A great day of softball!

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

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

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

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

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

NPF!

Well we are half way through the 2nd weekend of NPF play! Rough start for the Pride going 1-3 against the Bandits last weekend but they've bounced back this weekend very nicely beating the Racers in both games so far this weekend and they will play a double header tomorrow!

Danielle Lawrie pitched yesterday and picked up her 2nd win of the season! I always enjoy watching her pitch! She uses such a deadly combination of speed and movement! Her change up is in my honest and totally biased opinions one of the best in the world! On a related note it always sends chills down my spine to watch her and Jenn Salling on the field together. They have an obvious chemistry and are always pumping each other up. Danielle turned and looked at Jenn at one point last night and their eyes locked for an instant and you could just see the respect and love they have for one another! This team has an amazing chemisty as a whole! I love watching them all on the field!

Cat Osterman pitched tonight and looked great! I always love to watch Cat because she is so hopelessly devoted to the game! She eats, sleeps, and breaths this game! She understands it probably better than anybody else on that team! There was a rough stretch there for Cat. She had to have surgery and couldn't even a pick up a ball for a bit. It was really really hard on her! The rehab has been slow and you could tell by her tweet and things she said on Facebook that it was often times frustrating for her. But it's obviously been worth it because she looks great and she looks like she is enjoying herself!

I also enjoyed watching Kristina Thorson yesterday as well! Kristina has always held a special place in my heart. She is unique and I mean that in a good way! The first time I saw what she looked like I was like woah that is different lol! Anybody who has seen her knows what I am talking about. Kristina is what I would call goth. She likes black, has many many tatoos, has her ears gaged! I know some aren't wild about it but I think it's great. I think it's great that she is comfortable enough in her own skin to be who she is.  But regardless of how she looks(I think she is beautiful just the way she is!) she is a great pitcher and she dealt with her own injury during the offsesason. She is around the same age as Cat and both of them know their playing days are numbered and they are going to make them count! It was also good to finally see Megan Bush! She had major shoulder surgery during the off season and is still struggling to get back. Tonight was her first at bat of the season and she struckout but it made me smile to see her in the batters box! These ladies are so tough and fight through so much to get back on the field. They love this sport so much and they want to hang on to it for and play for as long as they can and I don't blame them one bit! Niki Williams had her first plate appearance last night and I thought she got a hit but they called her out(she looked safe in my totally biased opinion lol seriously though even the announcer thought she was safe. There was a close call with Jenn Salling as well. She laid down a gorgeous bunt and looked safe to me but opinion matters not lol). I can't wait for that girl to show the world what she can do! So much fun having 4 Huskies on the Pride!

3,030 was the offical attendance of the game yesterday and I think that is just amazing! The Corpus Christi Hooks have gone out of their way to make this a great weekend and did an excellant job! It's good to see a baseball team take so much interest in the NPF! Of course we don't want to see these teams have to play on baseball fields forever, right now you play where you get the chance to and this has turned out to be a great oppurtunity! Pride head home next weekend to face the Diamonds! One of their games will be on ESPN3 in honor of the 40th anniversary of Title 9!

Well I can't think of anything else so I guess I will end it here! Go Pride! Go Huskies! Boomer Sooner! RTR Go Bama!

One chapter closes and another begins!

First off let me say a big congrats to Alabama on their national championship! They are a great group of young women and a great coaching staff! They had easily one of the best senior classes this season! Great season for Jackie Traina as well! They all did a great job and I am very happy and proud of them! I just wanted to say before I said anything else.

