That one player

I've been planning this blog since yesterday, trying to find just the right words. I hope I've found the right words and you guys understand what in saying and feeling. I'd hope this blog was a long way off but unfortunately the time has come.

I think all sports fans have that one player that just defines that sport for them. I think we all have that player that made us love a sport and truly understand it on a whole new level. Maybe though, it's just me that does. I love football and sure part of it is because I'm a born and raised Texas girl. I've enjoyed football at the pee wee level all the way up to pro and pretty well all levels in between. But it wasn't until I saw the great Peyton Manning throw a football that I really got it. He made me truly love football and I'm going to bawl like a baby when the day comes that he retires lol.  He plays the sport with such passion. He literally pours himself into the game. Most people never thought he'd come back from all the neck surgeries, let alone do what he did last season. It was just simply amazing and I feel so honored I got to watch. But Peyton Manning has proven himself to be not just an amazing athlete but person. He never puts the game above people and goes out of his way to act with class. It's a breath of fresh air to see a professional male athlete with that kind of character. I love soccer because of Hope Solo. She's made some bad decisions but I can't make myself not want to watch her make save after save after save. She's fought tooth and toe nail to get where she is and I have so much respect for that. Sure there are several other soccer players I really like and enjoy watching but Hope Solo is where it all started for me. She's strong and passionate. She refuses to be the quiet wall flower society expects female athletes to be.  If women's professional sports are to continue to grow and thrive we NEED more Hope Solos. Women with her firey passion and leadership are what keeps these sports moving forward.

But as you all probably know my biggest passion is softball and its also probably not much of a secret that it really started with Danielle Lawrie! I've always liked to watch softball. It was something we always watched. My dad played slow pitch when I was a kid. But when I started watching Danielle it changed. Much like Peyton Manning and Hope Solo, Danielle has always played with so much passion and just pulled me in. When I first started watching her she was a young girl fighting for her place in the world of softball and now almost 10 years later she has more than made her mark on the sport! She wasn't on a big name travel ball team or recruited by half a dozen schools. But she did everything she could with what she had and got noticed by Coach Tarr and Washington. Her career at Washington was incredible! Her name is all over the record book. She was key in the 2009 National Championship team. She was the National Player of the year, twice. That's just the tip of the iceberg. She put Washington softball on the map and this past season they retired her jersey! I was so happy for her and I can't think of too many more people more deserving! She played for team Canada, including in the Olympics! She is probably the best known Canadian softball player. She inspired many Canadian girls to pick up a softball. Currently she is playing for the Pride and has had a wonderful career for them! Yesterday she announced this will be her last season and I am a bundle of emotions about it. I'm sad to see her career end. It's crazy to me to think in the next few weeks I'll watch her pitch for the last time. I'd love to see her take one more at bat also. She swung a mean bat back in the day lol. I wish her career could last longer but she could play 10 more years and I'd still feel that way. But mostly I feel honored I got to watch and enjoy her career! When I think of her career, the moment I always seem to think of was Super Regionals in 2010. Oklahoma came to Seattle and the first game Danielle really struggled! It was probably the single worst game I've ever seen her pitch. The next day she came out and dominated OU in two games to send Washington back to the WCWS. It was incredible but it was vintage Danielle. She is tough and resilient. She always gives 100% when she is playing. She is incredibly humble.  It has been nothing but an honor to watch her grow and mature into the person she is today. I am so thankful for all the memories! Although she will no longer be playing, I know she'll continue to be a big part of the softball world. She'll leave it much better than she found it! I wish her nothing but the best and look forward to seeing where life takes her! I know big things are ahead for her! But for now I am going to soak up every chance I get to see her pitch! I'll post a video with just a few highlights from her days at Washington and maybe some other videos if I can get them to post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyWmeI06-64

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF5nkXiP2YE

I'm going to get back to blogging :)

Well the WCWS is over and Florida is the national champion. It makes me feel a little better about them beating the Huskies....a little lol.

