With the threat of swine flu shutting down athletic competition in the University Interscholastic League, the playoff softball schedule went from heavy to light this weekend.

But the one remaining game -- a TAPPS Class 1A-2A region semifinal game between Texoma Christian and DeSoto Canterbury, was full of plays and numbers that fit in a context where you had to see it to believe it.

For instance:

* The game went to extra innings, the ninth to be exact. So right there you have built-in drama.

* Two batters into the game, Canterbury lost its cleanup hitter. Right fielder Rachel Vaughan went to make a play on a single by Ashley Miller and twisted her knee. She was carried off the field and never had an at-bat.

* Texoma Christian scored in four innings. In the bottom of three of those innings (first, sixth and ninth), Canterbury scored. The other time TCS did -- in the third -- Canterbury responded the following inning.

* Texoma Christian pitcher Beth Knight threw 184 pitches -- 163 of them in the first seven frames. She walked 17 but allowed just five hits. In the sixth inning she walked the first five she faced, then hit a batter, then walked the next. Her pitches in the sixth -- 16 of the first 17 and eventually 27 of the first 30 were balls. Ten of her final 11 pitches in the inning were strikes as she worked out of a bases-loaded, no outs, tie game situation. From that point on she retired nine straight before Canterbury's winning rally in the ninth. Through the first 35 batters, Knight had retired two in a row just once -- a pair of strikeouts to end the fourth. Then she was perfect for three innings.

* On the other side, Canterbury pitcher Sophia Engle threw 152 pitches -- 129 through seven. She did not walk a single batter but gave 12 hits, 11 singles, and Canterbury made five errors behind her. She had only one 1-2-3 inning -- the fourth.

* When Hannah Robutka hit the game-winning two-run double in the bottom of the ninth, it was the only time Canterbury had the lead.