European Cup Experience from Coach Keli Harrell

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone enjoyed their summer, I know I did!  I escaped to the beach a few times and went to a few concerts, but the highlight of my summer was playing in the European Cup in Parma, Italy.  Earlier this summer, I got an email from a team out of Vienna, Austria, called the Superfund Wanderers.  They were in need a of pitcher for the European Cup which was to be held in Parma in late August.  Without much time to consider, I jumped at the opportunity to play again and see the world. 

          Considering the last time I pitched in a game was about nine months prior, I knew I had to get to work-fast!  I trained every day for a month to get back to 100%.  I knew going to the European Cup with my “A game” would be a challenge, but very feasible through commitment to my regimen.  With the help of a friend catching me (thanks Kim!) I worked diligently toward my goal, and on August 8th I boarded my flight to Vienna. 

          Upon arrival, I was taken to a cute little flat I would call home for the next week, right in the heart of Vienna.  I shared the flat with another American, a shortstop, and together we explored the beautiful city of Vienna for a week.  Team practices were held in the evenings, so during the day we went sightseeing and shopping.  We explored gardens, visited Parlament, Staatsoper, and Stephansdom, and many other places (think beautiful, old, historic buildings and cathedrals).  At the end of the week, we made the nine hour drive to Parma for the Cup.  We drove through the mountains of Austria to get to Italy, and it was one of the most scenic trips I have ever taken!  FYI, they speak German in Austria. 

          I’ll never forget the moment I knew I was finally in Italy.  We stopped at a rest stop and the toilets were basically...porcelain holes in the ground!  Oh yeah, people spoke Italian too ;-)  Italy was HOT, but beautiful.  We stayed in a nice hotel, but even the hotels took some getting used to.  Upon entering your room, you had to immediately insert your room key into a slot in the wall.  Without your room key in the wall you would have no electricity!  That being said, when you left your room and took your key the room got hot!  To sum up Italy:  Breakfast is sweet (usually pastries), the weather is hot, lunch is light, the pasta is delicious, gelato is delicious...all the food is delicious! 

          As for the tournament, I had a blast.  Teams in the tournament included Belgium, the Netherlands, Croatia, Italy, Germany, Russia, Czech Republic, and Spain.  I played in the Netherlands last year, and I was fortunate to see some old teammates and friends at the Cup.  I pitched our first game against Belgium, which we won, and the night game against the host team Old Parma.  Although we ended up losing 1-0, a real heartbreaker, it was an amazing game and I had the time of my life!  I pitched the game of my life and I left everything I had on the field.  I’ll never forget the feeling of throwing like that (that feeling when you know you’ve got your stuff!), playing under the lights, the battle against that kind of competition, the fight my team showed, or the sound of the crowd; it was everything I hoped I would experience and more!  We did not win the Cup, but we played our hearts out.  I led the Cup in strikeouts with 34 in 29 innings, and I finished with a .72 ERA.  I left with some wonderful memories, new friends, and quite a few souvenirs thanks to a pre-game gift exchange.  Before each game, each member of each team exchanged a gift with the opposing team.  This was usually something unique to each country.  Gifts varied from candies, to keychains, and stickers.  I am so glad I got the opportunity to play in the European Cup, and I consider it a privilege to have played with the Wanderers! 

Until next time,

Keli  *Coach Harrell*         

Quotes from Coach Kee in The Daily Reflector as the 2009 season begins.

1/26/09

“Toni (Paisley) did an unbelievable job of working through stuff,” Kee said. “This fall was very taxing on her mentally as well as physically, trying to get the perfect motion. We spent many a long hour out there after everybody else had left. That's Toni. She's probably the most competitive pitcher in our conference. As a coach, a huge weight was lifted off me by the time we went home for Christmas. That's when she really turned the corner.”

2/2/09

“Last year, our pitching was so slim and so limited,” said Kee, now in her 13th campaign at ECU. “We were functioning on one arm (returning senior Brooke Swann), and after 50-plus games, that arm starts to wear out.

“In the past, it would be impossible to get six or seven runs in a game. We were winning games 1-0 back when Keli Harrell pitched (in 2006). Getting the run production up, it allowed that one pitcher to settle in.”

