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!

Another NPF season is done!

I really did mean to get this blog written and up long before now. But here I am a week later and it’s still not written. Life is insanely mixed up for me right now. I am at one of those points that I know something big is about to happen because I feel so lost and mixed up inside. I know that sounds crazy but think about it. Every time something big happened in your life what happened before it? Atleast for me it was a period of uncertainty. I find myself questioning everything about my life right now. It’s amazing how little things happening in your life can do that. Last week I was told after 2 years of college the only way I can go back is to get my GED. I graduated from a home school program and my transcript doesn’t meet their standards. It seems that is something they should have noticed before now but what do I know. I have a lot mixed feelings about this. Part of me is happy for the break. Frankly it will be nice to enjoy a Fall (my favorite time of the year!) without having to worry about homework and tests. I won’t know what to do if I’m not in school on my birthday! But in the long run I know this just pushes me further back. Part of me feels flat out angry because I earned my high school diploma but it wasn’t enough and now I have to go back and get a GED. Part of me is scared. I have horrible test anxiety. So what if I can’t pass this test? All this craziness and uncertainty has me looking at other parts of my life as well and asking some very hard questions. Right now I don’t know where life is taking me or what the plan is. But I know God is in control and he has big plans. It’s my job to figure out what they are. Anyway on to softball and the championship series!

I was hoping this too would be a happier blog but it wasn’t meant to be either. Pride fell to the Bandits 10-3. From the very beginning it wasn’t the game they wanted. They decided to start Jordan Taylor instead of Danielle Lawrie. I’ll be honest I think had they started Danielle things very well could have been different. The defense was awful. It was just not a good game. I think the things that happened the day before just ran over. A big congrats to the Bandits and Monica Abbott on an amazing championship series!! It was an amazing season for the Pride ladies though! These ladies have nothing to be ashamed of! I am proud of all of them! I’m sad to see the season end and the Pride going out on a losing note made it even harder. But I look back at this season and I can’t be disappointed. This team was definitely special and will always hold a special place in my heart! Danielle Lawrie had an amazing season. She showed again why she is one of the best in the world by bouncing back from a less than stellar rookie season to being the 3^rd best pitcher in the NPF with only Monica Abbott and Cat Osterman a head of her. Very proud and happy for that lady! She has worked her butt off and it’s paying off! Ashley Charters had an amazing season as well! She carried one of the highest batting averages in the NPF all season! Jenn Salling had an amazing rookie season and blew the socks off the commentators for both the Pride and the Bandits. I wish she could hear all the amazing things they say about her! She earned their praise though! She carried the highest fielding percentage of all the SS in the NPF, including her teammate and fellow great Natasha Watley! Cat Osterman continues to be a quiet pillar of strength and a beast on the field! So far there aren't many answers as far as her injury goes. She goes for another MRI tomorrow and hopefully they will get a better idea of what they are dealing with! I hope she knows she has been on the hearts and minds of all her fans since that night! I really fell in love with Kristina Thorson this summer! She doesn’t get much recognition but she is a heck of a pitcher and from what I’ve seen on Twitter(yeah, yeah I know lame LOL!) she is a heck of a teammate and person as well! I was sad to see Alisa Haber announce just a couple of days after the season ended that she is giving up softball. She is going to Japan to teach English to 3rd and 4th year medical students. It's a bitter sweet thing for me(and I am sure her too) as I have watched her play for a long time! She will always be one of my favorites to watch! So I am sad to see her go. Softball is losing one of the best. But I am happy for her! She worked very hard to get her masters degree and this is such an amazing oppurtunity for her! I wish her all the luck and all the best! It’s been a week and I still can’t believe the season is actually over! I am excited about the Back to School tour and thrilled to see they are making a couple stops at Washington!! One of the highlights of the season for me was when Coach Tarr and JT went to Florida at the end of July and watched Danielle, Ashley, and Jenn play. The support they showed for that team and for the NPF really made a mark on not just the Husky alumni but the other ladies on the team as well! It seemed to be an experience enjoyed by all. So to see the NPF go to Washington and give back to them as well makes me smile. After all that is what this is all about! I think that is what we need to see more of. We need to see more college coaches promoting and loving the NPF! I can’t believe Fall ball is just around the corner. It seems just like yesterday they were starting the 2011 Spring season!