With that being said, I find my heart feeling very torn about alot of things. I really didn't expect to feel what I felt. I thought this series would be fun for me.... it wasn't in all honesty. I keep seeing people talking about how fun and magical it was. To me it didn't feel that way. I didn't expect to feel so torn. The first game I felt bad for the Tide and Jackie Traina but so happy for the Sooners and Keilani Ricketts. 2nd night I felt bad for Keilani Ricketts because she didn't expect them to move so far in on the plate and it just totally threw her off but felt happy for the Tide. Last night at first I'll be very honest I felt nothing but crushed for the Sooners and Keilani Ricketts. It was just one of those loses that just knocks you on your butt. They had the lead and all the momentum and then the rain came and everything changed. Personally I don't think the game should have ever been played that night. It had rained all day, the field was already a mess, and they knew more rain was coming. They didn't even get to start until really late. It was the middle of the night by the time the game ended. I think the NCAA and ESPN could only the see the money they were going to lose. They are very luck that nobody got hurt. In the sport of softball bad footing no only causes errors and bad softball but can be very dangerous. That game just felt completely unreal in so many ways. But again congrats to Bama for never giving up and fighting through it!

I've always respected and really liked Patty Gasso alot but after this WCWS I respect her and adore her so much more! She is truly an amazing coach and person! She showed class and beauty the whole series. The way she talked about Bama and the respect she showed was incredible. But the way she talks about her own teams was a thing of absolute beauty! The love she showed for her kids after that crushing loss Wednesday night in their press conference was something rarley seen and made my heart feel a little less broken. I bawled with her when I watched it! It was one of the best moments of the whole thing for me! Coach Gasso is a classy lady who loves and respects the sport of softball. She lives, breaths, eats, and sleep softball and not just any softball but Sooner softball. But she gets the bigger picture so well! She is molding and shaping these young ladies into wonderful women! The more I see of Coach Gasso the more I realize why I like her so well. She's a great lady and a great coach. She reminds me alot of Coach Tarr and they definitely have similar coaching strategies. I think Coach Gasso is a little less laid back and go with the flow than Coach Tarr is. But there are similarities! Both are wonderful women and coaches who do so much for this game!

 Sadly I don't know that I gained much respect for Patrick Murphy. I still think he is a great guy and a great coach but there were somethings I saw that I wasn't necessarily a fan of. But I guess that is neither here nor there lol.

NPF started last night! Pride lost to the Bandits but it was pretty good game! Monica Abbott threw a 1 hitter and the 1 run that the Pride scored was unearned! She looked very good, especially considering she had been home from Japan only a few days! Jenn Salling played SS last night and man oh man was she on fire!! Very nice night for her in the field! My fantasy teams didn't fare too well but there's alot of time left to go!  Diamonds opened the season with their very first win! Congrats to them and former Husky coach Teresa Wilson who is the Diamonds head coach now!!

College softabll is over for one more season but NPF is just getting started and international softball will be getting started soon! Should be a nice summer of softball! Well that is all I have for now! Go Huskies! Boomer Sooner! RTR Go Bama! FTG! Go Pride!

Feels like the season is over for me!

Honestly with both Bama and OU advancing to the championship final series, it feels like the season is over lol! I don't care who wins! I love both of these teams and both of their coaches! I think it will be a great series and one of them winning is just icing on the cake! Both teams have bene playing great ball and I proud of both of them! The only thing that could make this better is if it was the Huskies in but this is the next best thing! The first time in 26 years(I'm only 24 so even before my time) that a Pac-12 team is not in the final! That's pretty awesom and says alot for how far this sport has come! It's been a crazy post season, I honestly would have never guessed neither ASU or Cal would make the final. Cal seemed to really crash when the post season hit. Their powerful offense really hit a bad spot and Jolene Henderson really seemed to struggle. Saddly for them they graduate a rather large group of seniors including Valerie Arioto, the Reid sisters, Jace Williams, and Frani Echavarria. So they lose a great deal of experience, talent, and leadership. I'm not saying they can't do it, I'm just saying losing 2 5 year seniors is going to hurt, especially one like Arioto! ASU will also lose some key players, Boyd, Bach, and Lockwood are the ones that come to my mind. Congrats to both teams and both group of seniors! RTR Go Bama and Boomer Sooner!!

