So....I lasted a whole 19 days lol!!

Hey guys! I'm back! I have resisted writing for 19 days but I can't resist anymore lol. Honestly I regretted the decision almost as soon as I made it and honestly I have no intentions at this point of changing anything! I went through some of blogs and found nothing I could or would change! The only thing I will do is include more about OU and Bama because I've been kind of neglecting them lol!

UW has continued to have a great season! The Judi Garman Classic went great! They didn't get to play OU because of weather but the won the rest of the games they played! They then went on to run rule Cal State Bakerfield twice that next Monday and just like that preseason was over and Pac-12 had begun. This part of the season always makes me nervous. Grant it, not as nervous as post season but nervous none the less! I mean it's like everything changes and everything that happened before means nothing. You can have an excellent preseason and then everything fall apart once Pac-12 starts. UW started Pac-12 play against Utah! They swept the series winning 5-1, 6-1, and 3-1! They really handled Utah will little problems the whole weekend. The last was game was the closest and felt alot closer than what it really was lol. Katilin struggled a little that game(in the circle anyway lol) but made it through 2 innings. Kasey came in, in the 3rd and flat took care of business. She did NOT look like a freshman in that circle that day! That is what I love about her, you'd never know by watching her that she is  a freshman! She is a great pitcher and just a pillar in that circle! The defense was very solid this weekend! There were a couple of boo boos but for the most part they took care of business! Kaitlin's bat continues to be smoking hot! I love to watch that girl hit! She is just so good! I also love to watch Kimi and Victoria on the bases! They are lightening fast and know the exact right moment to steal! Both are perfect on the season on stolen bases! The offense as a whole was a little sluggish at times last weekend but they came up with big hits when needed. Overall it was a very good weekend! Now the real test! UW plays Cal tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday and this is the only team in the Pac-12 that really scares me! ASU is good but they haven't looked as strong this season. Arizona is really really struggling right now. I've been lucky enough to watch several games this season and Arizona takes the crown of worst pitching performance! Last weekend they had a lead every game and blew it every game! Sunday they led 6-0 at one point and lost 7-6! It's just bad! UCLA, Oregon, Stanford, and OSU have all had moments where they've looked really good and moments where they looked reall bad. But Cal has looked great all season! Their only loss was to Hawaii in one  of the best games of the season in walk off fashion in extra innings! They've shown they aren't unbeatable but they are very very good! I have thought about these games and thought about these games and I honestly have no idea what to think! I just hope they do to UW what they did to Stanford last weekend!!

Honestly I'm still not sure what to think about OU or Bama. OU struggled early in the season and them seemed to get everything figured out and then they drop a game to Baylor and they beat OSU lol. It's just up, down, up, down, up, down! So I don't really know yet what this team is about. I do know Kelani Ricketts is doing an awesome job again this season! As far as Bama they've had alot of success and to just look at their record you'd think they were a really strong team. They lost their first game last week to Tennessee. Honestly they probably should have lost both of those games but Tennessee couldn't get the big hit when they needed it and Jackie Traina knocked a HR to end the game in extra innings. I think Bama has a problem with their pitching. Once you get beyond Jackie Traina none of their pitchers have been consistently good. They've each had their moments where they've looked really good and they've had their moments where they looked really bad. Bama had a very easy preseason schedule. The only team who maybe had an easier schedule was ASU. I'm afraid once they get into the heart of SEC they are going to run into problems. I hope I'm wrong but I just don't think they are as strong as their record and ranking would suggest.

Well that is all I have for now!! Go Huskies, beat Cal!!! Boomer Sooner! RTR Go Bama!! FTG!!

