Week 3!

This week was the Cathedral City Classic! This weekend has to be one of my favorite of the year! I don't actually get to watch the games but there are some many great games to follow and this where you really get to see what your team is made of. Both UW and OU played there. Bama stayed at home. I'll tell you right now this is going to be mostly about the Huskies lol! This was the week of the Huskies!

Let me start off by saying when I saw the schedule they had set up for this weekend I was very nervous about how this would go. In my opinion, they had the hardest schedule at this tournament! I honestly in my own mind thought what is Coach Tarr thinking. Well I would just like to take this moment and say that Coach Tarr and her team yet again proved why she is the coach and I am not lol! She knew exactly what she was doing. 2 weeks of playing easy teams and 2 weeks of not really knowing what the Huskies had. And then unleash the beast! They started off the weekend with Florida. Kaitlin Inglesby got the start in the circle. I'll be straight up honest here I didn't really think UW would win this game. Florida has been hot hot hot so far. But they proved me flat wrong! They took the lead in the first 1-0. That held until the 3rd when Florida scored 2 runs. From there Kaitlin settled down and shut down Floridas offense and the Husky offense took off scoring 4 unanswered to knock off the number 1 team 5-2! Friday they started the day with Texas A&M. Again the early part of the game was close but the offense came alive in the 4th and stayed hot. They knocked off Texas A&M 8-2! The Huskies had about 15 or 20 minutes to get a drink and regroup and get back on the field for Georgia. This was another game I was worried about. Kasey Stanchek got the start in the circle for the Huskies. I had been really impressed with her in the weeks before but this was a different type of offense. She struggled early the first 3 innings giving up 3 hits(all 3 were homeruns) and 5 runs. But she settled down after that and threw 4 scoreless innings and struck out 8! She stopped the bleeding in time for the Huskies to come from behind in the 7th scoring 3 runs and knocking yet another SEC powerhouse 7-5! Yesterday they took on Mizzou. Bryanna Walker got the start in the circle. She struggled a little early on but settled down and pitched an amazing game. However the offense never figured out Chelsea Thomas and they were no hit and lost the game 2-0! It sucks to lose but at that point there was so much positive that you couldn't dwell on the loss too long. Kimi Pohlman was inolved in a collision at 1st and got banged up pretty good. She was pulled from the game and didn't play today either. Today the Huskies faced Nebraska. They seemed a little slow and sluggish from what I could tell with the Gametracker. The infield had some hiccups in the first inning and it just seemed to throw everybody off. 2 errors scored 2 runs for Nebraska. But after that everyone seemed to settle in. The offense was again a little sluggish despite a really lousy game by the Nebraska pitcher. Kaitlin gave up a HR in the 6th but the Huskies worked a couple of walks got a couple of hits and added 2 runs to secure the win. 6-3 over Nebraska to end a beautiful weekend!

The Huskies threw 3 different pitchers this weekend and all 3 pitched very very well! Coach Glascoe and Coach Ball are doing an amazing job with them! The offense....oh my goodness that offense! They struggled with Chelsea Thomas but for the most part they were unstoppable this weekend. The ace for Georgia was no match and ended up being pulled eventually for another one of their pitchers. They faced Florida's freshman who most people think is the top pitcher in this freshman class and knocked her around pretty good as well. For the most part the defense was solid(there were a couple of errors) and I can only see that getting better. Afterall the Huskies are doing this with an all freshman and sophmore infield with the exception of Junior catcher Shawna Wright and an all freshman and sophmore pitching staff! This team really opened some eyes this weekend(mine included)! They put on a show and I could not be more proud or more happy for this team! I've spoken before of the deep respect and admiration I have for Coach Tarr but it only grew this weekend. I truly believe she is one of the best to ever coach the game! This team is full of talent, they have amazing chemistry, they are confident, they never ever give up and they are very well coached! I so look forward to the rest of this season and can't wait to see what it holds for them!!

