TAMPA, Fla. – Anne Long wants to be a nurse. If there was ever a need to check her pulse, arrhythmia, and whatever else, last Sunday afternoon’s game against visiting FAU might have been the time. Especially as the innings and pitch count piled up. Then again, Long seems like a cool customer who might have been able to pitch well into the evening.
Fortunately, the Bulls scored the game’s lone run to put a 14-inning, 4-hour and 10-minute marathon into the books, including the USF softball record book. The game, played in front of 1,199 patient souls, was the longest game in program annals, topping a 13-inning affair against UCF in 2019.
“I think it was tiring, in looking back,” the sophomore said when meeting with the media Tuesday afternoon, less than 48 hours after throwing 218 pitches. “But I was ready to pitch as many innings as we needed to. I think it was the 10th inning, and I felt like I could keep going. Even after the game ended, I felt like I could keep going if we weren’t able to get that run across.”
The Sanford native, who needed little more than a swig or two of water between innings, noted her arm was fine and her legs a little sore come Monday morning. Heck, as she spoke, she looked as though she could take the mound for another couple of hundred pitches.
READ: Bulls Storm South Carolina: USF Grabs Second In Hard-Fought Wofford Invitational
Long, who boasts a 13-4 mark with a 1.63 ERA, was sure to credit catcher Kiley Strott. The junior was not only on the receiving end all afternoon, but made sure her pitcher maintained a cool demeanor on a very warm – 80 degrees at first pitch – and very long afternoon.
“She’s been amazing and she knows when to calm me down,” said Long, who performed in front of her parents as well as aunts and uncles. “I can get kind of amped up and she knows when I need to chill out.”
Coach Ken Eriksen, who was inducted into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame in December, knows a gem when he sees one.
“It was the kind of thing where Anne probably won’t realize how special that game was until her career is over,” he said. “To throw a 14-inning shutout, and to do it with runners in scoring position a few times and get out of jams, it was just an exercise in pitching mastery.”
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