Yesterday, I had the honor of attending the Washington Nationals game against the Milwaukee Brewers. It was "Miss DC Day at the Nationals," so that meant that my friend 2006 Miss DC, Kate Michael would be there and throwing out the first pitch! Yes, Kate's waving at me in the pic to the left - I had come down by the field to get a close-up look at everything!
Elizabeth Payne, Miss D.C.'s Outstanding Teen, sang the National Anthem beautifully just before Kate threw out the first pitch. She also took a moment to pose with Kate and one of those wacky Nationals mascots... Just what is he trying to do to Elizabeth there? :)
Most of us met up with John (the personal trainer of the Miss DC contestants) at the front gate to pick up our tickets for the game right around 1 pm. Kate threw out the first pitch just before 1:30 (it was right over the plate by the way!) Check out my 30 second video of it below!
Thanks to Kate, I had the priviledge of sitting in the Miss DC section along with Kate's boyfriend Bill Dean, President of the Miss DC organization Tricia Morrin Lloyd (along with her husband Michael), Teri Galvez, the Executive Director of the Miss DC organization, and several of the competitors in the upcoming 2007 Miss DC and Miss Teen DC pageants.
During the game, I had a very enjoyable time talking to Kate, Bill and the entire Miss DC party. We all were enjoying each other's company so much that we often lost track of what was happening in the game! Everyone was very friendly and we all had a good time sharing stories on pretty much every topic under the sun.... even I got to be the center of attention a couple of times! One question that I've been wondering about for quite a while that I'm sure some of you were interested in knowing too is that Kate does indeed know fellow Parkview High School graduate and now Atlanta Braves outfielder Jeff Francoeur. Kate assured us all Jeff's a nice guy and she also informed us that he's going to be getting married to his girlfriend in the not too distant future. Congrats to Jeff!
The game itself began on a high note for the Nats as Felipe Lopez hit an opposite field fly which just cleared the right field fence in the second inning to give the Nats a 1-0 lead. The game remained a pitcher's duel through the first five innings as neither starter (Tim Redding of the Nats and Chris Capuano of the Brewers) would be scored upon. The sixth inning changed things though. Redding gave up a two run double to All-Star Prince Fielder to give the Brewers a 2-1 lead... In the bottom of the frame though, the Nats exploded for six runs, highlighted by a two-run homer by Ryan Zimmerman.
Personally, I think Zimmerman might have been inspired in the game as he did get to meet with Kate just before the game started! As quickly as the scoring barrage began, it ended... the Nats wound up winning 7-2 and everyone went home happy! Just before it was all over, Bill took a few shots of Kate and me...
... we all hung out for a bit after the game and then went our separate ways. It a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and as I said to EVERYONE at the end, they should have a Miss DC Day every day at the Nats games!!!
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There of course was one other significant sporting event happening in the D.C. area this weekend and that was Tiger Woods' AT&T National tournament. I managed to get back to my Georgetown hotel room just in time to catch Tiger as he was playing the 17th and 18th holes... Tiger would birdie 18 to wind up with an even par 70 round and tying for 6th in the tournament. Saturday leader Stuart Appleby unfortunately fell apart on Sunday, shooting a 6-over-par 76... K.J. Choi took full advantage, winning his second tournament of the year with a finishing two-under-par 68 for a three round total of 271, 9-under-par. Steve Stricker was second, three strokes back of Choi. With the victory, Choi has now won both "Jack's Tournament" - the Memorial (Jack Nicklaus' tournament held annually) and "Tiger's Tournament"... given how Choi idolized Jack growing up and now with Tiger being today's equivalent to the Golden Bear, I'm sure this has special meaning to Choi. His wife and three kids were also on hand to witness his win.
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