OU on the other hand frankly had a miserable weekend. They never really go their feet underneath them. They dropped both of the games they played agaisnt ranked teams including a struggling Stanford team. They are having trouble finding their offense when they go up agaisnt good pitching. It just flat hasn't been there. I'm not giving up on this team yet but they have some serious work to do!

Bama had a nice weekend and remain undefeated. However I feel like because of their weak schedule we still don't know much about them. We'll just have to wait and see what the future holds I guess!

I heard a few hours ago about Whitney Canion for Baylor tearing her ACL and I just wanted to say that I wish her a speedy recovery and I am thinking and praying for her!

Well that is all I have for now! Go Huskies! Boomer Sooner! RTR! Go Bama! Fear the Goat!!

Week 2!

Another weekend of softball is done! It was a good weekend,not quite as interesting as last week but still good!

UW had a great weekend! They started off a little sluggish with a 1-0 win in 10 innings. BUT Kaitlin Inglesby pitched a heck of a game that night to keep the other team off the board until the offense could get it together! The rest of the weekend was great! They won every game and played very solid ball. Kasey Stanchek had an amazing weekend and had it been up to me she would have been Pac-12 pitcher of the week but obviously it wasn't my decision to make lol! She is going to be a beautiful addition to this team! The real test for this team though is this weekend. I don't know who set up their schedule at Palm Springs but they were feeling pretty confident. They start off the weekend with number 1 Florida! It should be very interesting and I don't know if they are in a place to knock of the number 1 team but I guess we'll see lol!

The two big upsets this weekend were Stanford(again) and Mizzou! I think Stanford is serious serious trouble! I think Mizzou's lost I think was more just from being rusty. They didn't play the first weekend of competition. Most of the big name teams did play the first weekend and I wonder how that is going to effect them. I guess we will have to wait and see!

Today I watched the USSSA Pride take on Cal State Northride! The USSSA Pride girls looked great! Something about this game just let me feeling breathless and giddy almost! I know that sounds odd but I'll try to explain it. Danielle Lawrie pitched a gem of a game! She put on a pitching clinic! She was in her zone and as anybody who has spent any time watching her pitch knows when she is in her zone it is something to watch! I've watched softball for a long time and seen alot of pitchers I loved to watch but I never had one who captavaited me like Danielle did the first time I watched her! She can use speed to get you and throw the ball right past your or she can use movement. She paints the corners like no other pitcher I've seen and today she was doing just that. I saw her strike out hitters using her power and speed and then I saw her strike out pitchers using movement. She was incredible today and with the exception of one pitch that got away from her was perfect. I also saw Jenn Salling hitting very well! In fact, with another of my favorite Huskies(Ashley Charters) on first she hit a beautfiul 2 run HR that I knew was gone the minute it left her bat. Natasha Watley and Francesca Enea also hit gorgeous homeruns! But it was more than just the game that made this beautiful. Watching this group of girls interact is always a treat! You would be hard pressed to find a group of girls who loves and supports each other more than that group of girls! They know each other, they understand each other, they care about each other, and they work super well together! It wasn't 9 indivdual girls out there, it was a unit! They played as one! Crazy think is they only met up yesterday! This is the first they've played together just the Pride since August! They truly showed why they are professionals today! They made the NPF look amazing today! I was very happy for and proud for these ladies! I wish all the best to the Cal State Northridge! It's been a rough start for them but they've got an amazing coach and will be fine!

Well I can't think of anything else to add right now!

Let's go Huskies! Boomer Sooner! RTR Go Bama!! Go St.Edwards! FTG!

Thoughts after the first weekend!

The first weekend of college softball is officially over! It was an interesting weekend to say the least lol! So here are just a few thoughts of mine after the first weekend!

