Catching up and my 5 favorite coaches

It has been forever since I've written anything on this blog and even longer since I've actually written something about softball on here. There are many reasons why but the main thing is I use a tablet for all my internet stuff and this blog site is hard to write on, on a tablet. So my only other options were to use my mom's computer to do the whole thing or write it on my tablet and edit it and add pictures(if I'm using them) on the computer. It's just a lot of work and stress(especially considering I don't really get that many views lol). But back in January I retired my old outdated Kindle and bought my self something newer. It has a writer program that is easy to use, so I'm writing this on here and then I'll transfer it to the blog(if you are reading this I must have been successful, yay lol). If this works the way I hope maybe I'll start writing more lol.

So you might be thinking "Well if you've had this new tablet and plan all season why have you waited until April". Well this is hard for me to admit but at the beginning of this season for the first time probably ever, I just wasn't feeling softball. I'm not sure why but I just wasnt. But I kept following and watching and in the last couple of weeks my fire has come back to me :). I decided in this blog that I'll talk a little about the Huskies and then list my 5 favorite coaches and talk about them, so here we go.

I had no expectations for the Huskies coming into this season. This is probably the youngest team they've had in my time following them and I came into this season just not knowing a lot about these players. It's been a pretty good season in my opinion. They started off Pac-12 play by getting swept by Oregon which surprised me but they've won their last two series against UCLA and Arizona. The offense is definitely the strong point for this team. Ali Aguilar has been the leader but lots of girls(in fact most of the regular starters) are also hitting extremely well. I think this team has a good combination of speed and power. I've gotten to watch them twice and that offense is a lot of fun to watch. The pitching and defense have for the most part been good. But this a young pitching staff that is still a little rough around the edges. I've seen some people saying Taran Alvelo has been a disappointment but I don't agree. Maybe it's because I came into this season with no expectations but she's been exactly what I expect out of a freshman pitcher. She's a talented pitcher. But she's young and rough around the edges. There is going to be good and bad but I feel like for the most part she's been a good addition for the Huskies and I've seen steady improvement as the season has gone on. I'm excited to watch her grow and develop over the next 4 years. One thing that has jumped out at me is the leadership on this team. I don't know if there is a better coach at fostering leadership qualities in young girls than Coach Tarr and it shows season after season. I watched the Huskies game against Arizona Sunday night and was just struck by how different Kimberlee Souza is now as a senior than she was as a freshman. I remember watching her as a freshman and thinking man she's small(she's 5'3 which happens to be the same size as me lol) and the other night I found myself thinking "I know she hasn't but she looks like she's grown 6 inches!". She is confident and proud and the other girls clearly respect her. I also was struck by Casey Stangel! This series she took the team and put them on her shoulders and carried them to two very important wins! I feel this is the beginning of something great for her and the Huskies! Overall I'm very proud of these girls and excited to see what the rest of the season will be like!

So I've been thinking a lot about coaches lately. There are some amazing college softball coaches and there are some not so amazing. College coaches are in a position to have a huge impact on the girls on their team, not just athletically but on the women they are becoming. Coaches give up a lot. They often get blamed when they shouldn't and don't get the credit when they should. But overall they have a pretty awesome job! So I decided pick my top 5 favorite and tell you why I like them.

5. Patrick Murphy- Alabama
       Coach Murphy makes my list for many reasons. The biggest being he isn't afraid to take risks! I've seen him pull hitters who noone else would pull at times no one else would do it and put in a hitter no one else would. I've seen him send runners when no one else. More often than not, his risks pay off!

4. Beth Torina-LSU
     I think most people were a little unsure about Coach Torina when she took over the LSU program. She wasn't a big name coach. She was relatively inexperienced coach. But she stepped in and has done fabulous! She always seems cool as a cucumber but I'm sure she isn't :).

3. Vann Stuedeman- Mississippi State
     I've watched her coach since she was at Alabama and I just love the joy and passion she coaches with! It makes me smile every time.  She clearly loves softball and coaching and the girls on her team.

4. Patty Gasso- Oklahoma
I always liked Coach Gasso but she made it on my favorite list after Oklahoma lost to Alabama in the Championship Series in 2012. Her press conference after the last game made me cry! I can't think of a time that I've seen a coach more emotional than she was and she was emotional for her girls. It just touched me. It made me realize that for her coaching is so much more than a job!

1. Heather Tarr- Washington
     I know what a huge surprise :). I've always said that Danielle Lawrie made me love not just softball but Husky softball. But Coach Tarr has kept me a Husky fan.  Everything from the way she got the job to how she coaches to the incredible people she shapes these young women into makes her a great coach and my favorite coach! She has been with this program from the start and she works hard to teach the history of the program(and this program has an incredible history!) to her athletes, I love that! She is so creative! She is always smiling. Her players both current and former have nothing but the best things to say about her. In December, she was in Hawaii with her staff doing a clinic (I believe they do it every year) and tore her ACL playing in the ocean! She had surgery in January and has spent the season coaching in the dugout. Most people would've been annoyed by this but not her(I'm sure she's had her times lol). She says it's making her more well rounded coach! I love that! She has this ability to bring little known players and make them stars! Bryana Walker, Kimberlee Souza, Courtney Thank, Kelli Suguro...just to name a few. I was watching their game on the Pac-12 network the other night and I notice she was sitting right behind batters box and she was talking thg whole time. She was talking to the batter, she was talking and pointing out things to the girls sitting by her, and all I could think was if that's not the mark of a good coach I don't what is. Always always always teaching the game in whatever way she can! When she speaks you can just see in her eyes how much she loves softball but even more how much she loves Husky softball! I see year after year people doubt her and she always proves them wrong.

Well that's all I have for now! Go Huskies! Boomer Sooner!

ETA: so I got to thinking about something I said about Coach Gasso. I mentioned a press conference were she got emotional and said I'd never seen a coach that emotional for their team. I started watching press conferences and stumbled across Washington's press conference in 2011 after they were knocked out of the post season by Missouri. I'd watched it before but I'd forgotten how emotional Coach Tarr and Jenn Salling were. Also ironically Jenn talks about Coach Tarr being her role model and say she hopes to coach with her one day....this season she is as the graduate assistant :).

A rant...sort of lol

It has been forever since I've put anything on this blog. But today I have something on my mind. I don't normally use this blog to rant but today I am!

First off, on Tuesday Jessica Mendoza became the first woman to a MLB post season game! Big, big congrats to her! I couldn't be more happy for her! She has worked incredibly hard and she totally deserved this opportunity. I watched the game and thought she did a great job. I look forward to listening to her call many more games and listening to all the other women in the future that she paved the way for!

Now to my rant lol. The next day I read an article about a man named Mike Bell(no relation to me thank God!). He is a radio broadcaster in Atlanta and he was suspended from his job because of some disgusting tweets he posted about Jessica Mendoza. I'll include a link to his comments if you haven't read them and wish to. But basically he said being  a softball player didn't qualify her to call a professional baseball game and called her "Tits McGee". He has since (of course) issued an apology but I couldn't help but feel it was more of sorry this bit me the butt apology but that's just my opinion. My first thought upon reading his original remarks was "I hope he doesn't have any daughters". I can't imagine what it would feel like to see or hear your father bad mouth a another woman just for being a woman. But even if he doesn't, he does say something in his tweets about his wife. He had to have a mother and other women in his life. I think he owes them all an apology.

As days have gone by and this has continued to bother me, I started to wonder why. The first obvious reason is I'm a woman! I've been surrounded my entire life by women. I love lots of really strong women and I resent the notion that  women can't call baseball games or foot ball games or any sport simply because they are women.  I'm also a softball fan and I have great respect for the women who play and who have played the game. I am also a Jessica Mendoza fan. I've followed her career almost as long as I've followed softball. She was an incredible outfielder and one of the most gifted hitters to play the game. But I think the most upsetting thing for me is that this guy was blessed with a platform that he could've used for something positive like lifting up and supporting women but Tuesday night he made a choice to instead use his platform for something negative and tore not just Jessica Mendoza down but women and softball. Not everyone has that opportunity and I can't fathom using that opportunity in such a negative and disgusting way!