I really wanted this group of seniors to end their careers in OKC. They really deserved it but deserving and earning it are unfortunately two different things. On the flip side as I look at what girls will be left next year and who is coming in and feels like Huskies are along way from  another trip to WCWS and certainly another championship. I hope I'm wrong, I really do. But it really felt like if a class was going to do it again, it was going to be that one. I'm super super proud of them but also heartbroken for them. But this is the world of college softball. Girls come and girls go. I'm ready to be surprised and blown away by this new group of girls!

Congrats to the Gators though! They really did play amazing in the post season. Also congrats to Bama on being runner up! I know it feels like first loser right now for them but they had a fabulous regular and post season and they have nothing to hang their heads about! I can't believe I'll never see Jackie Traina playing in a Bama uniform again! She single handedly made me love Alabama softball :). I wish her all the best in her future! What a career she had! It kind of felt like Bama and Jackie ran out of gas. I also felt the same way about Oregon and Cheridan Hawkins. Oklahoma gave it all they had but they just weren't quite there yet. I love love love Shelby Pendley and thank God every time I watch her play that she plays for the Sooners now and not Arizona lol! Great things ahead for Oklahoma and Kentucky! Nunley for Kentucky was incredible! nother great college softball season in the books and it didn't disappoint :).

Well the NPF season kicked off and it was ever bit as weird  as I thought it would be to see Jenn Salling, Lauren Lappin, and Sarah Pauly playing for another team. It was a slow start for the Pride but I have faith it will get better. But I tell you Jenn, Lauren, and Sarah made the Pride look real dumb for trading them lol. They both played great! I see good things ahead for the Rebellion this season, which in turn will be good for the NPF! I just hope they've found a home and an owner and finally some stability. The instability of that team only adds to the instability of the league. It was great to see Danielle Lawrie pitch again! She only threw 4 innings(2 in one game and 2 in another) but they were good innings and will only get better. I actually enjoyed watching the Pride more than I thought I would! It was rough at times but there is just something so different about pro ball than college ball and it is amazing to watch :). On that note big big congrats to Kaitlin Inglesby on signing a contract with the Racers! She's going to be great and I'm so glad I'll get to enjoy watching her grow as a player and person for awhile longer!

Well that's all I got right now :)! Hopefully more of my thoughts on the WCWS later but I make no promises lol. Go Huskies! Boomer Sooner! RTR Go Bama! Go Pride!

And the season is over..

It's been a few days now since the Huskies were eliminated and I feel like it's time to write my second and last blog of the season lol. I did a terrible job keeping up with the blog this season :(. It was a great season and it was heartbreaking to see it end, especially before OKC and the WCWS.

This was a great team. This was a team full of talent. But it never felt like it really came together like last years team did. This was the first time the Huskies really had high expectations for them from people outside the program and fans. They had a lot to deal with. But overall I'm proud of them! They battled the whole season right up until the end. I am going to dearly miss those 7 seniors! They were an incredible group! Next year is going to be interesting for sure! Lots of holes to fill! But a big thank you and good luck to this year's seniors! I know the future is very bright for all of them :)

Well the NPF season starts this weekend. I still can't believe they decided to start at the same time as the WCWS! So dumb! Honestly I'm having a hard time finding any excitement for this season.  They hired a coach I don't like for the Pride and then they traded a big chunk of my favorite players. The only bright spot is that Danielle Lawrie will be back! I know that once the season gets going I'll get over it but ugh lol. Right now I'm pouting!


Good luck to OU and Alabama in the WCWS!!

Update Update Update

I have tried to update on here 150 times since the Women's College World Series but it just didn't happen.   At first I was just trying to really soak it in and enjoy it. I also wanted to really think about what I was going to say. Before I got back to update my computer died. I am writing is on a Kindle. It is not very easy, so please forgive any typos lol. Well there is much I want to update and talk about, so I'm going to jump right in.

