As a first-year, I didn’t have a clue as to what to expect for my first collegiate softball tournament. Obviously I was extremely excited for our week-long trip to Kissimmee, Fla., but on top of that, I was also a little nervous. Fortunately, I had a 22-hour bus drive to look forward to, giving me plenty of time to relax.
Our schedule while down in Florida consisted of two games every day with a day off on Monday. Our first day, we played Muskingum College and Aurora University; the first game we played extremely well, but during the second game, we seemed to lose a lot of our energy. We ended up losing both games, but the second day, we beat Transylvania 2-1 in extra innings. The coach of this team had coached at Albion about three years ago, so the seniors were really excited about the win. Also, it was our new coach, Christina Finch’s first collegiate win, so it was very important for her.
In our team meeting later that night, our coach talked with us about how we need to remain focused throughout both games and maintain our energy both on the field and in the dugout. We continued to split (win one game and lose the other), for the rest of the days down in Florida, with the exception of our last day, when we lost two. Overall, I feel like we had a fairly successful first showing. While we obviously have a lot to work on, we had a lot of positives that provide us with a good base to go off of in order to be successful this season.
I’ll be honest, when I was first looking at colleges, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue playing softball. Nevertheless, I felt like I should at least give it a shot, because I knew I would regret it if I didn’t play. Here at Albion, every girl is dedicated to the program and works hard at practice, and I’m looking forward to see that hard work pay off during the season. After our first week of games, I am extremely glad that I decided to keep playing, because I could not have chosen a better team to be a part of.
Leave a Reply