First off Washington! The Huskies went 5-0 this weekend! They had a fantastic weekend and we saw the freshman stepping up as well as the upper classmen! One thing that made me smile is the return of Hooch Fagaly!! She had a nice weekend! Really all the girls did! Kaitlin Inglesby picked up where she left off both in the circle and with her bat! She hit a homerun at very first at bat of the season! All around I think it was a wonderful opening weekend for the Huskies and they have so much to be proud of!!

Bama and OU also both had great opening weekends and won all of their games! Proud of those ladies as well!!

Now for some teams I was surprised by some good and some bad!

Arizona: I really hoped this was the season they would put it all together. I really hoped all the changes they made would make a difference. But this opening weekend didn't show that. As I discussed in a previous blog I'd heard for the last couple of months that both Shelby Babcock and Kenzie Fowler were 100% and looking good. I had my doubts as I stated also in my previous blog and it turns out my doubts were warranted. Kenzie is not 100%! Kenzie now has an issue with her back. She didn't pitch as much as I thought she would have what little she did pitch she was not successful. That is the issue with Kenzie. There is no lack of talent or lack of heart. Her body has just been abused way too much. She'll never be the college pitcher she could be and I think her chances at this point of being drafted to play with the NPF are pretty slim and even if she was she wouldn't have a long successful career. She is constantly hurt. I also think her pitching motion is harder on her body than a traditional pitching motion, especially on her back. I'm not really sure what the answer for Kenzie is but obviously what they have done so far isn't working. Shelby is still doing the same old things. She needs somebody to work with her every day over and over on her control. They need her to be able to carry some of the weight of the team and right now she just simply isn't getting it done. She walks way too many batters and then starts throwing way too many sweet pitches. She needs to figure out where to place her pitches and do it consistently. I think Arizona is in trouble and unless things improve a whole lot, they'll be lucky to make it to regionals. They have to Kenzie well and in order to do that Shelby has got to do her job, I just don't see either thing happening.

ASU:
I honestly thought this would be basically the same team from last year...it doesn't appear to be. Escobedo is struggling. I was shocked to see them drop 2 games this weekend! I think they need to remember that just because they are the defending NC team, doesn't mean these other teams are just going to fall down and let them win. Repeating is next to impossible and I don't think ASU is looking like the team right now to do so. I'm not saying that can't or won't change. But if this is the team that is going to play all season they are in for a rude awakening. They depend on Dallas too much. She threw 130 pitches in just the first 5 innings in their loss to Tennessee! You can't ask a pitcher to throw as much as they are asking Dallas to pitch and not expect there to be fatigue. She is going to be worn out by the end of this season. Not just because of this season but because of what she did last season on top of this season. They need Bach to step it up and be the senior leader they need her to be all the time, not just once in awhile. She needs to be able to take her share of the innings and get the job done. She has done a poor job of that the last 3 seasons and they need her to step it up.

Cal- WOW they are every bit as good as I thought they would be plus! In my mind they are without a doubt the number 1 team in the nation and my favorite right now to win it all in June! This is a group of extremely talented, well coached, and just all around amazing young ladies! I am interested to see what they do this season!

UGA- Although they dropped their game today, they seem to have put together a nice team! You won't hear me compliment a UGA team often lol. But they performed very well this weekend and they have found a strong leader in Razey! I think in the end their pitching is still going to be a problem but who knows lol.

This weekend also saw 2 other favorites drop game in Stanford(1 game) and Oregon(2 games). Should be interesting to see how they learn from these losses and bounce back!

Overall alot of good softball and alot of interesting games! Can't wait until next weekend and then the next weekend is the big Cathedral City Classic! Not only is this going to bring together most of the big names schools, there will also be some games with the USSSA Pride! Should be a great weekend and I would LOVE to be there but just too far and I am too broke haha! So I guess I will just follow from home lol! I will be back with thoughts after next weekend!

Go Huskies! Boomer Sooner! RTR Go Bama! And a new one go St. Edwards FTG! That is the school Cat Osterman is coaching at so I have to root for them!