I have now had a week think back on the 2012 season for the Huskies and although it's still sad and really feels like a dispointment in the way it ended there are so many great things ahead! Even with all the struggles Kaitlin Inglesby had this season she still puts  up the numbers she did and earns 2nd team All-American honors! That just shows you the raw talent that girl has I think! I am as excited as anybody to see Joclyn Cater join the team next year but I think this team still belongs to Kaitlin. Frankly she has carried this team on her shoulders for 2 seasons and I think she will take this team along way. I think to take that from her would be wrong. These girls look up to Kaitlin, she is a great leader, she is incredibly talented, and she in my opinion is key to getting this team back to OKC and back to a national championship! I think as heartbreaking as this season was at times, it laid down a foundation for better things to come. When you look back at 2008 season, you'll find it wasn't a season full of success and roses. It was a rough year. Grant it, they were without Danielle Lawrie and Ashley Charters but I believe that season set up those players to be able to hang tough through the ups and downs of that next season. It helped them understand the game better. It helped be better players. It helped them win a national championship! The foundation of national championship team isn't laid in one season or two seasons. It's laid in many seasons. Diamonds are made over night, it takes years and tons and tons and tons of pressure! The same goes here I think. I think this is the start of something great for this program and I can't wait to see what it is! I already miss watching the Huskies and I am already looking forward to next season!

Well the girls who play in the Japanese league will be headed home tonight/tomorrow and that can mean only 1 thing.... NPF season!! NPF season starts Thursday! They have a fantasy league this year! I think that is so awesome!! I have my teams drafed and ready to go and can't wait to see how they do! Pride returns most of their team from last year and will add some great draftees including my personal fav, Nikia Williams!! Can't wait to watch her play for the Pride and play with Danielle, Ashley, and Jenn again! It should be a great season and I am so excited to get it started!!

Well I can't think of anything else right now! So good luck to both the Bama girls and the Sooner girls today and tomorrow! Stay safe and enjoy every minute!! RTR Go Bama and Boomer Sooner!! Go Huskies!!

All good things must come to an end

After a very up and down, rough season and 2 losses to Cal this weekend the Husky season is over. Kaitlin pitched yesterday and I really felt she pitched well after the first inning. But the Huskies had no answer to Jolene Henderson. Bryana Walker pitched tonight and pitched even better than Kaitlin did. She didn't give a hit until the 5th. But all Cal needed was a 2 run HR because gain the offense couldn't come through. The offense looked better tonight than they did last night but again they couldn't find the big hit. I can''t say I am surprised they lost and the season is over. But I don't think any amount of knowledge prepares you for the emotions of it really being over. It then occurs to me if I feel this emotional and weepy how do the Huskies feel, especially the seniors! I feel really heartbroken right now. I know how hard those ladies fought last weekend to get here and how hard they fought last night and tonight. I know they must be heartbroken.

On the other hand I think there is plenty to look forward to! This is a young team and they've got plenty of time to figure this out! So to those players I say keep fighting, be confident, and don't forget to enjoy the ride! It goes by so fast and it will be over before you know it! To the seniors I say no regrets! You 4 are leaving behind a wonderful legacy and will always be in the hearts of Husky fans everywhere! I know you're heartbroken now and my heart breaks with you. But don't forget to look back on the good and there is so much of it! Congrats on 4 amazing seasons!

I enjoyed watching the games yesterday and today! It was fun to actually see the ladies on TV! I love watching Coach Tarr work and that will never change! She is so positive and loves the game so much. I watch her talking to her hitters and I don't even know what she is saying but just the look on her face makes me want to get out there and hit the ball lol!

I'm pretty tired and emotional now. I will come back later and discuss the Bama and OU. I really like both of those teams but my heart will always bleed purple and gold! So right now I can't really think much about them. Lots of great Super Regionals and lots of great teams moving on. But right now I just feel sad! That is all I have for now! Go Huskies! Boomer Sooner! RTR Go Bama!

P.S. Not long now until NPF starts and they have a new fantasy league I will discuss later! It's pretty awesome!