“We hit live for the first time Monday, and I was extremely pleased with what I saw,” Kee said. “The returners have done a great job of fine-tuning their mechanics. Usually this early, pitchers are way ahead and hitters are way behind. I'm excited with our offense in the fact that you look at our slappers and our power hitters, I think our offense can come from anywhere.”

2/6/09

“I think we've hit a point where we really need to play against someone else,” said Kee, whose team legged out a long practice session Friday evening. “It's sort of hard to get a realistic feel for the game when you only go against each other. Playing these games will allow us an opportunity to really see where we are.”

2/8/09

“She (Toni Paisley) worked really hard in the summer and in the fall and to see her get out there today and have success was great,” Kee said. “She didn't miss a beat. I thought she was better today than she was during her freshman year.”

2/9/09

“I think our team has realized we have a lot of work (to do),” Kee said. “Right now, we have two out of four pitchers throwing very well, but we have to understand that we need four pitchers throwing well. We also need to do a better job hitting the inside pitch and the down pitch on offense.

“We needed this weekend so we could play other opponents and see what we need to work on. I think a couple of players had great weekends. But we just have to get some consistency, and that’s going to come with the more games we get under our belt.”

APRIL 23, 2008 by Coach Kee

Greetings everyone! I know it has been quite some time since our last “Koaches Korner” was written, but this season has been NONSTOP. Hopefully you understand! Though this is the case I could NOT let this past weekend’s SOFTBALL ALUMNI event pass us by. What a wonderful experience.

It was so nice to have our past players join us on campus. The event has been long over-do! I personally found the weekend to be quite enjoyable. Seeing old teammates was priceless! I haven’t laughed so hard in quite some time! Reliving the events of the late 80’s was crazy. I can HONESTLY say, I don’t think I would have enjoyed coaching our group/class!! Waaaaay too crazy for my coaching style! J And you OLDER alumni, your stories were pretty wild too! It’s amazing we are all “professionals” now in the career world?!?! How scary is that?

It’s so hard to believe I entered ECU in ’86 as a freshman. 22 years later, I am STILL here. That’s not the “norm” for this profession. I guess I’ve been fortunate and LUCKY. It’s amazing how much this program has grown. Being able to share those positives first-hand with those who ventured back was so rewarding. They were the ones who laid the foundation to this program many years ago. And for that, I am thankful. My ultimate goal is to continue to build a program those past players and teammates can be proud of. Being an alum of this program, and now its’ coach, is very special to me. I take carrying the “softball tradition” torch very serious. Hopefully our future will continue to shine bright!

I cannot wrap this note up without taking the time to thank a few people… Jane, thanks for taking the time to organize this past weekend. The photos & the slide show were priceless; not to mention HILARIOUS! The evening social was a wonderful time for all. ….Mickey, thanks for tracking down so many alumni! Catching up with everyone via email, and seeing them this past weekend has been so enjoyable. Your efforts helped pull this event off! …Thanks to the ECU Alumni Association for assisting us in our efforts of bringing the “past” back to campus.  The tailgate event was the perfect setting. And last but not least, I would like to thank those alumni who came back! It meant a lot! You guys will ALWAYS be a part of this program. Remember that!!!

It was great seeing everyone!!!

Coach Kee

“Tracey”

Hello Pirate Softball Fans!

Happy Spring to everyone! I think we are all grateful that spring is officially here because watching and playing games in the cold really isn’t much fun. And if we could just get the winds to stop gusting at 20-30 mph every day, we’d be much happier.

Our first trip the west coast as a team was very successful, despite our record in the 3-day tournament. We got to play some new and different teams who were all very solid and well coached. Stanford was the real deal and a legit nationally ranked team at #5. I think we all learned what it takes to play at the next level and the commitment it involves to get there. The Stanford game is defined by a steady defense, strong pitching (okay, VERY strong pitching), a powerful offense, and aggressive speed on the base paths. The consistency with which they play on a daily basis is what makes them great.