Stop the madness!

Let me start off by saying this blog won't be entirely about softball but it will tie into it.

So as alot of you probably already know the WPS suspended their 2012 season. I've spent the last two days reading blogs and articles about this and trying to process all of this. My heart is just so...broken. This is just such a huge mess and it doesn't seem anybody knows the whole story. I fear we've seen our last WPS games. One thing I have figured it out is this all goes back to one man. The former owner of MagicJack. What the WPS didn't realize or understand is he had the power to bring the whole thing down and he knew it. He knew better than anybody. The man is obviously a creep who really has no love or passion for soccer. He saw this as a way to make some money and that is all he wanted. So when they suspended his ownership rights, there should have been no doubt what the was going to do. Unfortunately this guys is smart and he knew the WPS didn't have the funds to sustain a long court battle and continue their regular business. So what does he do? He files a lawsuit. The problems go much deeper than this though. The root problem is the same problem the NPF has, a sever lack of funding. There is so little support out there for women's sports! It amazes me that so many other countries can put together professional women's league and have so much success but here in the country where we produce so many of the top athletes in these sports we can't! We've already seen 1 big professional soccer league collapse and 1 professional softball league collapse as well. Now we have 1 professional soccer league that looks to be toast and 1 professional softball league that is barley hanging on. The hard part is, I don't know what the answer is.

I believe these women should have the right to play the sport they love and make a living do it, just like their male counter parts do! I believe young girls should be able to dream about playing professionally! Yet we are no better off than we were in 10 or even 20 years ago. Women still have to fight 10x as hard as men do to be noticed. Their game is still viewed as a watered down mild version and not what it really is.

In the short term there are positive things for the USWNT when it comes to not having a WPS season. In the long run, this is devastating. Softball is finding out the hard way the international game can't carry and grow this sport alone. Not everybody will be on the national team. Only a few women can makes those teams but there is so much more talent(in both sports) out there! That is why we need professional teams! We need strong professional teams. Professional teams that are strong enough to withstand these kind of things. This man came in caused fighting, abused the system, and when the WPS tried to act he used his power for bad and single handily brought the WPS down.

These leagues have got to learn from this. They have to learn to be more careful who they let own teams and they need to be very familiar with their rules and make sure everyone follows them to a T! That is part of what got the WPS in trouble they didn't follow their own rules when it came to suspending the ownership rights of a person and because of that they got sued. They have to learn to get along with one another. Fighting and making enemies never fixes anything. That is the big problem in softball right now. You have the NPF and you have the USWNT. I've touched on this before but both sides refuse to budge. Instead of coming together and working together they are trying to do this separately. I'd like to ask them both how is that working for ya? How much could they gain by working together??

This was just some thoughts on what is going on and I might have more to say later. But for now I just want to say I am heartbroken! I am heartbroken for the women who play in this league! They've given so much of themselves to this sport and they deserve a chance to play professionally and to be able to make a living doing so! I hope this fixed and they are able to have the 2013 season but I am not holding my breath!

Softball season is just around the corner!

The title says it all! We are just under a month away from the start of the 2012 college softball season! I'm so excited!! I think it's going to be a great season!! I laid awake for most of the night last night because I was wide awake. As I laid there I began to think about the upcoming softball season and decided it was time I do a blog and get my opinions out there. Going to do things a little different this season! But I hope you find it interesting!

