Teachers vs. Students
Anthony Parkin pitches during the first inning of the sixth-graders versus teachers softball game at Superior Elementary School Friday. The students lost the game 18-2.
The last day of school at Superior Elementary was polished off with a final show-down between the sixth-graders and the teachers Friday.
Around noon, the whole elementary school gathered around the baseball field to watch the teachers of Superior give the sixth-graders one final lesson in four innings of softball before they boarded the buses home.
“I’ve been putting up with trash talk about this game all year long,” teacher Angie Hopwood said.
The game started off with brutal lessons in both defense and offense for the sixth-graders, when the teachers sent the sixth-graders’ first three batters packing.
The second half of the inning continued to be a rough one for the students, the teachers showed no mercy in scoring 11 runs before the students could manage three outs.
The students struggled and failed once again to get a run at the top of the second inning and Kim Rebich finished the youngsters off with a double play at second base.
In the top of the third inning, it seemed the sixth-graders were doomed, but they rallied around their defense, striking out Seth Kuhl for the first teacher strike out of the game.
Then Anthony Parkin caught a fly ball from Jason Mann and threw it to second base for a double-play. But their newfound sense of confidence was short lived.
The teachers once again got three batters out in a row before the sixth-graders could think twice or score once.
Through a tough fought bottom of the third inning the sixth-graders made a valiant attempt to keep the teachers from scoring and held them to only one run. The final score for the inning was 12-0.
At the top of the fourth inning, the sixth-graders finally broke past the teachers’ nearly unstoppable defense to score. Taylor Mann got on base early in the inning and was batted in by Tucker Smith, who managed to make it home before the third out.
Not to be one-upped by their students, the teachers came into their at-bat strong, scoring six runs before they decided that it was time to gather up the students and start heading for the buses.
Hopwood said the game is a yearly tradition and the students look forward to their chance to beat their teachers, but the game usually ends up the same way each year.