I have read some horrible things about the NPF from “fans” since the championship series. I read and hear a lot of people griping about the NPF but not much action to back that up. We all know the NPF is far from perfect. We all know in order for it to grow and be successful changes have to happen. But we have stay realistic too. Changes are going to be slow and at times it’s going to seem like nothing is changing at all.  If you want changes and want to see this thing grow, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Send an email to the NPF with some of your ideas, donate to the 20 for 20, but most importantly support ALL of these women. All of the women on all 4 of these teams have given up so much for this sport and for this league. We can’t forget that. It’s their time, their bodies, and their families that are sacrificed for this sport and this league. You have to look at this league and see the good. The people in charge are working their butts off to figure out how to make this thing grow but there is no manual.  If you don’t like the NPF that is fine but don’t set around bad mouthing them because this is the future for our little girls who want to play beyond college. The Olympics are out until at least 2020 but softball can and will survive. The NPF is here and now and we need to make sure it stays that way. So either get behind the NPF, their leaders, their players, and their coaches or feel free to stand in front of them so they can smack you with a softball or hit you with a bat! If you aren’t going to do anything to try to help, then by all means feel free to shut your mouth!

Well I guess that is all I have for now! I made a video for the amazing Cat Osterman that I would like to share with you guys! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcuMyuJGUhQ. I also made one for Jenn Salling before the college season ended that I never shared! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KahuxSFC7M Let me know what you guys think!

I’ll leave you with a couple of my favorite quotes!

“Life isn’t about waiting until the storm passes, but about learning to dance in the rain!”

“Our greatest achievement comes not from never falling but in rising EVERY time we fall!”

Go Dawgs, Boomer Sooner, RTR Go Bama, Go Pride, and adding for the upcoming football season Go Colts lol!

Scary night! Not the game the Pride wanted!

            Well I hoped to write a much happier blog tonight but it wasn’t meant to be. First off let me start off with the game. Pride took an early 2 run lead off an error by Monica Abbott (one of her only mistakes of the game). They looked good and I was feeling good about the game. Cat Osterman came out and looked good as well! However Monica seemed to get mad after that inning began pitching like there was a chip on her shoulder. She totally shut down the Pride bats. But Cat continued to pitch well and the defense was making great plays to back her up. However in the 5^th inning the wheels came off so to speak. The inning started off with Vicky Galindo getting a single (she had quite game going 3 for 3 and eventually scoring the winning run). Cat came back and struck out Caitlin Lever. Stacy May-Johnson and Amber Patton both come up with singles to load the bases. Cat is able to strike out the powerful Alisa Goler for the 2^nd out of the inning.  Megan Wiggins comes up and knocks a base clearing double to give the Bandits the lead. It seemed a little odd that Cat had all of sudden gone from dominating to not so fast but I didn’t really think much of it. Jamee Juarez comes up to bat and Cat quickly goes up 0-2 on her. However after she throws the 2^nd pitch she goes down holding her arm. My heart dropped. I was watching last summer during the championship game at worlds in Venezuela when this almost same identical thing happened. This time it seemed worse. She seemed to be in more pain and even more scared. I think everyone watching was scared. I’ll talk more about that later but for now back to the game. They brought in Sarah Pauly who threw a beautiful pitch for strike 3 to end the inning. But by this time you can look at the pride players and see that seeing Cat go down like that has sucked something out of them. The score remained the same until the bottom half of the 7^th when with 2 outs and down to her last strike Andrea Duran hit a solo HR to send the game to extra innings. Top of the 8^th inning Sarah Pauly gave up a hit to Vicky Galindo. Caitlin Lever sacrifice bunted her over. Then the Pride decided they are going to walk Stacy May-Johson (I didn’t fully understand this to begin with but I’m not the one making the calls lol). During the intentional walk they call Sarah Pauly for an illegal pitch. I have to be honest here they showed the replay several times and I saw nothing illegal about her pitch. They have been calling them on Monica Abbott the whole championship series (I believe she is now up to 5 after not having any in who knows how long. Sounds fishy to me) and none of them that I saw looked illegal either. I think these umps are putting a little too much attention on themselves, which in my book means they aren’t doing a good job. But anyway the illegal pitch of course moved Vicky Galindo to 3^rd which ended up pretty much costing the Pride the game. The next batter hit a single and Vicky came around to score what would be the winning run. They won 4-3. Monica Abbott after that inning where she had the error that cost the Bandits 2 runs pitched a gem of a game! She is scary good when she gets going and what happened tonight is exactly what I was worried would happen. But tomorrow is a new day and 2 games to be played! The Pride are coming back , I feel it! Don’t forget tomorrow’s game at 1 will be on ESPN2! The if necessary game will be at shortly after and it will be on ESPN3.com and tape delayed on Monday evening! Let’s go Pride!