Pac-12

I think the top 2 teams this season with Cal and ASU. Cal returns basically their whole team plus they get Valerie Arioto back. They are going to be hard to beat! ASU is going to be good but I don't know if they will be better than Cal. They of course will still have Dallas Escobedo but what won the WCWS in my opinion was not her. She struggled in the championship games and showed some weaknesses. The offense for ASU is what won the WCWS. It should be interesting how they do this year. I think next in line will be Oregon. They have a very strong roster this year and I think will have a great season. I think next will be Stanford. Then things get a little less clear. I think Washington, UCLA, and Arizona will be in this area but I'm not sure at this point what order. Washington is young, really young. There are alot of unknowns with this team. What is known? They bring back Kaitlin Inglesby. She had a wonderful freshman season both in the circle and even more so with her bat. She was a HUGE part of the powerful husky offense last season! I can only see things going up for her! Taylor Smith and Niki Williams both had back surgery last Spring/Summer. My hope is they both will be relieved of their pain and both be able to play all season and play better than they have in the past! Kimi Pohlman will be back and I expect she will have a huge senior season! I also look forward to seeing Victoria Hayward! She played with both the junior and senior Canadian teams over the last few months and has played very very well! I hope to see that all carry over to her season with the huskies! Hooch Fagaly will be back! Getting Fagaly back at first will be huge! Niki Williams did great but Hooch Fagaly is a much more natural first baseman than Niki is. Her bat will be huge as well! Arizona spent the offseason cleaning house. Time will only tell if the changes they made will be enough to fix their problems from last season. Everything I have heard has said Kenzie Fowler and Shelby Babcock are both 100% but that is what was said before last season as well and I personally don't think Kenzie Fowler was 100% at any point of last season. Her and Shelby both have to throw more strikes and walk less batters. Walks killed them last season! I'm not sure what to think about UCLA yet. We'll just have to wait and see! Sorry to all the Oregon State fans but I think it will be more of the same for them. I see no reason to think things will improve.

Big 12

This will be another close season for this conference. They've got some strong pitchers in this conference. OU brings back Keilani Ricketts(they also add another left handed pitcher from Australia that I think will be very good!). UT brings back Blair Luna. Mizzou brings back Chelsea Thomas. Baylor brings back Whitney Canion. Big 12 softball is definitely more about the pitching and less about offense. I think this conference finishes like this. I think OU, UT, Mizzou, Baylor, OSU, A&M, and Tech(seems like I'm missing somebody...hm lol). But really I think those first 4 could go in any order. Should be a good season for the Big 12 conference.

SEC

I think this will be a down year for the SEC teams. I look for Georgia to fall off the map atleast for this season. This will be a totally different team then we've seen the last 4 years. All the players that made Georgia softball well known are gone now. This a very young team and with the poor coaching they have in place at Georgia it's going to take awhile for them get back to where they were if they ever do. They had in my honest opinion the most talented team in the whole country last season. But again the coaching let them down. If you want further opinions from me on Georgia and their coaching just look back at previous blogs lol! Bama is in good hands with Jackie Traina. But I think it will take her a season to figure out this new role. They'll win a few games and do pretty well but this will not be the Bama team we are used to. I'm not sure what to think of Florida right now. They bring in a strong freshman class but we'll just have to see how that plays out. Tennessee is going to be at the top of this conference I believe. They bring back both Ivy and Ellen Renefroe and have a well established and experienced team. As for the other teams I think they will be about in the same place they were last year. But who knows one of them could surprise me!

There are some conferences that might throw out some good teams but those are the 3 main ones. I might come back to those later but right now I'm going to call this good!

What baseball can learn from softball!

                Hey guys! I’ve been thinking about my last blog a lot and decided I wanted to elaborate more on it! A lot of people look at softball as being the watered down girl version of baseball. I’ve actually had people tell me that! I can’t help but wonder if these people have ever actually sat down and watched softball lol! Softball and baseball are two different sports. They share some common grounds but they have several key differences. So I am going to discuss some of them and also some of the common things about them.

                I’ll start with the things they have in common. Obviously the object of both games is the same. Get on base and score runs by getting a hit, being walked, or hit by a pitch. The basic rules are the same. The number of people on the field and their titles are the same. That is pretty much the extent of the similarities lol.