He said Jessica is not qualified to call that game but I wonder if he spent any time at all looking at her background. She is the daughter of a baseball coach. She grew up watching and playing baseball like many softball players. She looked up to baseball players.  But she eventually ,for one reason or another, made the move from baseball to softball. She played at Stanford, for the national team, and in the NPF for USSSA Florida Pride. She's an All-American and an Olympic Gold and Silver medalist. I know people like Mr.Bell like to pretend baseball is much different more complicated sport than softball and a woman couldn't possibly understand it the way a man can but they are wrong. There are differences but the basics are the same. You don't have to listen to her long before you realize she knows baseball and for Mr. Bell to assume she doesn't because she has breasts and played softball is ridiculous. But more than knowing baseball, she knows what it's like to play a sport at the highest level because she's done it!  She's worked hard, she's sacrificed so much, and their is no good reason for to not get to call that game.

The only thing Mr. Bell showed on Twitter that night was he knew nothing about Jessica Mendoza, or softball, or female athletes. It was a big reminder to me that while softball and women have made huge strides there is still a long long way to go. I think as much anger as I felt about Mr.Bell's comments I felt so much more sadness because he is just the one whose comments were seen because of his job and there is still so much ignorance and sexism out there. I hope to one day have a daughter and I can only hope and pray if I do I bring her into a world that has much less sexism than our world today.

If I could ask one thing of Mr.Bell it would be to put away his sexist ego, shut his mouth, and go take in an NPF game and spend sometime with those ladies. I think it would do him a world of good and make him feel like a real moron...at least I hope it would.

This is an article with all of Mike Bell's tweets:
http://thebiglead.com/2015/10/07/mike-bell-jessica-mendoza-twitter-suspended/

This is an article with Jessica Mendoza's classy response:
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/career/interviews/a47579/jessica-mendoza-female-analyst-mlb/

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!

Huskies are headed back to OKC!

What a couple of weekends for the Huskies! Huskies went 3-0 in their Regional last weekend. In fact, Bryanna Walker no hit Hawaii and they ruled them 8-0 in the last game of the weekend! Offense wasn't a little sluggish in the first 2 games but they found their groove in the 3rd game. They fought, clawed and battled the whole weekend and came up with 3 great team wins! They set themselves up for a rematch in Supers with Mizzou. I honestly didn't know what to think about this weekend. I knew Mizzou is a good team and they have a fabulous pitcher in Chelsea Thomas. I was nervous about it. But I had a good feeling. Despite what a LOT of people seem to think this is not the same team from 2011. Kaitlin Inglesby is not the same pitcher, Bryanna walker is 100% and pitching as well as she has probably in her entire career, Huskies D has been lights out all season, and the offense has been clutch. I never doubted the talent was there but I wondered if everything would  come together.

Yesterday Kaitlin got the start and it was pretty much a pitching dual between her and Chelsea Thomas until the bottom of the 6th when Mizzou got on the board. It really seemed like that would be enough... But the Huskies had other ideas. Kaitlin got on and was lifted for a PR. The PR was able to move up to 2nd on a wild pitch and senior Shawna Wright knocked her in with a single to tie up the game. Bryanna came in and sat Mizzou down in order in the 7th. Kelli Suguro hit single and reach 2nd on a bad throw to start the 8th and Victoria Hayward hammered a ball to the outfield for a double to bring Kelli home for the go ahead run and Bryanna shut them down to win the game!

I felt the Huskies had a very good chance to win and advance today. But I also felt that with Chelsea Thomas in the circle for Mizzou anything was possible! I normally have this superstition of not wearing my national championship shirt on game day. The few times I have they always lost. But this morning I was feeling it! There was no other shirt I wanted to wear more today and so I put it on and this time it worked! Kylee Lahners robbed a 2 run HR in the top of the 1st and Victoria Hayward hit a solo HR in the bottom of the 1st and that was pretty all that was needed. Bryanna and Kaitlin again combined for a great game. The defense was stellar! Not just these 2 games but the whole season! One of the best defenses the Huskies have ever had and one of the best in the country I'd say.

I just could not be more happy for them right now! This group of girls are very very special! I think about last season and I think we got a little taste of what these girls were made of in pre-season. But when Pac-12 season started things fell apart. I look back at those blogs and I remember how frustrating it was the watch and I remember the frustration I could see on their faces. But the beauty is those are the games where the biggest lessons come from. It's very interesting to me the thing that was maybe the worst part of the game for the Huskies is now the best, not just for this season but the best defense the Huskies have had in a long long time... maybe ever. The defense last season was no where near the top, they were a hot  mess. But this year the experience, the chemistry, the talent, and the right combination of players has led to an extremely strong defense which in turn leads to better pitching. When a pitcher know she can count on her defense to back her up, she is going to be more relaxed and it opens up her pitch availability. But all around this team is more well rounded. Coach Tarr has done a fantastic job with these girls! But it took alot of disappointment, alot of hard lessons, and even more practice to get here.

At the end of the game Kaitlin Inglesby and Bryanna Walker hugged for a long time and it was probably the most beautiful and emotional moment for me. If there are 2 pitchers who have fought through more adversity  than those 2, I don't know who they are! Kaitlin is 80% deaf, has Graves disease, and was smashed in the face with a ball off of Hooch Fagaly's bat leaving her with 47 breaks in her face(you don't even have 47 bones in your face). She also had issues with injuries last season and pitched almost every inning her freshman season. Bryanna Walker broke her leg her freshman year and had to have a rod put in it(it's purple btw lol). And what few people know is she also lost her father. But they both just kept pushing on! They are the co-leaders of this team! The trials of their early careers have made them strong, confident competitors and leaders. The taste of defeat in Super Regionals the last 2 years that both experienced has put a fire in their bellies! I read a blog earlier that referred to them as a two headed monster lol. The blog was poorly written and frankly didn't give enough credit to these two women for what they've accomplished but I think the person who wrote it got that right! They are a great 1-2 punch and are such different pitchers that it's really hard for hitters to adjust! I know this was sweet revenge for Kaitlin. I remember how upset she was when they lost in 2011. You could just see she was putting the full blame on herself. The smile on her face and Bryanna's face was just... priceless!

Two more players who I think are leaders for this team and strong competitors are Shawna Wright and Victoria Hayward. Shawna's bat has not always been the best but as a catcher she is one of the best! She is also a great leader! I love watching her with the pitchers. She is always smiling and always able to get them to smile and take a deep breath. The thing about Shawna was that there was no easing into the role. She came in right after Alicia Blake graduated and was expected to catch Danielle Lawrie, probably the best division 1 pitcher in the country at the time. You might think she would be a little intimidated but if she was she never showed it. She stepped in there and caught Danielle like she was a Senior too. The next year she took on an even bigger challenge, catching a freshman when she herself was still pretty inexperienced and on top of that new pitcher was 80% deaf! She's done great though! The Huskies have 4 pitchers(plus one other player who can pitch) and she has caught all of them. Shawna is a senior and no matter what happens in OKC 2 thins are certain about her career. First off it will draw to a close and second off she's left her mark all over this program! I will miss watching her play for the Huskies. I'll miss that big smile and the passion she plays with.  Victoria Hayward has always been a favorite of mine. She has always been great in the field and a strong hitter but this season has seen her really step forward and take on a huge leadership role(I've written more about her in previous blogs you can check them out). Hooch Fagaly is another who has really stepped up. Honestly at one point in time every one of these girls has stepped and made a play, or got a clutch hit, or scored a key run. That's the beauty of this team! It's not just one player, it's all of them and they wouldn't be where they are without every single one of them! This team plays with passion and energy! I love watching them play!

I'm done babbling now lol! No idea if any of this even made any sense! I am just so happy and proud of them! Congrats to the Huskies on sweeping Mizzou and being the first team to punch their ticket to the WCWS! I of course would love to see them win it all but whatever happens I'm proud to call myself a Husky fan!

I'll update on other things and teams later. I just wanted to take the time to congratulate the Huskies and express my happiness and pride!

Go Huskies!!

Post season

I can't believe the regular season is over! I know I say that like very single year but it just goes by so fast. I just love it so much, ever single second of it and it zooms by! Huskies were fantastic this season! These players have really matured and grown not just since last season but as the season has gone on. It's been fun to watch!