Week 5 and last blog for awhile

Let me start off this blog by saying I feel starting this blog was one of the best things I ever did! I love writing this blog and having somewhere to put down my thoughts about the games. I love following UW softball as well OU softball and Bama softball(although I haven't blogged hardly at all about them and will correct that). With that being said, this will be my last blog for awhile. I've received some negative reaction to some of my recent blogs and I've decided to reevaluate my blog and make sure I am getting the message I am trying to get across, across in the best way possible. Let me say right now that I would never be intentionally cruel about a player or attack them. Honestly I'm not the kind to sugar coat things. But I respect these young ladies and they job they are doing. I respect that they are all working very hard and they've all had a hand in the success the team has saw this season. I don't think this team gets the recognition it deserves. I think UW softball has always been and will probably always be over looked. They aren't UCLA or Arizona and so not many people pay attention to them. I think sometimes that causes me to be a little too critical and that is wrong of me! So that is why I've decided to look at my writing style and my choice of words and make some changes. I love the Huskies! I love this team! I love the level of talent they play with! I love the chemistry between them! I love the confidence they play with! I love that there are so many touching beautiful stories within this team! My favorite thing about this team is they never ever give up! They continue to fight until the the very last out is recorded! That is the kind of teams Coach  Tarr puts together and those are the kind of teams that are successful!

They posted an article on Kaitlin Inglesby today and I've read her story before but it never gets old hearing the amount of the stuff that girl has been through but more than that how she has used as motivation and seen much success because of that! She is one strong, talented, beautiful, and tough young lady and the Huskies are blessed to have her! Here is the link to the story!
http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/031412aac.html

Last weekend the Huskies played their first home games of the 2012 season and let me say they didn't disappoint! Saturday they started off the weekend by run ruling Seattle U 8-0 in 6! Kaitlin pitched and threw a great game. Giving up 1 hit, no walks, no HBPs, and 10 strikeouts! The 2nd game they played in the rain against North Dakota. They beat North Dakota 4-0! Bryanna Walker pitched and she pitched a very nice game giving up 3 hits, 0 walks, 0 HBP, and striking out 11! Sunday the Huskies started the day by run ruling North Dakota 12-4 in 5! In this game the offense was the story! Shawna Wright with 2 for 3 with her first career grand slam! Kasey Stanchek got the start in the circle and was later replaced by Bryanna walker. Neither had a spectacular day but they got the job done! They ended the weekend beating Seattle U 4-0. Kaitlin pitched and again pitched a nice game. She gave up 4 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 11! Hooch Fagaly had a very nice game and weekend. She made several great defensive plays including back handing a ball between 1st and 2nd and throwing it to 2nd from her knees to get the lead runner in the 7th! It was an impressive play to watch! She hit over .700 this weekend and lead the team in RBIs!! Very very happy for her!! So great to see her back and playing great!! This weekend also saw Coach Tarr get her 200th win!! Big congrats to her!!

Huskies start play in the Judi Garman Classic tomorrow playing UC Davis again and the Iowa after that. The big game of the weekend is on Saturday when they take on number 7 OU! OU struggled at the beginning of the season but seem to have gotten their feet underneath them now. Should be interesting to see what happens during that game!

While it's on mind I just want to wish safe trips and much success to the ladies who are already in Japan and the ones who will soon be on their way! I know this is a huge thing for them and I know they are all very excited!! I hope they all find much success and learn more about the game we all love!!

Well guys I don't know what else to say! Enjoy the next few weeks of softball!! I will be back in a few weeks hopefully with a clear mind and ready to talk more softball! Go Huskies, RTR Go Bama, Boomer Sooner(except Saturday when they play the Huskies, Huskies all the way lol!), and FTG!!

NPF draft and the Colts *sigh* :(

Well today was the NPF draft! This year there were only two people I really wanted to see drafted Kimi Pohlman and Nikia Williams! So imagine my excitment when Kimi Pohlman was drafted number 2! I really wish she could have been drafted number 1 and gone to the Pride but I guess that wasn't meant to be lol! I had to leave in the middle of the draft and when I left Nikia hadn't been drafted. I got home and soon found she was drafted to play for the Pride!!! I am so excited to have another all time great Husky play for the Pride!! I think it says a ton for Coach Tarr that this summer she will have 5 of her Huskies playing professionally! That's pretty awesome!! I was also excited to Stephanie Ricketts drafted to play for the Bandits!! I really loved watching her pitch in the 09 WCWS even if she did knock off Bama to get there lol! I also like that the Pride got Michelle Moultrie!! Overall I thought the Pride's picks were a little.....unexpected. The Pride had the top pitching staff in the league last year. They traded Danielle Spaulding to the Diamonds because they didn't really have room for her and the Diamonds very much needed another pitcher. They traded the Diamonds for the first round pick in the draft so they could draft......another pitcher??? They took Britney Mack from LSU first and then they take Valerie Arioto as well. I can see Valerie. Valerie if need be can play 1st and do a nice job! She also has can flat hit the ball. But I still don't understand why the Pride needs 7 pitchers! Well I actually have my own opinions as to why they did what they did but it would be purely speculation and so I'll just say I don't exactly agree with it but I will of course support Britney and Valerie! Overall I thought it was a nice draft and I can't wait until the summer!!!