                Now for the differences, first off for the obvious ones. The softball is much larger than the baseball. The way the ball is pitched is totally different. In baseball the ball is thrown over hand and goes from high to low. In softball the ball is thrown under hand and goes from low to high. It has been proven time and time again that despite popular belief hitting a softball is much harder than hitting a baseball because of the low to high movement and other things. As far as the pitching in baseball the pitcher is on a mound and in softball there is no mound it’s a circle. In softball, you have a pitching rubber and a pitching lane. You have to stay within the pitching lane or it’s an illegal pitch (I’ll discuss that more later). In baseball, they have just the pitching rubber. Softball bats are usually made out of composite or sometimes aluminum. Baseball bats are wooden (and break way too easily in my opinion lol).  In softball the distance between the pitching circle and home plate is 43 ft. In baseball, it’s 60ft 6inches. The distance between bases is shorter. Also in softball the whole infield is dirt. In baseball, only the pitching mount and the base paths are dirt. In softball, a runner who is on base can’t leave the base before the ball leaves the pitchers hand. In baseball, the runner can leave the base at any time. In softball, if the pitchers feet are both off the ground at the same time during their delivery it’s an illegal pitch. If you replant or crow hop it’s an illegal pitch. The closest thing to that in baseball is the balk. A balk the way I understand it (and forgive me if I don’t explain it right, I grew up watching softball not baseball lol) is when the pitcher stops after he has already started his pitching motion, most of the time to check on a runner.

                The bigger differences though are not about equipment, the field, the rules or anything like that. I was thinking earlier that I would love to have been able to watch baseball before the millions of dollars were in play. What I mean by that is, I would love to been able to see baseball played at its beginning when it was new and the passion and love was at its strongest. I’ll be honest I don’t much like to watch baseball.  I especially don’t like to watch professional baseball. I find baseball to be a game played not for the passion or love of the game but for money. The money the players make, the money the owners make, the money the coaches make, and the money the venders make. Honestly I find professional baseball to be boring. I watched the World Series and several of the games leading up to it but the only game that really caught my attention was of course game 6 in the World Series.  I saw more passion in that game then I have any baseball game I’ve ever watched. But even in that, I still didn’t feel like they were going all out. I was very confused by the fact that the Rangers had the World Series in their hands and at times flat didn’t seem to care. Twice they needed 1 strike to win it all and yet they couldn’t get it done. I watched as Nelson Cruz(anybody who knows me IRL knows I’m not a fan of his at all) made a halfhearted attempt at catching what was ultimately a game tying 2 run triple and I thought do they really want to win? It doesn’t much look like it. I knew that night the Rangers weren’t going to win this World Series and sure enough I was right. That game 7 made me sick. The Rangers never even looked like they were trying to win. They went through the motions, lost the game, and flew home to their expensive cars and million dollar homes. For them it’s just a job and another day at the office!

                For softball players there is no million dollar paycheck, in fact they don’t even make a 10^th of that. Most of them have other jobs during the offseason just to pay their bills. They coach, give lessons, do commentating, play in Japan and all kinds of things. For them it’s not just a job or another day in the office. It’s their love and passion! You’ll never see a game where they don’t go all out because that is their pay off. Their pay off is the feeling they have when they make that great catch, strike out that batter, or hit the game winning homerun. Their pay off is in knowing when they walk off the field they have done everything they can to help their team win. They play with a hunger! A hunger that is written all over every diving catch, strike out, double play, 2 out game winning double, and every tear they shed when despite their best efforts it is simply not enough! They run into walls, step in front of sprinting runners, take cleats to their legs, get hit with balls, they play with bruises, pulled muscles, stitches, broken bones, dislocated joints, and everything in-between. They also spend a great deal of time passing this game on and doing everything they can to help it grow. These women are all amazing roles models who spend a huge amount of time with their fans and teaching young girls the game! I think that is what makes this game so much more fun to watch for me. Because I know who those ladies are! I get to follow them on Facebook and Twitter and see the ups and downs of their lives (or at least parts of it). Softball is a game full of emotions! The games are loud and animated! The girls are always yelling and cheering each other on. They are always pumping each other up! You can always tell if the game is going well by the look on their faces! They shed a lot of tears both happy and sad! They respect the game! When they step on the field they aren’t just fighting to win that game, they are fighting for their sport (especially the NPF)! They are fighting to bring in crowds and get noticed! They truly play simply for the love of the game. It’s so pure and beautiful! When you watch a softball game you know you are watching humans, you are watching athletes!

