By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 13, 2019 — My wife Elisabeth Ann Brown and I had a wonderful time Saturday afternoon, April 13, at Washington Nationals Stadium watching my beloved Nationals play against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
To describe it as an exciting game would be an understatement. Adam Eaton and Howie Kendrick hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to transform a one-run deficit into a one-run lead, and the Nationals’ sensational closer Sean Doolittle, the mainstay of an otherwise dreadful bullpen, shut down the Pirates in the top of the ninth to secure a 3-2 victory.
“Eaton’s homer came at the end of a nine-pitch at-bat against right-hander Richard Rodriguez, and it was launched 108.5 mph off the bat and yanked into the seats in right field,” according to a report on the game on the Nationals website. “On the next pitch, Kendrick followed with a homer of his own, rocketing 108.8 mph off the bat into the left-center-field seats. The pair of homers ignited the crowd at Nationals Park and helped Washington steal a victory.”
The website report added: “The eighth inning had been a nightmare frame for Washington all season, haunted by their bullpen’s repeated inability to hold onto a lead in tight games. But after Anibal Sanchez’s seven inning, two-run gem, Wander Suero tossed a scoreless top of the eighth to keep the game close and set the stage for a pair of heroics.”
Although I was at the game and I consider myself to be a good writer, I decided to use the above analysis from the Nationals website because it aptly describes the excitement the victory generated in the stadium.
I must again thank my “sister” Denise Rolark-Barnes, Publisher of the Washington Informer, and Ron Burke, Director of Advertising and Marketing at the Washington Informer, for providing me with two tickets for the game.
As one of the corporate sponsors of the District of Columbia Spelling Bee, which is sponsored by the Washington Informer, each year the Washington Nationals has the D.C. Spelling Bee Champion and his parents as a special guests at one of its games and provides tickets gratis to The Informer for other guests it would like to invite to the game.
I had hoped to meet D.C. Spelling Bee champion Teddy Palmore, who will represent the District of Columbia in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, but he was seated in a different area.
The Bahamas, of course, will have two contestants in 92nd annual Scripps National Spelling Bee, which will be held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbour, Maryland, near Washington, D. C., from May 27 – 30, 2019.
In addition to Roy Seligman, the 10-year-old Lyford Cay International School student who won The Bahamas National Spelling Bee championship, The Bahamas will also be represented by Kevin Williams, the 11-year-old Yellow Elder Primary student who finished second in this year’s BNSB championship finals.