Regionals!

What a weekend! Washington ended up getting host(I honestly didn't think they would) and they were the 16th seed. They had Texas Tech, Harvard, and Maryland in their Regional. I was most worried about Tech. They had knocked off Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri during the regular season. So I knew they were good! I honestly didn't know what to expect from the Huskies. That last weekend of the regular season was a nightmare and I really hoped we didn't get a repeat.

They started off playing Harvard on Friday. Kaitlin Inglesby got the start in the circle and she was lights out! She gave up 3 hits, 2 walks, and had 7 strikeouts! She seemed to find her confidence again and be feeling better! Offense was not great but in the 4th Jerrin and Shawna both got on and Kimberlee Souza knocked a 2 RBI double! That was all the runs they would need! Saturday they played Tech. I was pretty nervous for this game. Kasey Stanchek got the start and pitched 4 hitless innings! She did walk 4 but hung tough and bounced back. Kaitlin Inglesby came in, in the 5th after Kasey walked the first batter she saw on 4 pitches. Kaitlin gave up 2 hits, hit 1, and struckout 2. Huskies scored one run on a bases loaded walk to Kylee Lahners and Shawna Wright(whose bat was hot this weekend!) knocked in a run with single! Again because of the great pitch effort of Kasey and Kaitlin that was all the runs they needed.  That win put them into the Regional Championship today. It's been probably since the preseason that I've felt as relaxed and calm about a Husky game as I did this one today! I just knew they were going to win this game and head into the Super Reigionals! Bryana Walker got the start in the circle. Huskies were the visiting team in this game and started off the game well. Victoria Hayward reached on an error and promptly stole 2nd! Kaitlin hit a single and Victoria scored to give the Huskies the early the lead(turns out that 1 run would be enough to win but they weren't done!). Bryana walked the first batter she saw on 4 straight balls. She then buckled down and struck out the next two batters and got the next hitter to ground out to her. In the 4th inning, Shawna Wright got on with a single and a few batters later Victoria Hayward walked. Niki Williams came to the plate with 2 on and 2 out and smashed a ball out of the park to put the Huskies up 4-0! Bryana continued to pitch well and work her way out of jams. In the 7th, she gave up a lead of single and I started to worry a little bit but my worries were unfounded. She struck out the next 3 batters to send the Huskies to the Super Regionals! She went 7 innings  gave up only 4 hits, 2 walks, hit 1, and stuck out 7! Huskies didn't allow a single run this weekend! Pitching was great and defense was great! They made a couple of changes to the defense. The biggest being moving Kimberlee Souza from SS to 3rd base and moving Courtney Gano from 3rd base to SS. I wasn't so sure about the move at first but I think it's actually going to work out well! Courtney did a great job at SS this weekend and other than a couple of issues Kimberlee did nice at 3rd base! Offense was still not dominating but they scored runs when they needed to! It was a great weekend and I shed some tears when that game ended today! I am so unbelievably proud of these ladies and what they did this weekend! Alot of people thought Tech would upset them and it just didn't happen! It didn't happen because the Huskies didn't let it! This team has had it's fair share of struggles but I never for one minute felt they stopped fighting! They play Cal in Berkley for Super Regionals. Honestly I don't know what will happen next weekend but no matter what happens I'm proud of this team and I'm proud that they've made it back to Super Regionals! I would love to see them beat Cal and make it to OKC but I am not naive and I know it's going to be very hard for them to do that! But no matter what this young team has shown fight, serious talent, heart, and they are gaining some great experience from this! Nice weekend ladies! You made this Husky fan very proud!!