While waiting for them release the Pac-12 awards, my only thought was if they don't include Hooch Fagaly, Victoria Hayward, and Kaitlin Inglesby there is something wrong! These 3 have anchored this team this season. Thankfully the Pac-12 saw it my way and all 3 were named to the first team All-Pac-12! To my surprise and delight Shawna Wright was named Pac-12 defensive player of the year! Let me clarify something here, I don't mean that as a knock to Shawna in the least! She is a fantastic catcher and I was disappointed when she wasn't drafted. What I meant by being surprised was that honestly the Pac-12 and the rest of the country seem to be completely over looking this team. Shawna deserved that award no doubt, I just didn't figure they would give it to her! Kylee Lahners was named to the 2nd team! Shawna, Kelli Suguro, Kimberlee Souza, and Jennie McNeill were all honorable mentions! I really honestly was not looking forward to them releasing these because honestly I figured they would screw the Huskies over. The Huskies had 1 Pac-12 pitcher of week this season and 0 Pac-12 player of the week! They just feel like most people aren't looking at the Huskies. I think that's good in some respects. Always good to sneak up on people and and not give them a chance to prepare for you. But on the other hand I'll be honest it really bothered me! They lost only 2 series in the entire Pac-12 season and they lost those to Oregon and ASU. They were never swept and finished 3rd. Their record was actually the same as ASU's but ASU got the tie breaker because of head to head. I think what really really irked me was that the only thing noticed from this past weekends games was Jolene Henderson's return to the circle. Completely ignored was how well the Huskies played and the send off they gave their wonderful senior class. They haven't had this many players named to the All-Pac-12 teams since the 2010 team who were ranked number 1 through most of the season! Yet nobody notices! I don't know it just bugs me! No matter what happens in the post season this team has a lot to be proud of! On top of that, they bring back all but one of their starters next year! Although that one starter is a big one(Shawna Wright), they are in position to really make some noise next year(not that anybody will notice)! They are hosting Regionals for the 4th year in a row(20th season in a row they've made the post season, that's success!). Their Regional is a little harder this year than last and should provide when with quite a challenge. They will have Portland State, Hawaii, and Minnesota. Hawaii beat them once already in the beginning of the season and they haven't seen Minnesota. I have really followed them closely but I know they came on strongly to end the season. Hopefully all goes well though! If they win their Regional and Mizzou does they'll be headed out there for the 2nd time in 3 years for Supers. Honestly was not so thrilled when I saw that!

Oklahoma had a fantastic season and are the number 1 seed going into Regionals. They were given a pretty easy field. They swept the Big 12 awards taking Coach, Pitcher(Keilani Ricketts of course), and player(Shelby Pendley) of the year! I think at this point they are the team to beat!

Another team that has a lot to be proud of is St.Edwards! The rolled into Canyon for Regionals last weekend and ran away with it! They are headed to Denton this weekend to take on Texas Women's in a best of 3 series for Supers! Sarah Debrow has been quite the work horse for them and has had one heck of a season! Good luck to them this weekend!

Tennessee and Alabama will host this weekend as well and if both when they will face off in Supers for a spot in OKC! Should be interesting to see how that plays out!

The Islanders never really got it going and the on top of that the injury bug bit and bit hard! I hope next season is much better for them!

Well that's all I've got! Good luck to all the teams playing this weekend! Go Huskies! Boomer Sooner! Go Lady Vols! RTR Go Bama! FTG! Go Islanders!

Finally able to update!

Well I spent most of February without internet and have just not been able to get back in the habit of writing. But I've gotten a couple of request to get back to this so here I am!

The Huskies have been a little up and down. Last season they just blew through their non-conference schedule and then crashed during Pac-12. This season was different. They started the season kind of rough and then seemed to get things together and had long stretch of wins, and then again hit a rough spot right before the start of Pac-12. They started Pac-12 with Arizona and really had a nice series. They won 2 of 3. The pitching was good and the hitting was good. This weekend they played Oregon. Oregon is good no doubt but I really felt the first game the Huskies were just not ready to go. They looked really lost out their and struggled to make adjustments on both sides of the ball. I didn't get to see the 2nd game(it was on the Pac-12 network which I am learning to really hate lol). The third game yesterday they really played well and really battled. I was really impressed with their ability to forget the other 2 games and just do what they do best. They will take on UCLA in double header on Tuesday and a single game on Wednesday and then turn around and play Oregon State at home next weekend. That's like 9 games in a week! Crazy Pac-12 schedules this year! So I decided I'll list some good things about the Huskies and then some things that need work.

I see a lot of good things in this team. Top 4 are Victoria Hayward, Hooch Fagaly, Missy Taukeiaho, and Kimberlee Souza! All 4 of have had a wonderful season both in the field and with their bats! Next would be Kaitlin Inglesby, Jennie McNeill, Bryanna Walker, and Shawna Wright! Kaitlin and Bryanna have both pitched very well! Jennie McNeill has taken over that SS spot nicely! She is a heck of a SS! Shawna has always been a great catcher and leader and this season so far her bat seems to have really warmed up! The defense for the Huskies has been incredible so far! Kelli Suguro has done a great job at 2nd as well and has had some key hits! The base running for this team is great. Lots of speed on this team!

The biggest thing that needs work is their ability to hit good pitchers and make a adjustments against good pitchers. In the first 2 games of the Oregon series they had 5 hits an 3 runs(2 of which were unearned due to an error). They did make adjustments in the 3rd game and it was really good to see. I hope in the next few weeks they can continue to improve and build confidence. Pitching has been a little less than stellar the last couple of weeks as well. But our pitchers are good and I look for them to only improve.

Overall it's been a nice season for the Huskies! I hope they are able to take atleast 1 from UCLA and I'm hoping for 2 against Oregon State! Go Huskies!!

On to an unrelated topic. I've been following both the women't and men's final 4 competition. I was really sad to see Baylor's women's team lose today. My heart breaks for Brittney Griner! What an amazing career and what a devastating way to end it! She said on her Twitter page earlier that she was a disappointment and that just broke my heart and made me cry! Nothing could be further from the truth! She has done so much for women't basketball and women's sports! One games couldn't never take that away or change it! I would also like to say my thoughts and prayers are with Kevin Ware who badly broke his leg during the Louisville/Duke game! Both teams for Louisville played some great basketball tonight! Congrats to them on moving on!

Well that's all I have for now! Hopefully I'll be back with better updates on all of my softball teams in a few days! Go Huskies! Boomer Sooner! RTR Go Bama! Go Lady Vols(got to add this one, loving the Lady Vols this year!), FTG, and Go Islanders!!

Running behind!

I have been meaning for weeks to do a preseason softball blog but I've been so busy it just never happened. I started college again in January and I have dove head first into it! I'm glad to be back and really enjoying it! It's a lot of work but it's worth it! Well I'm going to do a blog over the first weekend of softball and hopefully get back to my opinions of what this season will look like!

The Huskies played in Hawaii last weekend and I think I can say with quite a bit of certainty it wasn't exactly the weekend they hoped for. They went 4-2 dropping games to UAB and Hawaii. However I was very happy and proud to see them bounce back on Saturday and win the tournament championship! Hooch Fagaly had a fantastic weekend and was named MVP of the tournament! Bryana Walker was certainly the best pitcher of the weekend. She was lights out! I was extremely impressed with Missy Taukeiaho and Jennie McNeill! They both did wonderful in their first weekend in college softball. Overall I thought it was a good weekend. I think a lot of lessons were learned and I think in the end those to loses will only help them to be better!

OU had an amazing weekend! They won all their games and most of them in run rule fashion. Kelani Ricketts  had not one but two no hitters on the weekend! The offense was already really good and they added more power with Shelby Pendley! Awesome weekend for them and they are sitting at the top of the polls because of it!

Bama has a nice weekend as well and won all of their games. I've got to be honest here I didn't really get to follow their games as close as I would have liked but I know they did well and I am excited to see how the season goes for them!

St. Edwards started their season the weekend before last and won all but 1 game! They look like they will be very strong this season! This last weekend they played two teams twice each. They won their games on the first day and lost both of their games the second day. It was two really tough teams and they really battled! I'm excited to see what they do this season!

I wish I had the time to start my own place for people to talk softball. I have a couple of places that I go to talk softball but I feel like the odd man out in all of them. I feel like I spend my time defending myself and the players and teams that are close to my heart and it's just gets to be more work than fun. I left one site for several months because the drama was too much. I've started going back some but don't most much. I just wish I had a group of people who liked the same teams and player I do. But I don't and I guess I'll just have to make do.

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

Long time no write!