On to a non softball related note! It's been a sad couple of days for Colts fans as news broke that what we feared most was happening, the Colts let Peyton Manning go! I think this was a crapy move on the part of Jim Irsay! Peyton Manning has been the leader of this team for 14 seasons. He has given everything to this team and this how they repay him! I hope number #18 finds a team that respects him the way he deserves to respected. I'm just sad that, that team is no longer my Colts.

Week 4 and some soccer!

I can't believe they've already played 4 full weeks of softball!! It's going by so fast, just like it always does! This weekend the Huskies played the Louisville Slugger Classic in Stockton, California hosted by Pacific! This weekend was special more many reaons and I will detail more later but overall this was one of those weekends that just makes you smile and feel warm inside! I would just like to say a big thank you to Pacific for providing a live stream and stats for these games! It was so great to finally get to actually see the Huskies play!!

The tournament started out Friday with the Huskies taking on Sacramento State. Kaitlin got the start and pitched a great game giving up only 2 hits, 0 walks,0 HBs, 0 runs. Huskies had no problem with Sacramento State and ruled them 9-0 in 5! This was another case where they had about 15 minutes to get a drink and get back on the field. They played Delaware next. Bryanna Walker got the start and did she pitch a game! She threw her first career no hitter, walked 1, and had 8 strikeouts! This looks like a totally different pitcher than what we saw from her last season! It was a special weekend for her all around and I couldn't be more proud or happier for her! Huskies run ruled Delaware 12-0 in 5. The next day they played Pacific. Before the game Pacific retired the jersey's of Cindy Ball(current assistant coach for UW) and Gina Carbonatto(former assistant coach for UW)! You add that to the fact that Coach Tarr started her coaching career as an assistant at Pacific and you get two teams that are very connected and very close. Now to the game lol. Kaitlin pitched and she just didn't seem to have her best stuff! Kaitlin throws with alot of speed but she has some pretty amazing movement as well. She just didn't seem to have that typical movement that night. On top of that the defense just sorta crashed. I mean it could have been alot worse but it still wasn't good! UW had 2 errors and there were a couple of other plays in my opinion that could have easily been called errors. Defensivly it was a nasty nasty game for both teams. UW won the game 5-4 though and set themselves up for another game with Delaware. Kasey pitched this game and she pitched a fantastic game! This was my first time to actually get to see her pitch and I am very impressed. She doesn't have the speed or power that Kaitlin throws with but she can really make that ball move and spin. She gave up 3 hits, 3 waalks, 0 runs, and struck out a whopping 12!! Offense started off a little sluggish but got it going and won the game easily 5-0. I really felt like after the easy games on Friday they came out a little complacent. The defense was nasty and the offense was just a little sluggish. But they won both games and were headed to tournament championship. They played Pacific again in the championship game. Bryanna Walker got the start and for the first 4 innings she pitched 1 hit ball and looked good. At the beginning of the 5th inning before her and Lindsay Monk took the field they had a very long conversation with Coach Ball. Obviously I have no idea what they talked about but what I did notice was they changed their pitching choice and started going away from her change up even though it had working well the whole game. I don't know if they were worried they were going to start hitting or if they were just trying to keep Pacific off balance but it ended up costing them and honeslty I thought for a bit there it was going to cost them the game. She gave up 3 runs to tie up the score and the go ahead run in the 6th. But towards the middle of the 6th I noticed them going back more to the change up and she was able to get out of the inning without giving up anymore runs. Top of the 7th and the offense finally started getting after it again. They put pressure on the Pacific defense and the Pacific defense cracked big time giving up 4 errors and 3 runs. Kaitlin came in for the 7th inning and sealed the deal quickly! Overall Bryanna pitched a nice game she gave up 8 hits, 4 runs, and 2 walks and struck out 7! It wasn't the no hitter she had friday night but over all it wasn't a bad game for her. One thing about all 3 of these pitchers is they have been able to keep their cool and not let the emotion of the game get to them!

