Penn State Softball - June 26, 2009

In Game 10 of the 2009 CAN softball season, the Penn State Nittany Lions (8-1) took on the Marquette Golden Eagles (5-2-1). FACT: Eagles are not naturally gold. FACT #2: Eagles can be artificially gold if sprayed or coated with gold paint, but this will most likely kill the eagle, just like that chick in Goldfinger. FACT #3: Killing eagles is both illegal and unethical. Penn State was coming off their first loss of the season and looked to take out their lingering frustrations on the Marquette Eagle Murderers.

Marquette jumped out to a huge early lead. Anxiety grew on the PSU sideline as it looked like they would take a second straight loss. However, as they have become known for doing, the Lions staged a furious comeback in the late innings. Rookies Matt "Tobacco" Aumen and Andrew "Gunship" Grinc came up with key hits. Pat "Dublin" Dunne, after a key hit, suffered a bad cut from sliding into third, but is not likely to go on the DL. Special recognition goes to Fran Krylowicz for getting a hit and coming around to score, despite a fractured foot. Strong defense was contributed by Kevin "The General" Ripp, Katie "Maple Leaf" Rowland and the rest of the usual suspects. "Big Apple" Brian Pacheco commuted from New York to stand on the sidelines and drink beer, which also helped morale.

At the end of the sixth inning, after Penn State had turned a large deficit into a double-digit lead, Marquette looked like they had been blindsided by a sudden storm. At that moment, both teams were quite literally blindsided by a storm. A wind came from out of nowhere and snapped a large branch off a tree, which fell disturbingly close to the Marquette squad. The game was quickly called and then the day's real action began.

In short order, the entire area was barraged by heavy rain, strong wind, lightning, and even hail. Clearly, somebody - probably on the Marquette team - had somehow angered the gods, and now everybody was going to pay. Those players with enough foresight and dumb luck to have parked their cars close to the field were able to flee the oncoming disaster. Everyone else was stuck outside in the impromptu hurricane with no shelter for hundreds of yards in any direction. It turned into a battle for survival against the fury of the elements. There were many acts of heroism, like random car and bus drivers who let total strangers take shelter in their vehicles.

After what seemed like hours, but was probably about ten minutes, the storm disappeared as quickly as it had begun. Thankfully everyone had survived, though some waterlogged cell phones were not as fortunate. The soaking wet Nittany Lions celebrated their miraculous escape by - wait for it - drinking beer. The bottom line is that Penn State won yet again, and the weather in Washington, DC is completely freaking ridiculous.

This writeup brought you courtesy of Andy "Soggy" Kilmer.