sandwiched around an error, but in the bottom of the fourth, Tim Lemon tied the game with a solo home run.

Peoria speedster Morris swings at an offering

In the 6th, Fort Wayne led off with 5 straight hits which led to two runs, but Peoria again tied the game in the bottom half with a hit batsman, two singles, and a sacrifice fly.

Both starters were removed and Peoria reliever Carmen Cali was on the mound in the 8th. After retiring the first batter, he walked two and then gave up a double. Another single and the score was 5-3. Cali was removed, but his replacement immediately gave up two more singles and a wild pitch, and Fort Wayne had an 8-3 lead. They added a run in the 9th to take the game 9-3.

The first few innings of this game were interesting, and we had great seats in an empty stadium, so it was a fun game. Although the final score was indicative of a blowout, the game was tied after 7, so I would give this a 7/10 on the rating scale.

Chiefs mascot