                Baseball over the years as the paychecks have gone up has lost something I think. I love to watch the Little League World Series (wish they show more of the Little League Softball World Series but that is another blog lol). I think that is the purest form of baseball being played right now! They don’t play because they get large sums of money; they play because it is fun and they love the game.  They play with emotion and an extremely strong drive to win! But somewhere along the way that is lost. It’s buried under dollars signs, expensive cars, big houses, and fame! Baseball at the professional level in general in my opinion is an emotionless game. It’s like watching a bunch of robots play a game. As game 7 wrapped up that night I remember watch both teams and thinking what just happened? The Rangers players, coaches, and manager looked really indifferent about losing. The Cardinals did dog pile and show a little more emotion. But when they were interviewing Freese after they announced he was the MVP he seemed like it was more of a hassle than an honor. He just won the World Series, was named MVP, and given the keys to a brand new car and he barley even cracked a smile. He looked bored at times during the interview. I’m by no means saying all the players play with no emotion and don’t care if they win or lose. I’m also not saying softball is perfect! I’m just saying baseball could learn somethings from softball! Some of those big name baseball players, could really get a good lesson from the lesser known softball players like Caitlin Lowe(who would have totally ran into the wall and done everything she could have to catch that ball Nelly Cruz only half way tried to catch! Don’t believe me, search her name on Youtube and there is a video of her doing just that and breaking her nose. She came back and played the next day!), Jessica Mendoza(I’ve seen this woman take out outfield fences, 1^st basemen, and I saw her put a lick on a catcher that made my bones hurt!), Danielle Lawrie (In 2009, she carried her team at the University of Washington on her shoulders and took them on to win the Women’s College World Series. What nobody outside the team knew was she did all of that with a stress fracture in her wrist on her pitching arm that normally would have meant her sitting out the whole season!), Cat Osterman (During worlds in 2010 she went down with arm injury to her pitching arm. A lot of people thought she’d never pitch again. But she proved them all wrong and pitched in Japan for 3 months and for the Pride during the NPF season. Unfortunately her injury reappeared during the championship series at the end of the season and things are again up in the air for her. But if anybody can come back again it’s Cat!), and so many more! I could go on and on! These women don’t just want to win, they hunger for it!  I think baseball needs to get back to its’ roots. Maybe they all need to go watch the Little League World Series or go watch some softball because a lot of them seem to have forgotten what it feels like to truly hunger to win and be on fire for your sport!

                These ladies are truly some of the hardest working people I know! They take care of their bodies and keep in shape better than anybody I know! This game runs so deep for all of them and their passion and love for it, is always on display! But also when their playing days are done no matter how much they’ve done or how great their career was a part of them dies and it is emotional and hard. I remember watching 2008 Olympics and watching those women who were retiring laying their cleans down at homeplate and tears just streaming down my face because there was so much emotion in that one gesture! It was a moment in softball history that I don’t think any true softball fans will forget. It symbolized not just those players leaving the sport but the sport being pushed out the Olympics. It is funny to me though to look back at that and see how many of those women actually came out of retirement! It’s a hard sport to walk away from!