   It has been a long time since I wrote lol! Not a ton of softball going on right now, so not much to write about. But I'll talke about a few things and then I'm going to tell you about about 10 all time favorite softball players. I though I'd done this before but in going through my blogs I didn't find anything like this and if I did and I missed I'm sure so of them have changed lol. If not I'm sorry to waste your time lol.

The NPF Back to School Tour was great! The NPF wasn't quite as successful as years past droping 3 games(Michigan, ULL, and Oklahoma for the 2nd year in a row). But it was still fun to watch! I was thrilled by how many schools had livestreaming and I saw alot of good softball by not just the NPF but the college teams as well! I'm itching for the next college and NPF seasons already!!

The Japanese legaue wraped up their season last weekend with their version of the championship series I guess lol. Again rain came in to play but better planning meant that they got everything in! Danielle Lawrie, Megan Willis, and their Shokki teammates had a wonderful season, especially the 2nd half of the season! I wasn't sure at the beginning of the 2nd half of the season that they would even make the playoffs but they had a fantastic 2nd half of the season and just snuck by Honda for the 4th spot! They played Denso to start the weekend. They hadn't beat Denso all season and I knew they wanted that win. I wanted that win. Denso is the team that Jordan Taylor and Megan Wiggins play for, so you can put 2 and 2 together as to why I wanted them to beat Denso so bad other than wanting them to have a chance at the championship lol. Danielle was fantastic! She didn't give up a hit until the 5th or 6th inning and ended the game with only 2 hits! She pitched her heart out and looked incredible! Shokki finally got their win against Denso, winning 1-0! The moved on to play Toyota the next day! The next day it was raining but they started the game anyway. It was wet, muddy, and cool. Finally the field got to be in too bad a shape and the rain wasn't letting up so they called the games for the day after 3.5 innings. I was thinking they'd pick it up in the bottom of the 4th the next day but apparently the rules are different in the Japan leauge and they had to start all over the next day. Danielle pitched well but Toyota was too much and they lost. But they still placed 3rd and in that league that is pretty dang good! Toyota and Renesas played 10 innings before Toyota finally got the win and won their 3rd championship in a row! Monica Abbott was named MVP and she totally earned it! In 48 hours time she pitched 28 innings and that is after 9 months of almost non-stop softball! Ueno was impressive herself as always! In my opinion, those 2 are probably the top pitchers in the world with Cat Osterman right behind them. Always exciting to watch them duke it out and I got to watch them duke it out twice in 48 hours times! I enjoyed it :)! I also enjoyed watching 2 younger up and comming greats duke it out in Danielle Lawrie and Jordan Taylor! All around agreat weekend of softball!

Now I'm going to move on to my top 10 all time favorite softball players! I thought about doing pitchers and there will be alot of pitchers because I like pitchers lol. But I decided to include everyone. Maybe one day I'll do like top 5 pitchers, catchers, infielders, and outfielders! That would be fun but not today lol. So here we go!

10. Kelly Kretschman! Kelly is an Alabama Alumni where she broke several hitting records and left as one of the best hitters to not only play for the Tide but to ever play the game. She was an alernate for the 2000 Olympic Gold team and was apart of the 2004 gold medal team and the 2008 silver medal team. She was also one of the first national team members and big name players to believe and sign to play in the NPF! She started with the Akron Racers in 2005 and played her 4th season with the Pride and 7th season in the league last season. She is the oldest woman in the league at 33 but to watch her play you'd never know it! She is still one of the best all around hitters in the NPF! She can hit for power but she also has the speed to lay down a bunt and steal bases! She is one of those players that you just never get tired of watching!

9. Crystl Bustos! Anybody who knows anything about softball knows who Crystl Bustos is! In my opinion she is the single best hitter to ever play this game! She has an icredible swing and when she unloads on a ball she can hit it futher than any hitter I have ever seen! I think the ironic thing is she didn't even attend a division 1 school! She went to a community college! How did every division 1 and 2 school miss that? I'll never understand it myself! She is a big muslcuar woman who alot of people think looks scary. But one thing I've figured out over the years of watching her and with talking to her on Twitter and reading her tweet is she has a huge huge huge heart! She is a very sweet sensitive person! She has given and continues to give back so much to this sport! She is not playing right now but I've seen talk of a comeback on her twitter page, so we'll see what happens!

8. Yukiko Ueno! I know most of you are ready to hit me here or call me trader but I can't help it! She is without a doubt one of the best and most dominating pitchers I have ever had a the oppurtunity of watching! She has changed the look of Japanese softball forever! She has an incredible combination of speed and movement to her pitches that leaves hitters either looking dumb or just completely stunned! At worlds this past summer she threw over 30 innings in 2 days, won the gold medal, and turned 30! But what makes her even more special is that she is also one of the best hitters Japan has ever produced! A pitcher that hits is dieing art I'm afraid and I really hate that. Coaches are afraid of injuries and want to protect their pitchers and I get that. But you are really hurting these athletes I think by taking them from being what I refer to as a 3 demensional player to 1 demensional! But Ueno has been lucky that her coaches continue to allow her to hit and do her thing! I often say I don't believe she is fully human because she is just so good and never seems to get tired! So hate me all you want but I love to watch this woman do her thing!

7. Natsha Watley! Natasha Watley is probably the fastest softball player I've ever had the pleasure of watching! There are other extremely fast players( Caitlin Lowe, Kimi Pohlman, Rhea Taylor just to the name a few) but none as fast as Natasha. She went to UCLA and won a National Championship as well as many other awards and personal highlights. She played on the 2004 Gold medal Olympic team and the 2008 silver medal and many more! She has been everywhere and done everything! She is an amazing athlete! She has also started her own foundation to further not only softball but women's sports as a whole!

6. Lisa Fernandez! Lisa Fernandez was one the first pitchers I remember watching and just adoring! She was an incredible pitcher with a ton of energy! She loves softball so much and you could just see it on her face! She like all these other women has a long long long list of awards and achievments! She went to UCLA and is now the pitching coach there. She played on the National Team leading the team to 3 Gold medals in the Olympics! She has given and continues to give so much to softball and women's sports in general! She without a doubt will always be viewed as the one the best pitchers to ever play the game and I am glad I got to witness it!

5. Monica Abbott! As I said when talking about the Japanese league championship she in my opinion is one of, if not the top pitcher in the world right now! She is a dominating pitcher in every sense of the word. She is very tall at 6ft 3in! She is probably the hardest throwing pitcher in the game right now and maybe ever, easily hitting 71+. But she is isn't all speed. Pitchers with just speed don't dominate because it's easier to adjust to speed! She has movement, great movement! She has movement that seems to only get better with age! And last but not least she is like the Energizer Bunny, she keeps going and going and going and going and going lol! You don't want to get in a pitchers dual with her, especially if goes into extras because the longer she pitches the stronger she gets! I've watched her since she played for Tennessee and she was an amazing pitcher back then but over the years she has only gotten better and better and better! I enjoy watching her pitch as long as she isn't pitching against one of teams....saddly it happens more often than not that she is pitchng against my team lol!

4. Megan Willis! I haven't watched Megan Willis as long as I've watched any of the others players. She just wasn't on my radar honestly. But Megan is easily one of the best catchers I've ever seen. She is good at calling games, knowing the pitcher she is catching for, and most of all she is good at throwing out runners! She has a cannon for an arm and I know I wouldn't consider trying to steal on her lol! She has a wonderful firey personality that makes her so much fun to watch! There isn't a catcher that I like to watch more!

3. Cat Osterman! Cat is a completely different pitcher than the others I've talked about. The other pitchers I talked about have a deadly combination of speed and movement. Cat doesn't have the speed. She has never been known and will never be known as a power pitcher. But that's okay because she doesn't need the power. To be very hoest to pitch at the level she does you typically need atleast some speed but if you have the movement of Cat you don't lol! Cat unlike Lisa Fernandez is very poised, quiet, and almost unreadable in the circle. That is part of what I think makes her so dominating. Her emotions rarley get the best of her.  She doesn't ride the wave of the game. She just does what Cat does!

