A great day of softball!

This is the kind of day a softball fan lives for lol! I started off my day watching the Pride and the Diamonds! Cat Osterman and Katie Burkhart in the circle, what a great match up! Both pitchers started off a little slow and had some control issues early on but seemed to settle down afterwards. Pride eventually got to Burkhart though and they won 10-2! Cat had 12 Ks and the offense looked great! About 45 minutes after that the Pride and Diamonds played again. Danielle Lawrie was in the circle for the Pride and Angel Bunner was in the circle for the Diamonds! Danielle gave up a HR in the first but after that she dominated! Giving up only 2 more hits, not allowing a walk, and striking out 11! Offense was a little slow getting started but again once it did there was little stopping it! Pride took game 2 11-1! Pride took the series as well and improved to 8 and 4 on the season! Alot of great things about this series! Niki Williams got her first hit and RBI in the 2nd game! As a Husky fan who has followed that girl since she was a freshman it was a big moment! I knew it was going to happen soon! I could feel it! She almost hit a HR on Thursday and she has had some wonderful at bats! So I knew it was only a matter of time before she got a hit! I can't think of a better day or a better time to get that hit! Ashley Charters has been on fire! She looked great this series! I can't express how great it is to see Cat Osterman back and doing her thing! She looks great and I think the other teams better watch out!  Pride got 4 great pitching performances this series! On Thursday Sarah Pauly got the start in the first game and threw a very nice game. They pulled her for Jamee Juarez. Juarez struggled and they ended up bringing Pauly back in to finish the game and seal the win! The 2nd game on Thursday was Britany Mack and she pitched a great game and got her first pro win! I feel like the Pride got 4 great team wins this series and this will be something to build off of as they go back to face the Bandits again next weekend!

I then watched the USA and Canada this evening. I'll be honest here and you can think what you want of me but frankly I just don't care! I was going for Canada! I adore Victoria Hayward, Caitlin Lever, Jenna Caira, and Jocelyn Cater! My heart just wouldn't let me root against them. Sadly USA run ruled them 9-1 in 5 innings :(! But Victoria and Caitlin both had a great games! Victoria never stops amazing me! She just gets better and better and I don't think the world has seen the best of that girl yet! Caitlin made probably one of the best grabs in the outfield that I have ever seen! USA girls played great and totally deserved the win! Jordan Taylor pitched a nice game and their bats really got going. However Jocelyn Cater did a very nice job stopping them for a couple of innings before she was pulled. I can't wait to see her in a Husky uniform! So young and so talented!

Today is the 40th anniversary of Title XI! Without Title XI all the great softball I watched today, probably wouldn't have happened! Without Title XI I probably wouldn't have gotten to enjoy the USWNT(soccer) defeating Japan 4-1 on Monday! All week they were saying for today to change your profile picture to one of you as a young athlete or to a young woman you admire. I don't have any of me. I played basketball but don't have any pictures and just wasn't that good lol. But I am very thankful that I was given the chance to do so and those are memories I hold very dear to my heart! I never could decide on a picture of another young lady who impressed me either! Too many to chose from! But after the games this afternoon this picture was posted of Niki Williams, Jenn Salling, Danielle Lawrie, and Ashley Charters!

 Had I had that picture before then I probably would have used it! I adore this picture and all it represents. A  national championship, 4 college degrees, 4 women who have played internationally, 2 women who have played in the Olympics, 4 amazing athletes, 4 successful hard working young women, 4 women with a love and a drive for softball, 4 women who are lucky enough to play the game they love professionally, 4 women whose careers have barley begun, 4 women who have already touched the lives of hundreds of girls(and adults as well) and who touch the lives of hundreds more, 4 women who are paving the way for the future generation of girls who have a burning desire to play this game and last but not least a life long friendship that no one can take from them! There are other women who I adore as well(Cat Osterman, Monica Abbott, Andrea Duran, Kelly Kretchman, Caitlin Lowe, Lauren Lappin, Francesca Enea, Kelsey Bruder, Abby Wambach, Megan Rapinoe, Lori Lindsay, Alex Morgan, Sydney Leroux.... you get the picture lol) but I couldn't possibly find a picture with all of them in it LOL! But those 4 Huskies will always hold a very special place in my heart and I am thankful tonight for Title XI because I get to watch them kick butt! I watched this series as they laughed, danced, smiled, and enjoyed the game they loved and realized what Title XI was all about! Women's sports still have a very long way to go but they have come so far and those 4 women and the others I mentioned are proof of that! There are as many talented young women out there as there are young men and they deserve the right to play the game they love! Sadly I also realized that the NPF is only 1 of 2 professional women's leagues still hanging on because of the fall of the WPS. But the possibilities are there! The talent and the drive is there! I can't wait to see what the next 40 years holds for women's sports! Thank you to the people who helped get Title XI pushed through! Thank you for fighting for the rights of young women everywhere! You have touched and changed more peoples lives than you could ever understand! Thank you to those who continue the fight! Thank you to all the female athletes who have worked hard and spent countless hours promoting the sport they love! We will never give up on women's sports! We can't! There are too many young girls depending on us to get keep up the fight!

Well I can't think of anything else right now! So Go Pride, Go Huskies, Boomer Sooner, RTR Go Bama, FTG, Go Team Canada, and Go UWNT soccer team!