What
started as a simple trip to Tulsa to watch my girlfriend, Kelcee, play softball
and catch a Tulsa Drillers (AA affiliate of the Colorado Rockies) game before
coming back to Arkansas quickly turned into a much more exciting trip.
I
arrived in Broken Arrow, where Kelcee’s games were, without incident. Her first
game ended in a 4-4 tie, as she went 0-for-2 with a walk. However, she gave me
a few more gray hairs. In the bottom of the last inning (they played hour and
35 minute games and they hit the 1:35 mark during her at bat), Kelcee was
batting with a runner on third with two outs and the score tied. She worked the
count full and fouled off three two-strike pitches before finally grounding out
to the pitcher to end the game. Although they lost their next game 15-5, Kelcee
played a lot better, going 2-for-3 with an RBI.
After
eating dinner with Kelcee and her family, I headed into downtown Tulsa for the
Drillers game…at 5:00 on a Friday afternoon. The traffic, coupled with several
streets that my phone was telling me to take being closed, was enough to
frustrate me enough to park in the first parking lot I found. It just happened
to be about half of a mile from the ballpark.
Walking
to the stadium, I realized there was a bicycle race going on, which was why
several of the streets were closed. Once at the park, I bought my ticket at
went inside. If you have never been to a game at ONEOK Field, I highly
recommend you do; it’s beautiful. Opened in 2010, it’s only a few years old and
the Tulsa skyline in right field looks pretty cool at night.
My
first mission inside the stadium was to try to get 3-time NL All-Star Roy
Oswalt’s autograph. Oswalt is getting in shape for a midseason call-up to the
Rockies’ pitching rotation. Unfortunately, I struck out, as he never came into
the dugout before I got kicked out and forced to go to my seat. Instead, I had
former Razorback Brett Eibner sign my baseball when I got to my seat, which was
close to the Naturals’ dugout.
The
game itself wasn’t too exciting. The Drillers crushed the Naturals 8-1 and
three of their first four hits of the game were solo home runs. The most
excitement came in the bottom of the 3rd, when Tulsa centerfielder
Rafael Ortega lined a foul ball that ricocheted off the boxes in the upper deck
and nailed the lady sitting two seats away from me in the back. The ball
bounced off her into the seat between us, where I picked it up. I felt bad for
her, but I really didn’t want to give her my ball!
The
Drillers were having postgame fireworks, but I didn’t have any interest in that
and I thought I could beat the traffic by leaving before they started. Little
did I know, I’d run into the freakin’ Tour de Tulsa (okay, it’s not really
called that, but that’s what I nicknamed it – I have no idea what the race was
actually called). That dang bicycle race was STILL going on! And it had
ballooned into a huge crowd and a lot more bicyclists. In order to get to my
car, which was a half-mile away, I had to weave in and out of the race course, through
the stench of alcohol, cigarette smoke and possibly other illegal scents, while
avoiding the bicyclists, the pace VW Beetle and the trail motorcycles. It
appeared to me that not many of the “fans” cared much about the race. I did get
a few “Go Hogs!” yelled in my direction because I was wearing a Razorback shirt,
though.
When
I finally got back to my car, I got the heck out of there before the race and
fireworks ended. I was extremely happy to find my car and even happier when I
made it home. Nothing beats laying in your own comfortable bed after a long day
of travel and sports!
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