2. Jenn Salling! I think she gets very over looked in the grand scheme of things but she won me over the first time I ever watched her play. The first I saw her play was for the Canadian National team! She dominates the infield! I've talked about  her before but you get to read it again lol. She is fast, she thinks fast, she reacts fast, and she can throw across the diamond like nobody I've seen before(there is a video on Youtube of her throwing out Rhea Taylor all the way from behind 3rd base to 1st during Super Regionals 2 years ago that I could watch over and over and over and in fact have! Look it up, it's a thing of  beauty!). She is what is refered to in softball as a tripe threat. She can slap, bunt, and hit for power! She has speed and isn't afraid to take a risk! She is a leader. She is always cheering, encouraging, and giving advice. She speaks and people listen! She is incredibly selfless! She loves softball, she loves the women she plays with, and she loves her fans! But the thing I love most about Jenn is her story. She fought to get where she is. She did something few other people have done and it paid off big! She started off at Oregon. She red shirted her freshman year. Her redshirt freshman year she tore it up! She set records and made a huge name for herself both in the field and with her bat. In 2008, she redshirted again to play in the Olympics for Canada and during that time decided even with the success she was having in Oregon she wasn't happy and decided to transfer. Because she decided to transfer to Washington which was in the same confrence she had two choices. One she had to miss an entire season and just lose that season or two she had to go get an Associate degree. She chose to do the 2nd. She worked her butt off and got ther Associates degree and was cleared to paly for Washington in April of 2009! She went on to be key in their National Championship as well as a huge part of the team in 2010! But I think the biggest thing Jenn did was in her Senior season. Everyone one and their dog predicited UW to fall off in a big way with the loss of Danielle Lawrie. But with an incredible freshman pitcher that turned out to better than anybody could have guessed she would be and the incredible leadership of Jenn the team made it all the way back to Super Regionals! It's unreal to me that it's been almost 2 years since she played for the Huskies! She is still kind of waiting in the wings for her turn to break out in the NPF but it's coming! I know it is and she'll keep pushing until it does because she never gives up!

1. Last but not least and I'm sure you guys already knew this, Danielle Lawrie! When Coach Tarr took over the troubled UW  program the first player she recruited was Danielle and I think we all fully understand why! Danielle combines speed and killer movement to keep batters always guessing. She has one of the best change ups in the world! Danielle fully understands the game of softball. In college, obviously she dominated in the circle but she also left UW as one of their best hitters. That is what I orginally loved about her. She was all over the field and dominating in all of them lol. She broke all kinds of records as a pitcher, threw several no hitters and perfect games. And then she could turn around and belt a homerun as well lol! She is passionate and competitive! You can tell with ease what she is thinking and feeling! She is leader and people naturally are drawn and listen to her. She is just an all around incredible athlete! She is a 2 time National Player of the Year and she did something nobody had done before and nobody has done since. She won National Player of the Year the same year she won a National Championship! Sadly she hasn't been as lucky as Ueno and most of the teams she plays for now do not let her hit. It seems like such a waste to me but they have their reasons I suppose! Danielle is young and she has many seasons ahead of her! I will be surprised if she isn't the best pitcher in the world by the time she retires. She is certainly pretty close now! A few more years of experience and no doubt in my mind she'll be a force to reckoned with!

There are many more I adore that I wish I could have included! I almost wish I would have done top 20 but this alone took me several hours lol! There are so many amazing softball players out there! That's one of the reasons I love this game so much! These women are talented and hard working and they do everything they do simply because they love the game!

I don't need you to understand

Well the NPF season has been over for a week and I'm still sad that it's over lol! In fact, I spent yesterday evening watching the game that Danielle Lawrie pitched during the Title 9 celebration. It was without a doubt my favorite game of the season! Danielle was completely dominate! I love to watch her pitch when she is in that zone. She was completely in the zone but completely relaxed! She was all smiles and having such a good time! All the Pride girls were! I believe that was the last game this season that Danielle, Jenn, and Ashley all got the start at the same time! I also loved that game because Niki got her first and only RBI of the season! The smile on her face was priceless! The grand slam that Jamee Juarez hit was amazing as well! The whole game was just great! There weren't alot of the big names in this game but the lesser known ladies sure put on a show of their own!

I think these type of games are the ones you want to take all in and remember because all though some of the  core ladies will stay, there will be others who won't. The team changes just a little bit every season and I don't think next season will be any different. This team was special. They were not only incredible group of talented women but there was a great chemistry between them all! It was fun to watch! But anyway bottom line is I'm glad that ESPN3 still has that game on there for me to watch! I've watched it 3 times now and enjoyed it every time!

I know the people around me don't understand my love and passion for softball. I know it annoys them and they hope it's just a passing thing and that eventually it'll go away, same thing with soccer. I don't know that I even fully understand it honestly. I've never been an athletic person. I'm slow, ungraceful, and just not an athlete. I accepted that along time ago. I wanted to be as a kid though! I really really did! But these women are extremely gifted athletes and they should be able to play the sport they love! So sorry to disappoint but this isn't going to just disappear! I love softball and I love the women who play the game and the people who coach it! I don't need your approval or for you to understand!! You can say what you want and you can have an attitude about it all you want but I am who I am and I have a love and passion for what I have a love and passion for! You can either deal with it and accept it or leave and don't let the door hit you where the good lord split you lol!

While I'm on my soap box of things that annoy me, I have one more! I personally think part of the reason women's sports struggle so much in this society is because women are viewed in such a sexual way. Most women don't understand the importance of women's sports I don't think. Most men only watch women's sports because they like to look at them! I'll use softball as an example because I know it best. Don't get me wrong here, I'm just a little bit shorter then Jenn Salling(about an inch I think) and I would love to have her body and look like her! I've noticed that she is gorgeous and sexy(how could you miss it? lol)! But that isn't the main reason I like Jenn. Jenn is an incredible athlete! She is without a doubt one of the best SS in the world! She is an incredible leader and teammate! She is passionate about softball and about her team! Those are the things that Jenn wants you to remember about her and that is what is missing! Sometimes I feel like these athletes are viewed as models putting on a show and not athletes, especially athletes like Jenn, Danielle, Caitlin Lowe as well as Caitlin Lever, Taryne Mowatt, and several others. Until women are viewed as something more than a set of boobs and a butt, women's sports will continue to struggle. I think this also plays into alot of athletes hiding their sexuality and I think that's wrong. I think they should be able to say I am Jane Doe, I am an Olympian, a national champion, I am an All-American, I broke these records, I graduated from college because of the sport I play, I am a daughter, a granddaughter, a sister, a niece, an aunt, a friend, and I am gay and I am proud of every one of those things! I'm not saying they should have to come out but they should feel comfortable doing so. I think there is a future generation of young women who could benefit greatly from seeing women like them come out and live life proud of who they are. It's kind of funny because there are a few who think they are hiding it really well that they are gay and in a relationship with a woman but they aren't. If you follow them for any amount of time the pieces fall together very quickly. Recently Megan Rapinoe came out as gay publically and honestly I thought she'd already come out. Lauren Lappin and Vicky Galindo game out before the 2008 Olympics(Lauren is gay and Vicky is bi). I think when women can be 100% comfortable with who they are, sports will benefit! To me this all just goes hand in hand. Everything is so sexualized in this country, why can't this one thing just be a group of incredibly taletned women playing the sport they adore? Why is men felt the need to complain that the beach volleyball players were covering up too much when they didn't wear their biknis? Why did some idiot from I don't rememer where feel it was okay to judge the female swimmers not on their incredible abilities but on their "lack of boobs"? Here is a new flash for you all you men, not all women live to please you! Not all women care if you think we look beautiful! Those women who step on the field, the court, the sand, or into the water aren't thinking about how sexually appealing they look to you! They are thinking about the battle they are about to enter! So before you think about how they look, please take a minute to also marvel at their abilites! Take a minute to appreciate the hardwork these women have put in since they were kids to reach the place they are and know that is what they are most proud of! Don't get me wrong guys, not saying you can't or shouldn't look! Just saying don't lose sight of what is important and what those women are doing out there!

I'm itching for some softball LOL! The Japanese league is going again! Shokki got 2 wins this weekend and Danielle pitched 10 great innings! I can't believe they've been back in Japan almost a week already!

Well that is all I have for now! Go Pride! Go Shokki! Go Huskies! Boomer Sooner! RTR Go Bama! FTG!

More thoughts after time to think

I've had a few more days to think and process and the NPF and Cheri Kempf have released statements so I am back more calm and in a different mind set than I was on Sunday/Monday(I started the last blog on Sunday and finished it on Monday). I didn't really give alot of opinions in my last, although I'm sure you could figure out I wasn't very happy. Something funny has happened over the last couple of days though, I've lost the anger. I've always been the type of person who it takes alot to make them mad and once I blow up it's over. This seems to be the case here. I blew my top and the anger is gone.

