The Lawries

The prodigal beat writer has a column on Brett Lawrie and his sister Danielle.

Sure, the Rattlers were still sparring with Midwest League counterpart Cedar Rapids, taking their hacks and trying to string together a rally in the bottom of the ninth in a contest they'd eventually drop 1-0.

But Lawrie wasn't due up for a while, so why not sneak away for a bit to see if his older sister, Danielle, could complete the dream?

"It was awesome," Lawrie said. "It was pretty cool."

There was Danielle, a 22-year-old star pitcher for the third-ranked University of Washington softball team, standing inside a circle of chalk in front of 5,800 fans and a mere two outs away from finishing off top-ranked Florida in the second game of the best-of-three NCAA Women's College World Series at Oklahoma City.

The Gators, trailing 3-2 in the seventh, were threatening with runners on first and second, but the junior right-hander settled down and did what she does best, pounding the strike zone, and got the next two batters to whiff.

Brett asks Brett a question that may have popped into more than one or two heads over the last few weeks...

[A]ny chance you could drill one of your sister's fastballs?

"Never tried," he said. "I think I could. I don't know. I guess those other softball players are making it look pretty tough, so I don't know if I'd have a chance.

"She's the better softball player, and I think that speaks for itself. The national player of the year, World Series MVP — I guess that says it all right there. It's unreal to see. Hat's off to her. I'm very proud of her."

As usual, go read it all.