                The main difference in softball and baseball is softball is still fighting to be noticed and fighting to be given a chance. Baseball is established and loved by millions. But softball like every other women’s sport has to do 4 or 5 times as much as men’s sports to get the respect it deserves. I think baseball players need to open their eyes and look around and see how lucky they truly are! Because I know a group of women who work way harder, give up way more, and get back far less than they do! I know a group of women who would love for their sport to have half of what their sport does! If they don’t want to get out there and play game with 100% of their heart, they shouldn’t be out there at all! I think they need a lesson in hard work, passion, and hunger because the baseball I saw played this season was robotic. The baseball I saw in this season left me wondering if the game is so boring to those players why are they out there? Maybe the MLB needs to cut some salaries and bring these guys back to earth. I don’t know but what I saw this season was inexcusable! So to baseball players out there I say come on guys!! Get back to the heart of your sport and remember why you fell in love with it in the first place!

                Alright I am done now lol! Sorry for getting on my soap box! I hope you enjoyed what I had to say! If you have any thoughts feel free to say something!

                I can’t wait for college ball to start in the Spring! OU beat the NPF All Stars last night and something tells me this is the start of something really good for them! Let’s go Dawgs, Boomer Sooner, and RTR Go Bama!!

Baseball just isn't softball!

Hey guys! Obviously I took a break from this blog. I started another blog for non-softball stuff and that has been priority lately! So it’s been almost  2 months since the NPF season ended and I have to be honest I am having major softball withdraws! I just watched the 3 game of the season between the Pride and Bandits from way back in June lol! The Pride lost that game but I enjoyed watching it none the less.

I was struck by a few things. Sarah Pauly pitched in this game for the Pride and Nikki Nemitz for the Bandits. The first time I watched the game Pauly’s performance seemed a lot worse than it did watching it this time. The truth is she pitched a great game. She had 1 inning that hurt her. Nemitz looked great! She is truly a talented pitcher! I know certain people are going to flip out about this next part but frankly I just don’t care lol! I loved watching Jenn Salling in this game and this season in general! I think you would be hard pressed to find a better short stop! She is fast, she thinks so quick on her feet, and she has a cannon for an arm. She (like most softball players) is not afraid to risk her body to try to make a play! She is a natural leader! She is so exciting to watch! I also enjoyed watching Melissa Roth catch Pauly in this game. She doesn’t get the attention that Megan Willis and Lauren Lappin do but she knows what she is doing! I was very impressed with the game she called and the leadership and passion she showed! I also enjoyed seeing Andrea Duran belt a triple! I forget that not only is she wicked 3^rd baseman and a very strong hitter; she can also fly around those bases! I was also reminded of how different softball and baseball truly are. Softball moves faster and is far more explosive than any baseball game! I think in general softball players are more passionate! They play strong all 21 outs and your rarely see them give up. I like baseball but I’d much rather watch a softball game! These ladies love this game so much and I’ve never watched a dull NPF game! Baseball is just not softball and I don’t enjoy it nearly as much!

I am missing me some softball lol! Fall ball is going on right now but there is little coverage of it. So I guess I am just waiting until February again lol! Huskies have been doing very well during their Fall ball season! Their freshmen are looking really good so far! They also have Bryanna Walker and maybe more importantly Hooch Fagaly and Taylor Smith back! I was heartbroken when I realized that Maggie Waggner is no longer on the team! I don’t know what happened but I know she will be very much missed! Wonderful girl, wonderful personality, and very talented!  The Huskies will be taking on the NPF All Star team this Saturday at get this…wait for it… Safeco baseball field! Don’t know how they scored that but I love that it’s the Huskies and Coach Tarr who did it! If you are going to be in Seattle Saturday get your butt over there and watch that game!! $10 at the door and the game starts at 3pm pacific time! I would KILL to be there! But no way I can, so get your butt out there and enjoy it for me lol J!!

The Pan Am games are underway right now. USA is undefeated so far with 1 game left in regular play. Canada is 4-2, with loses to Cuba and USA. Been very interesting but would be even more so if we could see these games lol!

Well that is all for now! I hope this finds all my readers doing well!