Another funny thing happened and I'm not really sure why this is but I've found myself really sad for Cheri Kempf! I've had several conversations with her and she has always been very kind! She is very passionate about softball and about the NPF. I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone more passionate about making this league work than she is! Through this whole thing I never really felt angry with her or any one person. It was just the whole flipping situation. But the last couple of days I've found myself wishing I could just give her a hug and tell her thank you. I don't envy the spot she is in or the decisions she had to make Sunday. She is a good woman and I beg the fans to take a deep breath and give her sometime to fix this! We can't let her get away! She gets it! She gets the whole thing top to bottom and that is what the NPF needs! She has done so much for the NPF and for softball and the NPF needs someone who has been there! She knows this sport as a player, as a coach and instructor, as a business woman(if you don't know about her business look it up!) and as a fan. Mistakes were made this weekend and I know some of those mistakes were things she did and let happen but I also know this woman LOVES the NPF and the ladies who play for the NPF and I know she was probably devastated by what happened. I have confidence in her and I hope other people do too!

Not everything that went on did I disagree with. I fully agreed they couldn't play on that field the way it was. It was in awful shape and I was disgusted from the moment I saw the field that they were going to play on that field! The risk of injuries was too great and it just wasn't worth it. Also after the game was cancelled I also agreed that they shouldn't just give the Bandits the Championship. That wouldn't be in anyway fair to the Pride girls! It was no doubt a rough Championship series for them but they made it into the finals and earned the chance to play in that best of 3! If they had done that int he WCWS OU would have won instead of Bama. We have no idea what would have happened in that second game and we can't say that the Pride couldn't or wouldn't have come back to take it all. As much as it sucks, the only thing they could do was leave it empty.

We can't let what happened this last weekend destroy the NPF! We have to continue to support the NPF because these women have worked too hard to lose it all! So keep watching and supporting!

That's all I have for now! I don't know that there will be much more softball news to discuss over the next little bit but if I find out any I'll be lol! You can always swing over and check out my other blog! I hope to start posting on it more now that the NPF season is over!  Go Pride!! Go Shokki! Go Huskies! Boomer Sooner! RTR Go Bama! FTG!

Two words for you....

....Epic disaster! I can't think of a better way to describe this "Championship Series"(I use the term lightly because as most of you know a champion wasn't crowned)! I've used it a ton this evening because it just fits! It was a disaster from the start and it ended with possibly the stupidest decision the NPF has ever made!  I think what made the decision worse was the fact that they didn't stick around to defend it! They didn't even have the guts to tell the fans! They let the teams, ESPN, and other organizations do their dirty work!! But let me back up and explain this whole crap fest of a "Championship Series" to you from where I see it.

So first of all when the information came out about the Championship Series they stated you couldn't use cameras with detachable lenses,despite the fact that they had been used all season! But did they ever explain the decision or anything? Of course not! People were already angry about this but this would be only the first of many head scratching stupid decisions by the NPF!

So first night they are in Chicago they got to go to a White Sox game. The White Sox honor the 2008 Olympians and again the Canadians are left out. There were many excuse given out afterwards, but the most common was "it was the medalist". Well sorry to break it to you but that wasn't how it was stated until they were called out on it. I guess that is just how the NPF does things. I've accepted that and moved on.

So second night they are there is the awards banquet! So the person who does the NPF Facebook page and Twitter page made it sound like they would give lots of updates and keep us informed. They didn't. In fact, all they did was post pictures of the winners about 3 hours later and some of them were so bad you couldn't even tell who it was! We had to wait until the next flipping morning to find out who was on the flipping All-NPF team! They said the next morning that a professional photographer was there and pictures of the banquet would be up shortly. Well apparently their shortly and my shortly differ some what because we still haven't seen those pictures!! My guess is we probably never will and I wonder if they even exist!

Third night was the first night of games! I assumed we would have live stream like we had all season but found out just a couple of hours before the games were set to start we wouldn't! On top of that the first night we didn't even have Pointstreak!! You had follow twitter or Facebook and wait for updates! Of course it sounds like actually being there wasn't all rainbows either because you weren't allowed to keep foul balls or homerun balls either! Apparently they had people standing around who would come collect the ball from you. They took balls from little kids!! There were apparently other absurd rules as well and the people on the crew were apparently nasty as well! The media was not allowed to do any on field interviews and there many other crazy rules that have never been there before! Pride won their game 4-0 and things seemed to be going well in that regard.

Fourth night we had Pointstreak thank God! It wasn't great but it was certainly better than nothing! Pride started out well jumping out to a 6-1 lead in the first couple of innings and then eventually(sorry don't remember what inning and or how it happened too much crap has happened since then) the Racers scored again and it was 6-2. Racers switched pitchers and things settled down. I was feeling really good about things! Danielle Lawrie pitched and pitched well. It wasn't her best game but up until the 6th inning she pitched well. In the 6th inning the bottom fell out. I don't remember what happened but I know combined Danielle and Cat gave up 6 runs in that inning to put the Pride behind 8-6! The defense had 2 errors in that inning as well(3 errors in total over the whole game). They scored another run but couldn't make the come back and we were heading into a game 3 that nobody wanted. That night after the roller coaster that game was, I was thinking things couldn't possibly get worse! I can in all honesty say now, I had no way of knowing how much worse things would get!

Fifth day Pride and Racers were set to square off again at 11. Cat Osterman started and the Racers jumped all over her from the start. She didn't even make it out of the first inning giving up 5 runs and being pulled in favor of Sarah Pauly. Sarah pitched very well and I was very proud of her and lead by Jessica Mendoza with a grand slam and a 3  run HR the Pride came back to win 9-7 to advance to the "final"(again use this term lightly because nothing about this Championship Series was final). They played the Bandits that night and it was a pretty good game. Monica Abbott and Cat Osterman in their typical pitching dual. Cat bounced back extremely well from the morning game but the Pride lost 2-1. The offense just never got going, despite having several baserunners. But the beauty of the Championship Series is it's all best of 3 series! So the Pride still had chance.....or so everyone thought.

So oddly enough I hadn't even looked at a weather report for Chicago for this weekend. That's odd for me because I almost always looked at the weather report for wherever the Pride was going to be playing. I got home from church a little after 12 and got on Facebook and Twitter right away and started seeing several post and tweets about rain in Chicago. So I found a couple of good radars and looked at the report on the Weather Channel's website and it didn't look good. I'm thinking well if they can't play today surely they'll reschedule for tomorrow. So about 30-45 minutes after I got home they decide to delay the game from 2:30 to 3:30 and the not long after that the decision is made to move the game to 6 when the if necessary game was supposed to be played and it was going to be played live on ESPN2. I'm watching the radar thinking this rain is not going to let up, in fact it looks like it's going to get heavier. But they seem determined the game is going to start at 6. So 6 rolls around and I turn it over to ESPN2 and find out Sarah Pauly is pitching I'm pretty excited! But the field was in horrible shape. No doubt about that and I won't argue that fact! The field was just awful. They did the starting lineups and all of that jazz. The Pride was the visiting team and Natasha Watley was the lead off hitter. She had a pretty long at bat and grounded out. After her at bat they got the ladies off the field for a rain delay. I would have never guessed the events that would take place after that. So I'm thinking there is no way this game will be played tonight, they'll post pone and play tomorrow. About an hour after the rain delay starts I start seeing tweets that they've cancelled the game and it won't be made up. So I'm thinking does that mean they'll go ahead and give it to the Bandits or will no one get it or what? Eventually it is announced both through the Pride and Bandits Facebook and Twitter pages and the announcers on ESPN that the game has been cancelled, it won't be made up, and there will be no champion! The NPF never has made an official announcement. They also did not refund the tickets of the people who actually went to the game!  They haven't even really explained it to the players and coaches! They made the decision and then took off!! I know the NPF has no control over the rain but they do have control over how these things are scheduled! Scheduling a tournament with no plan for an event like this is stupid! Why not schedule an extra day maybe even 2 in case of rain or other problems? The ladies were willing to change their flights so they could play on Monday but it just wasn't going to happen. Nobody seems to know what the hell happened. But what is known is for the first time in the 9 years that the NPF has been around there will be no NPF champion! What is known is there are alot of sad and heartbroken fans who showed up at the field or turned over their TVs to ESPN2 excited to see softball on TV for once but got to see only 1 at bat! But worse than that is that there are two teams full of heartbroken players and coaches! This is not how a professional sports tournament should have been handled! How many times has the World Series been cancelled and there been no World Series champion? Oh that's right, never! It's just not how this was supposed to go.... Hopefully there will be more information about all of this before my next blog and I'll know more about exactly what happened but at this point the coaches and players don't even really know what happened! In my eyes, they are all champions! I'm heartbroken for all of them! This was just so unfair to everyone involved!

