During Tuesday night’s postgame interviews, Tricia Whitaker took a moment to chat with the game’s center fielder, Brett Phillips. Phillips is obviously no stranger to a cheeky postgame chat, having only days earlier taken the mound for two innings as a pitcher, and making what many considered to be the “play of the year” to that point.
But in this particular interview, things were a little different. The usual boyish enthusiasm was subdued, and Phillips — who hit a solo home run in the bottom of the third — audibly choked up when he spoke with Whitaker. The first pitch of Tuesday’s game had been thrown out by a young girl named Chloe Grimes, who was attending the game that evening with her entire softball team as well as her mother.