Feb. 18, 2009
Hey Tech Fans!
This past weekend the team drove down to Gainesville, Florida for the Lipton Invitational. It was our first real road trip of the season. The first of our careers for me and the rest of the freshmen, and it was quite an experience. It all started early Friday morning. Our first game was scheduled for 8 am which meant that our morning began at 5:05 with a quick team jog around the parking lot of the hotel to wake us up and help us begin to prepare for the game.
After breakfast and a quick team meeting, we headed for the field. If any of us were still tired by the time 8 o’clock rolled around nobody showed it. We started the tournament off with a bang defeating Florida Atlantic 13-2 in only 5 innings.
Kristen Adkins pitched a great game and Caroline Hilton hit her first career home run that just so happened to be a grand slam over the left field fence with 2 outs and a full count in the third inning. After a short break and a quick lunch at Pita Pit, we faced off against South Alabama and took that game as well 5-2.
On Saturday, we began our morning the same way as Friday only this time the sun was up during our jog and we had a few more hours of sleep under our belts. Every day before practice or a game each person sets individual goals for what they personally want to accomplish that day, and then we also set a team goal. In honor of Valentine’s Day our goal was “Break Their Hearts”. I’d say we definitely accomplished this goal as we defeated Texas Tech 8-1.
Kristen Adkins picked up another win, and Jen Yee hit two triples. Danielle Dike also hit the first home run of her career. We had many outstanding hits and some great plays on defense. That night we were supposed to take on Coastal Carolina, but the game was canceled due to rain. Instead, the team went out to dinner with family and friends who had also made the trip down to Gainesville.
On Sunday, we played the Florida Gators who are ranked #2 in the country, and although the game didn’t go how we would have like it to it was a great learning experience for us. We got to see what it’s like to play one of the best if not the best team in the country, and we found many things that we as a team can improve on that will help us in our goal to be one of the top teams in the nation. After the loss we packed up the bus and headed back for Tech.
The trip home was much like the trip there until, with about 2 hrs left before we got back to campus, the wireless internet on our bus went out. Don’t worry though, we found many ways to keep ourselves entertained for the rest of the trip including the belting (not quite sure if you could consider it singing after all we do play softball) of many songs from Rent and other assorted musicals as well as a special reenactment of the Dinner Scene from the movie The Break Up led by Brittany Barnes.
This year, we have a great team, where everyone is able to get along, and we always have fun together. It makes team outings really fun and exciting.
Another big event for the team this week was the completion of our brand new stadium. We were able to practice on it for the first time on Tuesday, and there is no other way to describe it than absolutely amazing. To start off with, we got to walk right out of our locker room, across the parking lot, and we were there. There was no getting in our cars and driving to the field. Next there was the field itself. We got to take a couple tours of it during different stages of construction, but they were nothing compared to the final project. The whole team is really fired up about playing on our new field, and we can’t wait for our home opener on March 10th. However, we can’t focus on that yet. We still have many games before we finally getting to play our first game on our home turf, starting with another tournament in Palm Springs California this weekend.
Well I’m all talked out for now. I think I’ve said more in this blog than I have all season, you can ask Coach Perkins. Thank you all for your support and I hope to see and meet all of you guys during the season. If you get a chance come check out the new stadium and support us on March 10th. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
Kelsi
