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Reply to "Did you ever have to miss a key game?"

This one stands out clearly:

William & Mary was second seed and needed to play first seed UNC-Wilmington twice to win the CAA conference tournament.  It is a Saturday and we have been at the out of town tournament for several days.  The weather looks bleak.  

In the first game, W&M is down 8-1 in the 9th.  It doesn't look good, and the seniors are starting to take it in that this is their last college game.   It is emotional and quiet in the dugout.  But....

They wind up sending 12 guys to the plate and 11 are productive to actually tie the game 8-8 in the ninth.

And then it starts to rain.  And rain.  And rain.  To the (eventual) tune of 5 inches.   We stick around and wait for several hours during the delay but it is one heck of a storm.  We continually watch the radar but we decided to cancel our hotel reservation and drive 6 hours home.   There was no way the field could be ready to play,  plus, they would have to win 2 to keep moving on.  No need to stick around another night for possibly one inning.  Or no game at all.

The W&M Assistant coach actually asks the tournament officials to give him a 30 minutes heads-up notice if the game is cancelled so he can tell his players before it hits social media.   UNC-W would then be the winners since they were first seed.   After a 27 hour rain delay, it is decided they can play.....but W&M will have to win not only game 1, but then game 2 two THAT DAY (a Sunday) before midnight because of the NCAA tournament selection on Memorial Day Monday.

So we cozied up and watched the end of the game at home on TV.   The game starts at the top of the 10th, and then keewartson hits a solo home run in the top of the 12th to win the game.  And we missed being there.   At least I could act like a lunatic wild woman in front of our TV, which I could never do in public.

The rest of the story:

*W&M would go on to win the second game and the conference title, and move on to play in the NCAA Regionals in Charlottesville.  They lost their first game to UVA 17-4, and then found themselves in the same familiar position that they had to win two games to move on.   They won the next game and then had to face UVA yet again.  W&M hadn't beat UVA in 11 straight outings, and their previous day's meeting was quite embarrassing. 

But they did.  

**W&M would loose later that day to East Carolina.  But, that win to put UVA, the previous year's College World Series Champions, out of the regional tournament was the best win in W&M history.  

http://collegebaseballinsider....ill-has-a-chance-62/

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