I felt overall it was a really good weekend for the Huskies! The defense and espcially infield were a little shaky at times.  But I think we all have to remember how young and inexperienced this infield is. We've been spoiled for the last few years with an extremely talented and experienced 3rd baseman and one of the best SS to every play the game in my totally biased opinion. Kylee Lahner and more so Kimberlee Souza have had their problems. But it has really been a diffcult transition I think for Courtney Gano. She accounted for 3 of the 6 Husky errors this weekend. I don't think it's a lack of talent because when she makes plays she makes good solid plays. She catches the ball cleanly and makes nice clean throws. I think the problem she is having is more mental. I think with more time and more experience she'll learn to take a deep breath and just do what she does best! I think with more time and experience we will see this infield grow and be very good. Part of that growing is making mistakes and learning from them!  The pitching for UW continues to look great! As I said earlier if someone would have told me last season Bryanna Walker would look this good this season, I probably would have told you, you were nuts lol! No offense at all intended she just had a very rough freshman year. She did have an injury last season that did hamper her though. During the off season she had surgery on her foot and she just looks so much better! I am very happy for her! This was obviously my first chance to Lindsay Monk catching for the Huskies and she did a very nice job! She is very good at blocking balls and keeping them in front of her when need be. She doesn't have the arm that Shawna does(or atleast I didn't see it this weekend. Obviously it was only a couple of games so I don't for sure) but she is a strong catcher and I think it will be nice to have someone who can come in and give Shawna a break. Also with 3 pitchers doing the pitching instead of just one it's easier to have 2 catchers to keep up with everything. I mean some things are the same but at the end of the day you are dealing with 3 different pitcher with 3 differnet styles and that is alot for one person to remember. I think Shawna can rest easy in that number 1 spot because I don't know of too many other catchers who have the arm she has. One of the plays that people who were at the Cathedral City Classic were buzzing about was during the Florida game Kaitlin struck out a batter and Shawna dropped the 3rd strike. It rolled all the way to the backstop! She ran over grabed the ball and still some how managed to get it to first in time for the out! She is very very good at what she does! Well I can't think of anything else I wanted to talk about from this weekend! Next weekend will be the Husky Softball Classic and guess what it's supposed to rain all weekend lol! It always does lol! We'll just have to wait and see how it plays out but if it's like last year they won't get play half their games lol! Hopefully that won't be the case this year lol!

Moving on now to soccer! I watched the USWNT take on Japan for the first time since the gold cup came at the World Cup this morning. I really hoped they could pull out a win or atleast a tie and get to the championship game but it wasn't meant to be. It was an extremely close game but Japan won 1-0. First half the US team struggled in the middle of the field. Japan was pressing them hard and they were havign a hard time keeping possession of the ball. They brought in Lori Lindsey early in the first half and she helped them out alot with that area of the field. To start the 2nd Pia made 3 subsitutions and it did help! They were getting more chances and taking more shots! But like the World Cup nothing was going in. Japan scored on a well placed free kick towards then end of the 2nd half. I knew as I watched them set it up, it was going to give the US problems. Normally in soccer you want to spread people out so you can get one on one match ups and get to the goal easier. But Japan seemed to go with just the opposite approach. They took everyone and place them in a big ball in the box. I was thinking to myself as I watching this that there was no way Hope Solo could possibly see all of those girls let alone get somone on them. Sure enough the ball is kicked towards the back of this huge pack and headed in just past the out stretched arms of Hope. I don't think she could even tell where the ball ended up let alone who was shooting it and where to! Overall I thought there were alot of good things about this game. They had a chance to take alot of shots. Alex Morgan was getting by the defenders almost every time but her shots were just a little crazy today. I think this game was more of a mental thing than anything! They weren't attacking like they normally do and they all seemed to just be over thinking it and trying to force things to work! The defense was solid as usual! I think Pia did a nice job coaching and her lineup was exactly what I would have done. It just wasn't meant to be! They will finish up this tournament with the bronze medal game on the 7th!

Well I am about to fall asleep right here so I think I will go! Go Huskies! Boomer Sooner!! Go Bama!! RTR!! Fear the Goat(they won all 4 of their games this weekend!!)!