I have to give a special thank you to the Jimenez clan! They did the most amazing cookout and had an incredible spread. Everything was perfect and they managed to feed upwards of about 150 people. The entire trip was worth it just to see the amount of people that showed up to support our team. I’m glad we finally made it to the west coast so our parents out there could actually DRIVE to a game (with the exception of the Hawaiians of course). I wish we could do it multiple times a year, but I think the red-eye flights back to the east coast would just about kill me!!

We are now moving into the critical part of our season, in which every weekend is conference play. This weekend we head to Tulsa, which is never an easy place to play (nor an easy place to get to!). Our focus in practice has been on ourselves and getting our game where it needs to be. We went back to the basics to make sure our skills are fine-tuned and in-check. It was very similar to a practice that we would have had in the first week of January. We have a very hard working team and I hope for their sake that their hard work pays off in May.

Thanks again to Jaime Jimenez and his whole family for the cookout! Thanks to all those parents who provided Easter baskets for our team as well. All the chocolate didn’t have time to melt because it was eaten prior to boarding the plane! Thanks also to all those parents and supporters who have been with us throughout the year. We have yet to make a road trip and NOT have fans at our games. Thanks, it means a lot to us!

Happy Spring! See you all soon!

Coach Koz

Hello Softball Junkies!

I just wanted to give you a report from the coaches’ side of things, now that we have 2 home tournaments under our belt. I can honestly say I’m ready to hit the road! Just kidding…sort of! Hosting tournaments is exhausting, as we are at the field 2 hours before the first game of the day and until the lights on the field get turned off (7:00 am until about 9:00 pm). We try to be very welcoming as a program to the other teams that come to ECU. We want each school to have a good experience here so that they will want to come back for future tournaments.

So after a very long weekend, with game cancellations, tournament revisions, weather delays, and extra innings, it feels good to be back in the office…preparing for yet another home tournament! The one thing about North Carolina is that you can never fully predict what the weather is going to be like. It could be sunny and in the 60’s or it can be wet, rainy, and in the 40’s. We can control a lot as coaches, but not the weather unfortunately. Luckily this past weekend, all the teams were very understanding of the conditions and had no complaints about the weekend. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for this upcoming weekend’s weather! We have our biggest tournament of the year with 6 teams coming into Greenville. This is our last chance to get ready for conference play, which begins next weekend at UCF in Orlando. 

The daily grind of the softball season is evident when you look at a typical week. We play every weekend then get Monday as our day off. The players put so much time and energy into their craft, practicing and preparing and playing, but then they turn right back around on Monday and become a “regular” student. They are in classes all day and some are in study hall. They continue the grind of the season by going to weights early Tuesday morning, so that they can maintain the strength that they gained in the off-season. And by Tuesday it’s back to practice and improving upon the skills that need work for the next round of games.

So as student-athletes and coaches, the spring is incredibly busy on and off the field. Time management becomes a necessary skill for everyone! Our players handle the rigors of the season well, and as coaches we feed off of their energy as we try to prepare them for the next hurdle ahead.

Thanks to all those who came and supported us this weekend! We always appreciate it! I have some special guests coming this weekend as my parents are coming down from NY!

See you this weekend!

Coach Koz

FEBRUARY 18, 2008 by Coach Kee

Do you ever feel you NEVER have enough time in the day to do everything you need to? Well, that’s my typical Monday. Uniforms are spanking clean, paperwork is caught up on, and now the last thing I have to do is whip something up for the Koaches Korner! This is actually the highlight of my day, because taking a few minutes to “reflect” is always healthy. I should probably do it more often!

Two weekends into the season, and I can honestly say I’ve learned a lot about this teams character. All too often, your team is placed in front of a “fork in the road” scenario and seeing which path they take and how they adapt to the situation, can be somewhat frightening for a coach. Our fork was a result of an injury. Every team faces them at some point in the season. All you can do is “step up” and keep moving towards your goals. Take control of the things you can…effort, attitude, skill preparation, and daily commitment to get better…and keep pushing as one united group. W’s are nice, and that’s the reason we have a scoreboard, but seeing kids rise to the occasion trumps that in my opinion. I was happy for our kids this weekend. They handled the adversity. They pulled out 3 wins in the late innings, and were able to throw 5 w’s in the win column. Are we satisfied? Never. We know there are elements to our game we must continue to improve on. We just keep laying the foundation, one brick at a time…on a day to day basis.

