Without any prompting, or giving anyone the chance for rebuttal, I’m declaring Thursday’s Gallatin-Hamilton softball game to be one of the most important game in GHS softball history.
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Tuesday’s Albany softball defeat of Hamilton has doused the Lady Hornets’ hopes of defending their Grand River Conference softball title, but it takes none of the luster off of tomorrow’s showdown in the GRC.
Without any prompting, or giving anyone the chance for rebuttal, I’m declaring Thursday’s Gallatin-Hamilton softball game to be one of the most important game in GHS softball history. With a win, the Lady Bulldogs stay alive in the hunt for a GRC softball title, a prize Gallatin has yet to win in 15 seasons of competition. A GHS loss would put Maysville firmly in the driver’s seat as the only team with one league loss.
Now maybe that sounds like I’m putting a lot of pressure on the Lady Bulldogs, but heck, they’ve dealt with pressure all season long. Anyone who saw last Thursday’s game against Albany knows that the Lady Bulldogs pulled together after an awful inning and overcame adversity to win.
The importance of Thursday’s game can’t be overstated, but it also sets the stage for Saturday’s tournament in Hamilton one that features varsity teams from Gallatin, Hamilton, North Platte, and as yet unbeaten St. Joseph LeBlond. The Lady Eagles are, at this writing, 10-0 behind phenom pitcher Jennifer Kempf.
The paths Gallatin and Hamilton teams have taken to get to Thursday’s showdown could hardly be more similar. Both lost twice in the first week of the season. In Hamilton’s case, the Lady Hornets lost out of conference to Higginsville and in conference to King City. Gallatin lost out of conference to Smithville and in conference to Maysville. Both teams put together multi-game win streaks before losing on Monday, when Chillicothe shut out Hamilton, 2-0, and Lawson shut down Gallatin, 1-0. The path split Tuesday when the Lady Hornets fell to Albany and Gallatin defeated Trenton, 5-0.
Two more points of interest about Thursday’s game. A Gallatin win would give the Lady Bulldogs a higher seed in the upcoming Class 2, District 15 Tournament. And then there is this…the Lady Bulldogs are only one victory away from tying the 1996 Lady Bulldog squad for most wins (12) in a season.
The Lady Bulldogs have earned our support, both at Thursday’s 5:30 showdown, and at Saturday’s tournament. Let’s not disappoint them.
*****
Every year at about this time, I dig out of my less-than-orderly filing system – an 8 ½ by 11 sheet of paper that has all the results from Gallatin-Hamilton football games for the last 75 years. The fact is, that little piece of paper is the most accessible sheet of information I have around my desk.
It’s not that I don’t remember what’s on that simple piece of paper. No, the reason I pour over those long ago scores is to see if I can put a new spin on one of the oldest high school football rivalries in Northwest Missouri.
Most times it’s easy to hype a Gallatin-Hamilton game, but lately it’s been getting harder. Just ask the right people what they think about their neighbors down (or up) the road, and they’ll tell you: “They’re not bad folks, but we’d rather drink pond water while eating a roadkill sandwich than lose to those people.” Okay, maybe that’s not the exact language but you get my gist.
The thing is, I’m not hearing that much anymore…and I spend a lot of time in both towns. What’s happened to the old knock-down, drag-out series? Don’t we still get those dull, frontal lobe headaches when we contemplate the possibility of losing to our oldest rivals? Don’t we wake up on that Friday morning of gameday thinking about where we want to stand on the sidelines? In case you’ve never been over there, it’s always interesting on the visiting team’s side of the field in Hamilton. Hornet fans consider the east side of the field just as much their turf as the grandstand side. I’ve heard of more than one verbal brawl over there that nearly got out of hand.
Maybe the rivalry now is all about girls softball.
This game probably means a lot for Hamilton, for no other reason than because it’s the Hornets’ first home game of the season…and it’s the first of four straight home games for the blue and gold and they’d like to work up some momentum toward districts. Here are some other tidbits about the long-standing series:
*Gallatin has lost at Hamilton only once (2002) in the last eight years.
*The losing team has not been within a touchdown of the winning team in the last 16 meetings dating back to 1985, when Gallatin won, 7-6.
*Hamilton won seven straight in the series from 1989-95. Gallatin won six straight from 1996-2001. The Hornets look to build upon a current streak of two straight wins. The Bulldogs obviously don’t want to see another one of those long Hornet win streaks get started.
*Since 1934, Hamilton has lost only once (1964) during the fifth year of a decade.
So.. who’s going to win this year? Maybe Gallatin…for this very logical reason. The Bulldogs are 8-3 against the Hornets in presidential election years since 1960. Wait a minute, there’s more. Gallatin has lost to Hamilton only once since 1972 when a Republican administration has faced re-election. That loss came in 1984 when Reagan got re-elected and the Hornets beat the Dogs, 15-14.
There. Is that scientific enough for you?