                Back to Cat they said during the game that she said her bi-cep popped like it did last summer. She was in so much pain! It was so scary to watch! She tweeted earlier that it is her bi-cep but they don’t know yet exactly what is wrong with it. I find myself wondering if this will be it for her and if not how much longer her arm can hold up. It’s sad to think of softball without Cat Osterman in it. She was the first pitcher I ever really loved. The passion she has for this game is so strong! Like all of these other women she eats, sleeps, and breaths softball! She is one of the best to ever play the game and such a strong leader. We softball fans love to watch these women compete and they love to compete. But I don’t think we always appreciate the toll this sport has on their bodies. Playing this game at this high a level for so long doesn’t come without consequences. But these ladies wouldn’t have it any other way! It’s their passion and the sport they love! It’s an amazing sport that I have fall more and more in love with every time I watch it! I can’t even tell you what it is about this sport that makes it so amazing but it truly is! These ladies don't make millions of dollars, they just play for the love the game. They go all out and give 110% everytime they step on the field. They risk their bodies to try to make every play they can! They give up time with their families and travel so much that they have to remind their families where they are. As I said before they wouldn't have it any other way. But we should be thankful for the sacrafices they make! Without them this game wouldn't be what it is today! They do so much and give back so much when they aren't on the field as well! They are truly some of the best more amazing people I know and Cat's is up at the top of that list!  When Cat’s career does end she can leave knowing she has had an amazing career and accomplished more than most people could ever hope to! She has inspired many others to be the best they can be not just on the softball field but in life as well! When that day comes we can all rest assured we haven’t seen the last of Cat Osterman but simply the beginning! She is in my thoughts and prayers tonight! I am praying for as quick and painless recovery as possible!

                I will update tomorrow with the results and final thoughts on the season!

NPF!

Hey everyone! Life has been so crazy and I have been neglecting this thing! Here we are just 2(possibly 3) more games and this NPF season is over! Pride and the Bandits will play a best of 3 series to determine the championship starting with game 1 7pm CT tomorrow (Saturday) and then 2^nd game will be Sunday at 1pm CT and this game will be on ESPN2!! Please tune in! Even if you don’t watch the NPF please watch. This is big for the sport as a whole and this is the only way it will grow! The if necessary game will played sometime after that if needed and reaired on ESPN2 on Monday.

                It’s been a crazy ride getting here! The Pride although they started out a little shaky came back strong and went on an 18 game winning streak and finished the season 30-9! They were the regular season champions and so deserved it! This group of women is a very special group! They have such wonderful chemistry on and off the field. They are all so talented and have worked their butts off all season! I’m excited for them and I so hope they win it all!

                The Bandits season was a little rougher. They ended up finishing up 3^rd behind the Racers(who they knocked out tonight in a very close 9 inning game!). There is a lot of talent on this team but at times they seemed to lack in chemistry and leadership. But I am not coming anywhere near counting this team out and in reality they are scarier to me than the other two combined. They have the powerful left arm of Monica Abbott who has carried this team this season. She is pitching better than she ever has before and was named co-NPF pitcher of the year with Cat Osterman. I have to be honest she scares me! Their offense is very good and can be deadly but their real strength lies in the arm of Monica Abbott and the leadership she brings!

                The Racers had a really great season! They were led in the circle by a combination of Kristina Thorson and Lisa Norris. I’ve always been a fan of Lisa Norris but I grew to really like Kristina Thorson this season. She is different then you average pitcher, not just in her pitching style but her personality! I can’t explain but just look at her picture and you’ll see lol! She is a great woman and pitcher! I’ve also grown to really like Kelley Montalvo! She may only be 5ft but she plays softball like is a 6ft! So much passion for the game! Don’t let her size fool you, dynamite comes in small packages!