On a more positive note the Pride had a wonderful season and they were the regular season champions again! They had several players named to the All-NPF team including two of my favorites, Ashley Charters and Sarah Pauly! Kristyn Sandberg was named rookie of the year and Caitlin Lowe was player of the year! I hope eventually we can all find away to forget about how this ended and just remember the great season both the Pride and the Bandits had!

On another sad note, this Championship Series also saw the end of 4 wonderful careers for the Diamonds, atleast 1 Racer, and 1 Bandit. After the Diamonds were knocked out of the tournament by the Bandits Caitlin Lever, Rachel Folden, Katie Burkhart, and Jamie Lobprise left their cleats at home plate signifying the end of their beautiful careers! Caitlin retired after last year from the Bandits but couldn't stay and ended up playing a season with the Diamonds. However I think this really might be it for her. She had other things going that kept her from playing a big chunk of the 2nd half of the season. But I wish all 4 of them the best and thank them all for what they did for the NPF and softball! The Racers will be losing Nicole Trimboli who   had been with the NPF longer than anybody else! The Bandits will be saying good by to Shannon Dopeking as well! I wish nothing but the best for all these players! Thank you ladies for all you did!

I don't have anything else right now! So I'll just say that I am incredibly proud of the Pride ladies and the job they did this season! It was a wonderful season filled with lots of wonderful feelings! I hope one day they will play close enough to me that I can see them play and hug their necks! I admire and respect them so much!! Good luck and safe travels to all the ladies headed to Japan!

Go Pride! Go Shokki! Go Huskies! Boomer Sooner! RTR Go Bama! FTG!!

What a ride!

Well the NPF regular season is officially over. It was a wonderful season for all 4 teams! Now the important stuff begins, the NPF Championship series! I'm excited but yet sad! I'm sad to see the season ending! It was such a fun season! Alot of people choose to to harp on all the negatives about the NPF but as you guys well know that isn't me. It's far from perfect, but right now it's all we got. Rome wasn't built in a day and this is going to take time! I am very thankful for this league! I'm thankful for the opportunity to get to keep watching my favorite  players play the sport they love! So I just want to send a big thank you to Cheri Kempf, the owners of all 4 teams, the coaches, the trainers, the people who run the cameras and do all that stuff to make sure we have access to the lives stream for those of us who are too far away to watch in person, the announcers(they annoy me sometimes but for the most part they all do a good job lol), and most importantly these women who give up so much and put all they have into this sport we all love so much! They are making huge sacrifices and we should always remember that! Thank you to all involved in making this an amazing NPF season!

One thing that I truly love about this league is the wide variety of athletes you get to see play and get to know! This is my 3rd season to follow the NPF and the Pride and it seems like every season there is a different player that I find myself thinking man I didn't know much about her when this season started but I now I know alot more and I really like and respect her so much! It's not always a Pride player because lets face it most of them are pretty well known. Last year for instance I think there was two of them, both Racers. Kelley Montolvo and Kristina Thorson! I knew some about Kristina being that she went to Cal but not a whole lot and I didn't know much of anything about Kelley. This year though oddly enough it was a Pride player. It was a Pride player that I'll be very honest here I over looked. In 2010, I didn't even really notice her that much because I couldn't watch those games. I could only follow them via Pointstreak(which is slightly better than Gametracker but I still believe from the devil LOL). In 2011, I obviously was able to watch her and really didn't think much of her either way. I respected her because I respect all of these women. But I honestly just saw her as another pitcher and didn't really notice her. In 2012, something changed and I don't know what it was but I think for the first time I truly saw Sarah Pauly. Sarah is a great pitcher! She has some issues with keeping her foot down at times but she has the mental toughness to not let that bother her. She is tough. All pitchers are tough but the thing I noticed about her is so little effects her and her ability to do her job well. All through the season things were thrown at her right and left but it never phased her. She is like a stonewall out there. You can't tell what she is thinking and nothing effects her! I kind of thought from watching her on the field that she might be a kind of cold. But in talking to her on Twitter, I've realized that isn't the case at all. She has always been very sweet to me and seems to be very down to earth! I've really enjoyed talking to her and getting to know her! I'll certainly never over look Sarah Pauly again! Thanks Sarah for all you do for this sport and always being so sweet, humble, and grateful!! You truly are a beautiful person inside and out and in my mind one of best pitchers in the world! Softball is lucky to have you!

This last series for the Pride was great! The first night was as usual Cat Osterman in the circle! She pitched a very good game! The offense was rolling and the Pride walked away with 8-0! Sarah Pauly pitched the 2nd game and it won't go down as her best game but she stayed tough and got the job done. Pride  won 5-4. The next night Danielle Lawrie was in the circle and she pitched very very well needing only 98 pitches and less than 2 hours to defeat the Racers 5-0. Yesterdays game was the last game of the regular season! Brittany Mack in the circle. Jenn Salling got to start at SS and Niki Williams actually got to start as the DP! Brittany had a very good 1st and 2nd inning but in the 3rd lost a little of her control. She walked the bases loaded and then mother nature stepped in and they ended up in a rain delay. She came back from the rain delay and settled back in getting out of the inning without giving up a run! Overall she pitched very well! I don't remember what inning it was in but the highlight of the entire game for me was a double play turned by Jenn Salling, Lauren Lappin and Charlotte Morgan! Whoever was at bat ripped one up the middle over the 2nd base bag Jenn somehow made a stumbling bare handed grab tossed it to Lauren, who caught it bare handed, stepped on the bag 2nd base bag, and threw it to Charlotte at 1st to complete the double play and end the inning! It was an incredible play! Jenn had a great game and I think she showed everyone what she is capable of with that play! I hope the ones who needed more proof were watching! Caitlin Lowe made another incredible grab in center field as well, I'm still trying to figure out how she got there to make that play lol! She was also 3 for 4 with 2 doubles and a single! She is my vote for MVP! She gets it done with her bat and in the field nearly every time!  Niki was 0 for 2 with a sac bunt and 2 strikeouts! But I am so proud of her! She has been crazy patient this season and done so much better than what I would have lol! I hope in the future she is given a chance to shine because as anybody who watched that girl in college knows, she can shine! She is a phenomenal athlete and softball player, a phenomenal leader, and an equally phenomenal person! I really want to see her get a chance!  Pride ended the season with a sweep and their pitching staff continues to dominate! 

Well I'll be back after the championship series hopefully to tell you that the Pride are champions! It should be interesting though! Good luck to the Pride girls! Finish strong!!

Let's go Pride! Go Huskies! Boomer Sooner! RTR Go Bama! Go Shokki! FTG!

Where has the Summer gone?(plus much more lol)

Well tonight is the first game of the last regular season series for the Pride and the Racers. Bandits/Diamonds started their series last night with a Diamonds win. It is so unreal to me that the season is almost over. This summer and this season flew by! It makes me sad that it's almost over! It's been a great season for the Pride both on and off the field. I hope they can finish it up with a championship!

I missed last weekends series against the Diamonds because I was on vacation. But they swept them!  Cat Osterman, Sarah Pauly, and Danielle Lawrie all turned in great pitching performances! Brittany Mack struggled a little and ended up being taken out and Cat finished the game. Francesca Enea had a big weekend with her bat! Really though the offense was very solid all weekend. The only pitcher the Diamonds have that gives the Pride any problems is Katie Burkhart and they still managed to beat her! The Pride played the Racers the weekend before last and took 3 of 4 games. Again Cat, Sarah, and Danielle turned in great performances. Brittany had a rough start and the defense behind her was not very good. Jenn Salling actually got the start at SS that game(she also got a start last weekend and did an excellent job both in the field and with her bat) and she looked kind of rusty but her bat was hot! She went 2 for 3 in the game and looked really good. She did make some great defensive plays that game and it was fantastic to see her out there! But the Pride fell just a little short in that game with the offense struggling to figure out Hillary Bach. Overall though it's been a very strong last few weeks for the Pride. I feel really good about this team and their chances of winning it all! Obviously this the NPF and the best of the best so you never know whats going to happen but I feel good about this team.

