State Bound....

I was running a little late getting to the Graham for the 10am start of Albany's softball game against Petrolia. I wasn't too worried since if Albany won the first game the most important shot was coming at the end for the celebrations photos. And, if they lost the first game, it was going to be a doubleheader. I was hoping they'd go ahead and win the first one so my day would be really short. Of course, that wasn't going to happen. They went up 7-1 early in the game before I got there and the wheels fell off, mental errors and good hitting sunk them. Well at least I didn't make a 1.5 hour trip for 30 minutes of work.

And, if I were to shoot a softball game, I can't think of many places nicer to shoot a high school softball game than in Graham. This may be the nicest high school softball stadium in the country. And with the high that day going up to 109, the best part about it was the stands were covered. Shade in 109 is ALWAYS a good thing. So, I shot the first couple of innings from the top of the stands with a long lens. Albany scored a few quick runs and was afraid we were in for a long game, given that these batters knew the pitchers so well. Luckily there wasn't a whole lot of scoring the rest of the game. Petrolia scored a couple of runs, but Albany did a good job of shutting down any chances for a big run as well as still adding a couple more runs throughout the game.

I've said this before, officially it's not my job to care who wins but make a story-telling photo from the game. However, it's always a lot easier to cover a winner rather than a loser. So, when they held on to win it made some really nice jube shots, especially after losing the first game, looked like it added a little to the celebration.