                The Diamonds had a rough season. It seemed everything that could go wrong for them went wrong. Kelsi Dunne went down with an injury very early on in the season leaving their pitching staff short. They traded the Pride for Danielle Spaulding who turned out to be great addition for me but they lost Morgan Melloh a few weeks later when she was hit in the face by a line drive. This is a very young inexperienced team! Give them a few years to grow these women and get them some experience and you better watch out!

                Anyway I will post more when the championship series is over and a champion is crowned! Hope this finds everyone well!

The future of softball

                Hey everyone! My vacation was fun and I am looking forward to my next vacation! There have some things the last few weeks that have inspired to me to write a blog. The first part won’t be about softball but I will tie it into softball! Trust me! I’ve spent a good week and half mulling this over in my head!

                I like watching soccer but I never considered myself a big a fan. But I’ve always watched the World Cup. I love international sports. I love the pride of playing for one’s country. I love seeing the differences in styles and personality from team to team. I love how all of those teams are forever united and linked by one thing a love for the sport they play. There is just something special and unique about international sports. So World Cup 2011 was no different. I watched all the games USA was in and many of the others. It delighted me to see these women playing the sport they love for the country they love. I watched as something special began to happen with a very special USA team. They won us over. Their sparkling personalities, their fighting spirits, the love and passion for their sport and their country, and their never give up attitude’s won us over! There was just something about watching Abby Wambach heading the ball into the goal to send the game into penalty kicks during Brazil game. There was something about watching Hope Solo (A former Husky!  *woof woof*) blocking that penalty kick and the joy and passion excitement in her eyes! They gained so many fans that day and even more when they beat France to advance to finals. I wondered if all these fans were bandwagon fans and if they lost in the finals they would jump off and maybe even turn on them. The final game was crazy a up and down and up and down. In the end they lost but to my surprise a big big part of those fans stayed. Thousands of people came out to welcome them home when they landed in NYC on Monday! They’ve been on show after show! They all received so many emails, text, tweets, and facebook messages and comments! But I think bigger than that for the sport they loved they sold out the next WPS (Women’s Professional Soccer) that occurred the next Saturday! 15, 000 fans showed up for the game! I’ll be the first one to tell you I didn’t know anything about the WPS until now! But I will be following and supporting it now! So I am sure by now you are thinking I thought you said you would tie this into softball so where is it? Here it is! As I watched this going on I couldn’t help but think why can’t this happen for softball??  I remember when the US softball team beat Japan and took gold at worlds last summer that the hope we all had was that the great showing at worlds not just by the US team but by all the teams would  help this sport grow. Not just grow internationally but here at home with the NPF as well. But that didn’t happen.  ASAUSA softball decided to say the players couldn’t play for both the NPF and Team USA. So now instead of being a united front working together to grow the sport  we love like soccer is we are full of divides, walls, breaks, bitterness, and hard feelings. You see the reason the World Cup win helped the WPS was because they are all united as one. The WPS supports the National Team and the National Team supports the WPS. There is no our players and your players. There is no fighting and hard feelings (well I’m sure there is somewhere in there but you get the picture). There is only soccer and love of the game and the drive to push it on and watch it grow. I really felt like softball had reached a new high last summer after Worlds. There were so many wonderful teams there that played such good softball. But now I feel like softball has officially hit a new low. Softball at the next level can’t grow the way it is now. It just can’t. When this first happened the blame was put on whomever (at first we didn’t know if it was USA softball or the NPF. We now know it was USA softball) had made the demands. But somewhere along the way I’ve seen the blame shift and I’ve seen a group of women who have devoted their whole careers to furthering this sport thrown under the bus. People are now saying they did for the money. I’ve seen them called selfish, money hungry, and other things. It breaks my heart! These women didn’t want this and they certainly didn’t do it for the money! Their dream was always to play for the red, white, and blue! That was taken away from them and it’s not their fault and it’s not right. Put the blame where it belongs! If you think what USA softball did was wrong then let them know it. I’m not saying you have to be rude but let them know you support the girls who were forced to make that hard decision and that you think them forcing them to make that decision was wrong. I’m trying hard to support the women who are playing for Team USA. They are all amazing athletes and softball players. But my heart is still broken and my feelings forever changed about this team and the people who run it. Not because of something these girls did but because of what the people running the program did. I worry for these girls playing now. It feels like a dream come true and very amazing for them now but will Team USA turn on them too? If they can throw women who have played their hearts out for them for some of them as long a decade or more under the bus what’s to stop them from doing that to these young girls? Nothing! I think the truth of what happened is not that the ladies were money hungry or selfish or anything like that. But that USA softball was power hungry. They wanted all the power and they didn’t want the NPF to have any. The funny thing to me is, these ladies every summer were spending huge parts of their NPF seasons with the national team. USA softball already had the power not in the money but in the hearts and dreams of those ladies. They weren’t going anywhere until USA softball decided to try for more power. Because just like the ladies playing now this was ALWAYS their dream! So in trying to gain all the power in my eyes they lost the power they did have!

