Silver Bullets Outfielder Says Pitcher Induced Fight

Kim Braatz-Voisard held her temper in check. Even after she was hit by a pitch, the Colorado Silver Bullets outfielder stayed calm. Then the pitcher laughed at her, and she lost it - prompting an all-out brawl.

“If they were playing with guys, the same thing would have happened,” said teammate Tamara Ivie. “We just didn’t want to say, ‘Well, we’re girls …”’ It was inevitable.

After four years of trying to show that they can play baseball just like the men, the Silver Bullets women’s team showed they can brawl like them, too.

The bench-clearing melee came Wednesday night in Albany, Ga., as Colorado trailed 10-6 with two outs and nobody on in the ninth inning against the Americus Travelers, the state champions in the Georgia Recreation and Parks 18-and-under league.

“Their catcher was mouthing off the whole game,” Braatz-Voisard said Friday during an interview at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport before the club left for a game Saturday night in Tulsa, Okla. “After the second pitch in the last inning, I turned to him and told him to be quiet and play the game.

“The very next pitch hit me. I thought it was pretty obvious what had happened,” she said. “I was angry and frustrated and stepped to walk toward first base. I looked at the pitcher (Greg Dominy) and he started laughing at me. That’s when I lost it.”

As she headed for the mound, players from both teams weren’t too far behind.

Americus catcher Jonathan Crumbliss told the Americus Times-Recorder that he grabbed Braatz-Voisard, “and then a girl came barreling out of the dugout at me.

“I put her on her back in kind of a wrestling move and I got popped in the side of the cheek,” Crumbliss said.

He said the bad-blood started in the fifth inning after he drew a walk and words were exchanged between himself and catcher Missy Cress.

“After that, every batter that came up got an earful from me,” said Crumbliss.

Americus manager Billy Nicholson defended his players, saying his pitcher did not intentionally throw at Braatz-Voisard.

“Greg was trying to go up and in on her and he hit her. She took two steps toward the mound and Greg just kind of smiled,” he said.

“He didn’t entice her to come on or anything like that. She took offense to it. Our catcher tried to catch her … and the benches cleared,” Nicholson said.

Nicholson called it an “unfortunate situation” but said it’s just something that happens in baseball.

Braatz-Voisard and Crumbliss were ejected. Crumbliss, under GRPA rules, was suspended for his team’s next two games.

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