The WCWS was incredible. The Huskies did so much more than anyone(myself included) thought they would! Let me first say that the weather was crazy if you don't remember. They had one evening that all the teams and stuff spent taking tornado precautions at their hotel.  I felt so bad for everyone because I knew most of those girls had never dealt with tornadoes but everyone did a great job staying calm and everyone was safe and sound. I was so glad that they delayed the games the day of the tornadoes way before people were set to arrive. That kept a lot of people safe. But anyway the Huskies had a great run and finished tied for 3rd with Texas. They did so behind fabulous pitching and fabulous defense. The offense was frankly cold but they got the runs when they needed them. When I think about last year's team and this year's as well the thing that really jumps out at me is the leadership. They had a very strong junior and senior class last year and again this year. In my opinion and I've said this before it's starts in the circle. There were very high hopes for Kaitlin Inglesby from day one but Bryana Walker has been a little bit of a surprise and she just continues to improve. It's been amazing to watch! Words fall short in describing how proud I was of what last year's team did. They dug deep and really opened the eyes of many people. They really came together and took care of business as a team. Even facing OU in that last game they battle and gave it everything they had and I remember feeling so much pride! I really hope they can get back to OKC and make a great run again!

 I'm excited about this year and so far it's off to a great start! They are 10-0 and have played really well! We lost only one  senior.starter, catcher Shawna Wright. Kimberlee Souza was supposed to take over behind the plate but she suffered a torn ACL in the Fall. There is some hope she'll be back by the end of the season. I guess we'll see what happens. Courtney Gano is doing the catching right now and for someone who has not done any catching in college she's done great. Kylee Lahners has been swinging am insanely hot bat so far. I hope she keeps that up. I've been super impressed with freshman Aly Aguilar! Hopefully she'll continue to do well. 2 weeks in and they've already received 3 big weekly awards, which if I remember correctly is more than the whole season last years lol. Kylee Lahners  was USA softball player of the week last week and this week she is Pac-12 player of the week and Bryana Walker is NFCA player of the week! They had a great win and ended it with a win over OU in which Bryana had a career high 14ks and only gave up 3 hits!  I'll talk more about them in the next blog. This was just my general thoughts on the season so far. I'll also talk more about other teams. But this is going to be long enough lol.

Also got to watch the Pride win the championship series! It was amazing and can't wait until the next season starts! I loved watching JT D'Amico coach them and was really sad to hear he wasn't coming back. I was and am less than thrilled with the person who will be taking over and that's probably putting it mildly but I am doing my best to keep an open mind lol.

Well the Winter Olympics are in full swing and I'm loving it!! I love seeing so many sports  that you only see during the Olympics. I love the luge, the skeleton, and the bobsled. I love the ice skating. I adored watching and learning about Jason Brown. Watching him skate makes me want to get up and dance lol. But I read an article by a Canadian writer that made me super mad! I'll try to put a link to the article at the end. Basically she was saying that the ice dance scores were rigged and Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir got screwed. It was really quite a fit she threw. The Kindle won't let me post a comment to it, so this is what I would say to her. While you waited to scream foul, you missed everything! This was most likely the last time they would skate on Olympic ice and skated beautifully! If that is the last time I'll see them skate, I can honestly say I wouldn't change a thing. They skated with their whole heart and gave it everything they had. At the end of the day weather their medal is silver or gold is really irrelevant. By feeling the need to throw a fit for them, you are taking away from what they did. Any other Olympics, that would have been gold. But Meryl Davis and Charlie White have worked hard as well and this is probably their last Olympics too. I could understand the fit if this was like the first time they'd beat them. But it isn't. In fact, they've beat them head to head almost every time they've faced off since the last Olympics. Where those judges also paid off? Both of these couples skated incredibly and neither have anything to be ashamed about! Instead of screaming about something you know nothing about, go back and enjoy the beauty that was those two skates. Go back and really soak them in because the days of watching the beauty that is both Virtue and Moir and Davis and White are limited and drawing quickly to a close. A day is soon approaching that we won't be able to enjoy that and I don't want my last time watching them being clouded with my own personal hang ups and drama.

Well this is really long so I'm going to wrap it up :). Go Huskies! Boomer Sooner! RTR Go Bama! FTG!