You can never count the Bandits out. They have some incredible hitters in their lineup who can get hot at any time and really punish you! They also have Monica Abbott! Abbott was very dominate the first half of the season but has been a little less dominate the second half. But I know with everything on the line she'll be in the circle every game and she is going to give everything she has. Bandits have very little pitching behind her. They have a large pitching staff but no clear cut number 2. Nemitz is the closest thing but she can be inconsistent at times. The others are mostly rookies who have struggled to find their feet this season. I don't believe any of them except for maybe an inning or two here or there for Nemitz will be a factor next week in the championship series. They rested Abbott alot this season and she should be fairly fresh and ready to go. I look for the Bandits to again be the Pride's top competition.

The Diamonds have looked stellar at times and then have looked like a hot mess at times. Their pitching is led by Katie Burkhart and they too don't really have a strong number 2 behind her. This is a very young team, a team that has struggled to hold on to players for more than season. But they've improved so much since last season! It's been interesting to watch and should be interesting to see what they do in the championship series. Their offense is pretty good and they will get back the incredible outfield play, big consistent bat, strong leadership of Caitlin Lever for the championship series(Caitlin took a new job at UNLV and has been getting settled in there the last couple of weeks). That will be big for the Diamonds I think.

The Racers are frankly a mess right now. In seasons past their ace has been Kristina Thorson. She has always been a very strong pitcher and been huge for the Racers as not only a great pitcher but leader. Sadly a series of injuries have kept her largely off the field the 2nd half of the season. I don't believe she was 100% at any point in the season but she has battled  her heart out. What she has pitched, she has been pretty ineffective. I felt really bad for her the weekend before last because she was in obvious discomfort. She has struggled with a hip injury and now seems to be having an issue with her pitching arm. The pitching behind her is pretty weak. Hillary Bach has had a couple of good games but she has also had a couple of nasty games as well. She is a rookie still trying to get her feet under her. Lisa Norris is a veteran but has not had a very good season either. During the middle of the season they signed UGA grad Erin Arevalo who has frankly struggled with the transition to pro ball. She has not so far been the help they were looking for. This team is struggling to find a number 1 pitcher let alone a number 2. The Racers offense is pretty good but their lack of pitching is really going to hurt them I'm afraid.

The Pride have a very deep pitching rotation with 3 of the best pitchers in the world in Cat Osterman, Sarah Pauly, and Danielle Lawrie. They are all 3 veterans who have played all over the place including Japan. Cat is certainly the ace but Sarah and Danielle are both extremely good pitchers themselves who have racked in the innings, wins, and strikeouts all season. Pride without a doubt have the best pitching staff in the league. I don't just say that as a totally biased fan but the stats back that up. The offense for Pride has been strong. Maybe not as strong as last season but strong and consistent. Kristyn Sandberg has had a stellar rookie season and if she isn't rookie of the year there is something very wrong! Kelly Kretchman on the other end of the spectrum has had a very strong season as well! This team works well together and they get the job done! Their chemistry is incredible! I look forward to watching them next week in the championship series and I hope and pray they come of it with the championship!

Graham Hays wrote a very good article on Cat Osterman and Megan Willis(I'll post the link at the bottom for those who haven't read it). There wasn't much in there that I didn't already know but it was a still a great read and a great reminder that softball is supposed to be fun and the best part is the bonds and friendships you form. But this article and an article I read about the Pride/Diamonds series got me thinking about something. In the article I read about the series between the Pride and the Diamonds it said the Pride has 7 Olympians and it made my blood boil! Why you may ask? Because the Pride has 9 Olympians! I've noticed people doing this alot and it bugs me! They don't say that the Pride has 7 American Olympians or 7 Olympic medalist. They say the Pride has 7 Olympians. So in case you didn't see my Facebook post here goes my rant again. The Pride has 9 Olympians. Danielle Lawrie and Jenn Salling played for Canada in 08 in Beijing in the Olympics! They weren't just there, they were a huge part of the Canadian team! Eerily similar to Worlds this summer they fell just short of being on the podium placing 4th after losing to the Aussies(The order the first 4 teams finished in Beijing in the Olympics in 08 and the order they finished in Canada in Worlds this summer was identical!). But regardless they were there. They both red shirted and spent the year training and getting ready for the Olympics just like the Americans did. They played their hearts out just like the Americans did. They felt the sting of defeat and the heartbreak of coming up just short just like the Americans did. They deal with the heartbreak of not being able to to try again and the heartbreak of knowing their last Olympic memories will likely forever be defeat just like the Americans. We as Americans get very bad tunnel vision. We only see the American athletes, we only hear their stories and we only feel the need to acknowledge the Americans as Olympians. Like it or not(and I know that many will disagree with me in this and that's fine) part of the reason softball was on outside looking in at the Olympics in London was because of this. I'll go ahead and tell you I am about to be blunt and honest and some of you are not going appreciate it but it needs to be said. I've read article after article after article after article with interviews with Jessica Mendoza, Cat Osterman, and few other American softball players. I've read the belly aching over what they've lost without having the Olympics and don't get me wrong they have lost alot and I know it hurts very much for them and I am in no way trying to say that isn't the case. I think part of  the reason that softball was kicked out of the Olympics was not just that the Americans were so dominate but that the sport revolves too much around the Americans and that isn't what the Olympics is about. Instead of 15,000 articles about what Jessica Mendoza, Cat Osterman, Natasha Watley, Caitlin Lowe, and so on lost when softball was taken out of the Olympics I'd like to see more stories about these other countries and the women on their teams and what they lost. I'd love to hear what Danielle Lawrie and Jenn Salling felt, thought,and their memories of their time on the Olympic stage. I'd like to hear from Stacy Porter and what it felt like to represent Australia in the Olympics. I'd love to hear about Yukiko Ueno's experience and what it felt like to beat the Americans and win gold! There are so many stories out there that aren't being told! The American's really are very lucky. They have companies who are willing to sponsor them. They have the NPF to play in. They have media who want to hear what they have to say. Don't get me wrong Danielle Lawrie, Jenn Salling, and Caitlin Lever have been blessed with some of that as well. But I've never seen an interview with any of the 3 of them where their Olympic experience is discussed. They go largely unnoticed in the grand scheme of things. But they are more lucky than other countries where the loss of the Olympics has really hurt the sport and their ability to play. My opinion if we really want to get this sport back in the Olympics it's time to shut the spot light off the Americans for awhile and tell the stories of these other women. It's time that people start promoting this sport in other countries and working to grow the sport in these other countries. I will honestly be very very surprised if softball is put back in 2020 at this point. We've wasted so much time belly aching about what the Americans lost and so little time doing anything about it! Somewhere along the way this became about what the Americans have lost and not about what softball has lost. That isn't right and that won't get the sport back in the Olympics. The IOC knows that softball is big here in America. They know that the vast majority of the big name players come out of America. They don't need to be told that or see that. They need to see other countries working to grow softball and international softball becoming more about all the countries involved and not just the USA. If international softball is going to survive, we've got to see more international softball discussed and less American softball.   I seriously thought about tweeting Graham Hays and asking him to interview Danielle Lawrie and Jenn Salling about their relationship and more importantly their Olympic experience and still might(although I'm having trouble doing so in 140 characters lol!). I think it's time we heard their stories and see things through the eyes of a non-American softball players eyes. So if you think this is a good idea maybe you can tweet him or get in contact with him somehow and let him know it too! He always does such amazing job and is such a gifted writer!

Here is the article about Cat Osterman and Megan Willis!
http://espn.go.com/espnw/more-sports/8269131/espnw-megan-willis-more-cat-osterman-catcher

Well sorry this was so long lol! If you read this whole thing thank you! The NPF championship games will be on ESPN2!! So please tune it to watch it!!

Well thank God for you that is all I have for now lol! Go Pride, Go Shokki(girls will be heading back to Japan very soon so I thought I'd start throwing that back in there lol), Go Huskies, Boomer Sooner, RTR Go Bama, and FTG!!