some of the coaches that I spend almost everyday with: Kinney, Orrick, Berberich
i just like this shot. the girls are warming up before the game
just a cool shot - i mean really how many times is there a hot air balloon in the air, let alone during my softball game
Ellen: our voice and our catcher. I put her picture on here because she is going through a tough time right now and is not with our team 100% right now due to somethings going on in her personal life. We miss her but understand what she is going through is more important than softball!
this is how the girls act all the time when a camera is around so i wanted to show you their real side - silly high school girl side/weirdos
Serious picture for the parents - notice how the coaches were not in the silly one :)
this bat got broken at practice while Kelsey hit an inside pitch off the hitting machine. too cool not to post it on here in my opinion. i have never seen this happen in real life, i have seen many pictures of it though.
well the softball season is almost over. it has been a difficult season. I knew it was going to be more about building up the team and not about wins. However i thought we would have at least 8-10 wins. we had tons of trouble getting multiple hits in a row or when people we are on base. so we have ended the regular season with a 2-15 record. we won our first game and our last game - ouch long season. we have gotten better and there were lots of games where we were right in there fighting the whole time. we have also had some drama - which really is no surprise I am coaching girls :). we had a pitcher quit half way through the season because we were going to move her down to JV. Yes that is hard to do as a coach, however when the pitcher is hitting more batters with the ball then they are hitting into the field it is time to do something different. Then just a little over a week ago an emotional/difficult event happened that involves our catcher emotionally. A junior at the high school tried to take his own life. his girlfriend is our catcher. the boy is still hanging on, he is in a coma. Ellen (catcher) is doing okay considering. i text her and try to help keep her chin up. she is reading the Bible - yippee, and told another player that i am her favorite adult to text. i just wish our team did not have to walk through both of these experiences I just wish sometimes i could just stop all of it and they could just practice and play softball games. however that is not what sports is all about. i am reminded multiple times of "this is why i coach" - not for the victories but for the life that happens outside of sports. i sort of wish right now i was one of those coaches that didn't care about the life/relationship part and only cared about the wins/losses. i know that wont happen I am just saying my heart would not be so sad right now if i thought like that.
next week we play our regional game on Wednesday 4:45pm at the CBAC (college Blvd. activity complex - its by Olathe Northwest) and we play Olathe East! this is the make or break it game, you lose you are done - you win you keep playing. now i am sure most of my readers do not know about Olathe East Softball - in fact i am pretty sure only 2 of you do (leah - cause i told her and she comes to my games & maybe because her sister played softball, yoh - because she use to come to my games & listens to me talk softball) So I am here to give you the facts: they have won 6 state championships (2007,2006,2005,2004,2001,1998), they are typically the best softball team around here. they have 4 seniors that are going on to play softball in college. they are just plain GOOD!! They should by all means beat us if you just compare us on paper. however sports fans things happen. for example last 2 softball seasons we should have gone to state because we had 3 division 1 softball players on our team. but we didn't - why? because we made mental errors and the underdog beat us! Also if you remember that KU men's basketball team was ranked #1 and was suppose to win the championship this year - did they NO they lost to who - an Underdog. So on Wednesday night I will be coaching first base for the underdogs! I will be praying/coaching the underdogs - however they are my girls and i think that they deserve this victory for many reasons all physically and emotionally. so yes on paper we should not win but when it comes to softball 1 little bunt, 1 overthrow, 1 pass ball can change the whole game. so yep I am praying for a victory of course and I am praying that my team THE HUSKIES show up in full to dominate the game, to not make physical or mental errors and to get more hits than the other team, and of course more runs than the other team.
LET'S GO HUSKIES!!!