                I’ve been watching the World Cup of course and I have been struck by how small the crowds have been! I realized tonight this decision by USA softball didn’t just hurt the former players who had to make the decision but also the current members. They don’t have the support they deserve. The fans are angry and no longer support USA softball. Funny thing is the Racers and Diamonds came last night in Round Rock had almost 4000 people!  I don’t even know what to do about this now. I’m totally at a loss and I fear softball as we know it is a thing of the past. I hope we can find some way to use USA soccer and the WPS as an example of how great things can be! I hope people begin to open their eyes and demand change. I guess we will see what the next few years hold for softball. Hopefully good and positive things!

                I would like to say thank you to the USA soccer team and the excellant job they did in Germany at the World Cup.  At a time when sports new is filled with nothing but lock outs, players doing stupid things, and the millions of dollars they makes it’s nice to see a sport where money doesn’t matter. It was refreshing  to see a sport where the players aren’t making millions of dollars and where they play for the love of the game get so much attention! I can’t wait until the Olympics next year in London! They are going to be amazing! It’s nice to see a sport with positive news. Maybe the NFL and NBA should take lessons!

                Well that is all for now! Go Huskies! RTR Go Bama! Boomer Sooner! Go pride!! And my newest addition go Magic Jack(the professional team  Abby Wambach and Hope Solo play for!)!   

NPF and other things!

Hey guys been awhile since I did an entry and I decided I would do one tonight! I’ve got a pretty sore finger from burning it on an electric burner on my sisters stove lol! So if there are some typos or if this is shorter than usual that is why! I’m getting ready to go on my first vacation of the summer next week(I get 2 vacations this year! I am blessed and thankful lol!) and I can’t wait! I really need this time to get away from everyday life and clear my head!  I am going to Red River, New Mexico with my boyfriends family and it should be a blast! Enough about me, let’s get to some softball news!

            The NPF season is in full swing! They have completed 3 weekends of games! So far it’s been a really weird and unpredictable season but I guess that is what happens when you fill 4 teams with the very best players. I don’t really see a clear cut number 1 team right now. Bandits have looked great but split their series with the Racers last weekend. Diamonds started off strong but have struggled a little since then. Racers had a rough start but have bounced back very nicely! Pride has been up and down, but looked really good last weekend taking 3 of 4 games from the Diamonds.  I just love this league and all of these women! The thing I like the most is the great friendship between all of them. I follow several of them on Twitter and Facebook and see some of the off the field behind the scenes stuff and it’s great. They are all so close! There are no rivals or anything like that. You would probably never see a fight or even an argument. There is just so much love and respect for each other. This day age that type of thing is rare! They also love their fans and spending large amounts of time talking to them signing autographs, and taking pictures with them. After one of the games in Chicago a couple of weeks ago the Pride girls and the Bandits stood out signing autographs for several hours for thousands of fans and they enjoyed it! If you get the chance to go see them in person DO IT! Go support the future of this great sport! If you can’t, try and catch a game online on the live stream! It’s not always perfect but it’s fun to watch! Pride took the first game of this series against the Racers 2-0! Danielle Lawrie looked great in the circle and has all season! She, along with Jenn Salling and Ashley Charters are making us Husky fans very proud! Tonight they lost 2-1 with Cat Osterman on the mound. It was a good game for her but it didn’t end the way we all wanted! They will be back in action tomorrow at 7:05! Watch it! You won’t regret it!

http://www.profastpitch.com/pagebank/index.html?id=961

All good things must come to an end!