Other crazy things going on this weekend was both UCLA and Florida being eliminated! Things started off bad for Florida when it broke that 3 of their starters had been suspended and wouldn't play Friday night. By the time their game was over it was breaking that those players weren't just suspended but had been released from the team. They lost the game Friday night. They won one game Saturday but couldn't get past USF. I don't know what happened and I'm not even going to make any guesses. I'm just going to say that I think it's sad to see a team like Florida ripped apart like that and I wish them all the best! I feel so bad for Michelle Moultrie. I know this was not at all how she pictured her senior season ending! UCLA has been known all season as the team with a great offense and no pitching. Well this weekend they had little offense and actually pretty good pitching. They lost to Hofstra Friday night and Florida State on Saturday to end their season.

Sooners had a great Regional and will host Arizona next weekend! Jessica Shultz had a grand slam HR and a solo HR in today's game to knock off Oregon State! Very happy for them! Bama also had a great weekend and they will host Michigan next weekend! I'm looking forward to next weekend and all the great games!

There is so much happiness and great things about this time of year but there is also some sadness. As these teams are knocked out and their seasons end we see the end of so many great careers. I already mentioned Michelle Moultrie. But we also saw the end of Stephanie Ricketts, Ashley Hansen, Jenna Caira, and many other great careers! I just want to take a moment and tell these ladies congrats on wonderful careers and thank them for what they did for their schools and the sport of softball!

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

Pac-12 season is over!

I've honestly never been so glad to see Pac-12 season end. It's been very rough and heartbreaking to watch. These ladies need a new beginning and to move on. This is their new beginning. They get basically 2 weeks off before post season begins and I think that will be great. I think they need that time to rest and regroup.

Well I decided despite the fact that there weren't many I wanted to look back and find some highlights! The first one that came to mind was the 2nd OSU game where they climbed all the way back with 4 HRs from 3 different players to win. I don't know what was more impressive that game Niki Williams 2 HRs or the double play Victoria Hayward made to end the game! Either way it was a highlight and a glimmer of hope in this season. Another highlight for me was Kimberlee Souza's first career HR! Youl could just see how excited she was! I've very much enjoyed watching that young lady grow this season! She is going to be a fantastic SS, hitter, and leader for this team in the next few years I think. In that same game, Shawna Wright hit a HR as well and I always love to watch that girl hit! Kaitlin Inglesby's 3 run HR to win the Oregon game was pretty impressive as well! Her pitching hasn't been as dominating as it was earlier in the year or last year but her bat has continued to be hot hot hot! Watching Bryana Walker find her way and pitch very well has been great too! She had to deal with so much last year and I now feel we did NOT get to really see what that girl is truly made of until this year! Kasey Stanchek has also been alot of fun to watch and I see her developing into a wonderful pitcher! I've also enjoyed watching Victoria Hayward make a name for herself. In alot of ways she reminds me of Kimi Pohlman but she'll always be Victoria! She is alot fun to watch both in the field(at 1st and in the outfield both), with her bat, or my favorite on the base paths! She has some serious speed! There are alot of good things to take from this season! It was heartbreaking and sad but I see a group of  young ladies who are developing into great players and thankfully they are young and they have the time! Part of growing and becoming an all around player is dealing with adversity and they've seen the worst of the worst this season. So as I see it, it can only get better from here! I am such an emotional sap lol! I've had to stop twice and wipe tears from eyes lol! I love this team and I am proud of this team! No matter what happens in two weeks, I'll always be proud of this team!

I've been busy making videos again! I love making videos and I've gotten really good and efficient at it. I made one for Kaitlin Inglesby(because as you've probably figured this girl holds a very special big place in my heart and probably always will lol), the seniors, and my newest video that I posted just a few hours ago is a tribute to the whole team. I've had it ready to go since about Wednesday or Thursday but I wanted to wait  until this weekend was over to upload it and share it. But here are those 3 videos!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2yhK_2zOWo

Bama took the series against Florida today and claimed the out right SEC regular season title. OU has the chance to do that next weekend with 2 wins again Iowa State! That's about all I have for now! St. Edwards made to regionals but fell just short in their game today against Angelo State! They had a great season though and have nothing to be ashamed of!  Go Huskies!! RTR Go Bama! Boomer Sooner! FTG!