                Well we have come to the end of another amazing college softball season! Congratulations to ASU on their national championship! They looked great all season and were the complete team in the post season. I’m very happy for them! But I am sad to see the season end! It’ seems like just a couple of weeks ago I was excitedly awaiting the opening pitch and now it’s over!

                OU unfortunately never got their feet under them in WCWS and went 2 out. They had an amazing season and having nothing to be ashamed of! I can’t wait to see what Coach Gasso will do with this team over the next few seasons!

                Bama started off GREAT! Kelsi Dunne looked unbeatable as did Jackie Traina! But they ran into a brick wall called the Florida Gators in the semi’s. They dropped both games and were eliminated. The hardest part of their last game was watching Kelsi Dunne put on an obviously fake smile and hand the ball to Jackie Traina. She whispered a few words to her and went to the dugout stepping off the field and leaving her AMAZING college career forever.  

                That is the hardest part of the season ending in my opinion. It’s hard watching so many amazing careers end and most them leave so many unfulfilled dreams behind. It made me paticurally sad to watch Rhea Taylor. I know this was not the senior season she wanted and I know she didn’t have the WCWS she wanted.  She was so upset and as I watched her embracing her teammates with tears streaming down her face I found myself wanting to cry with her. Maybe I’m just a sensitive person but watching these great careers end just breaks my heart. I just want to say first off congrats to all the seniors but also thank you for all the blood, sweat, tears, time, energy and everything else you put into this game over your career! Good luck you to you all in whatever you do from here!

                With the end of the season comes awards. Some of them have made me smile and happy. Others made me sad and downright unhappy. UW faired very well in the All-Pac-10 awards. They were led once again by one of the best SS to ever play the game, Jenn Salling. She was named Pac-10 Defensive player of the year!  She along with Kimi Pohlman and Niki Williams were named to the  1^st team All-Pac-10 team(UW had more players than any other team on the 1^st team)!  Kaitlin Inglesby was named to the 2^nd team All-Pac-10 team as well as the freshman All-Pac-10 team. Victoria Hayward was also named to the Freshman team. Even though she missed almost half of the season Taylor Smith was received an honorable mention as did Morgan Stuart! I had hoped being Defensive player of the year and on the  1^st team All-Pac-10 team Jenn Salling would have a good chance at being a 1^st Team All-American. But when the All-American stuff was announced Jenn was named a  2^nd team At large bid! This just broke my heart! I thought then and I still believe she deserved more than that! She atleast deserved to be 2^nd team SS! Niki Williams was also named to the 2^nd Team All-American team.  No other Huskies were named to any of the All-American teams which also upset me.  As I already figured Jenn didn’t win the Lowe’s Senior Class award but I thought she would be a sure 1^st team Lowe’s Senior Class All-American….guess again! She again was placed on the 2^nd team(there are only 2 team)! I’ll be honest right now when I read that the other morning, I lost it! I cried and I am not afraid to admit it. It just seems so cruel! She has worked so hard, performed so well, and did so much for this team and gets little recognition for it! She deserved that 1^st team as much if not more than anybody on that list! I can’t remember what if any awards are left but at this pointing I don’t know if I can make it through another disappointment! She was named UW female athlete of the year and Kaitlin Inglesby  was named newcomer of the year! I still don’t think it’s really set in for me that the season is over and I will never again see Jenn Salling play in the purp and gold! It’s sad for me! But as the silver lining to the sadness I am so excited to watch her play with Danielle Lawrie and Ashley Charters with the USSSA Pride! She is going do amazing things in this new chapter of her life!  

                Speaking of the USSSA Pride and the NPF this weekend is opening weekend! First game for the Pride is Friday against the Bandits (I believe you can watch this game on MLB.com for free but I’m not sure). They will play on ESPN on Saturday, so  don’t forget to watch!

                Well I think that is all for now! This has been another emotional blog for me! There is a lot of happiness for ASU and their seniors but so much sadness for the rest of the teams and their seniors, Florida especially! They had an amazing senior class and team but it just wasn’t enough!  I leave you with one of my favorite quotes tonight!

                “Don’t’ cry because it’s over, smile because it happened!”

Go Huskies, RTR Go bama, Boomer Sooner, and go USSSA Pride!!