I’m a firm believer that you can always turn “adversity” into your favor if you look hard enough. Maybe this early challenge to our squad, will allow others to shine and step up? Maybe it will help us in the long run with depth & experience? Maybe it will force our offense and defense to begin firing earlier then expected? Time will tell. Regardless, as the saying goes…”that which does not break you, only makes you stronger.”

Before I forget…THANKS to all of you who came out this weekend! Parents, fans, BALL GIRLS, everyone! It was nice to see the stands full. I also want to thank Ernie (our grounds keeper) and his crew for a WONDERFUL job done. The field took a beating, but you guys had it playing well all weekend long. These guys put in 12 hour days, and STILL kept their sense of humor! Thanks. I also want to thank those parents who assisted in the pig pickin’!! What a fun time had by all!

Hope to see everyone at the “supper with softball” this Thursday! And back out at the field this weekend!

Peace & Pirates!

Coach Kee

Hello Blackbeardsballers junkies!

I thought I would take a little bit of time to give you a glimpse into the inner workings of a Division I softball program. With opening weekend only days away, one would think that Coach Kee and I spend all day at work diagramming X’s and O’s and coming up with new and exciting softball strategies. Sorry to burst all of your bubbles, but our “work days” are filled with paperwork, travel preparation, and more paperwork. 

Here is a little sample of the things that we must have done prior to our departure on Friday morning. Fasten your seat belts folks! It’s a “To Do” list that has to be recycled over and over every time we have a game!

Since we open up on the road, so much of our planning and time goes into finding a hotel, arranging a bus for travel, completing all the necessary paperwork as required by ECU and the NCAA, and getting our kids fitted in the proper game and travel gear. First on the list is booking a hotel - Coach Kee is the master of this task. She always finds a nice and safe place for us to stay that is usually reasonably priced as well. I have the task of making up the rooming lists for each of our 8 hotel stays this season. These rooming lists have to be faxed to the respective hotel weeks in advance, so that they can have our rooms ready upon check-in. Making the rooming lists is not as easy as it sounds, because we like to rotate our players so that they are never in the same room with the same people. It took me 2 days to complete these rooming lists!

Travel preparation also takes up a good chunk of our time. We have to complete travel authorization forms, which state exactly who is traveling to an away site. When traveling, we also need to decide if we can fit a charter bus into our budget. Luckily, our administration has encouraged us to get buses for all of our trips from Greenville. This is such a treat, as it can be exhausting for Coach Kee and I to drive vans everywhere. Upon booking a charter, the bus company then wants an itinerary, so we have to plan out our days well in advance. Coach Kee books the buses, and I book our flights for conference games. I then get rental vans or minivans for whatever city we are flying in to. These flights and rental reservations have been booked for months now, but are constantly changing, which further complicates itineraries that have already been made.

Coach Kee and I must also decide how we are going to feed our team. Since we are on a bus for this weekend, and we play the day we leave, we will be picking up sandwiches and eat them on the way to Chapel Hill. We also need to buy snacks, since we spend ALL day at the field. Trying to decide where to eat is challenge as well, in that we must stay within budget and still ensure that our kids get something healthy. A trip to the bank is always in order prior to any road departure as well!

Other things that need to be taken care of include: getting all the hitting and pitching charts together, finding stats on all the opposing teams we will play, ordering line-up cards (and remembering to bring them!), having the game schedule for the tournament so we know when to warm-up in the cage and when to get on the field, and making up a packing list for the players so they don’t forget any piece of uniform or gear!

We also had to distribute all the game gear for the season to our kids. It was a process that can take up to 2-3 hours, but we knocked it out in an hour during a rain delay before practice. Each player gets 4 different short sleeve shirts for underneath their uniforms, 6 long sleeve shirts, 3 pairs of game socks, 4 pairs of stirrups, a cold weather coat, a new travel suit, new visors, a travel bag, bag tags, and probably some other things I can’t remember right now. And all this doesn’t even include the actual uniforms! And speaking of uniforms, let’s not forget that we have to get Teenie’s uniforms altered so they will fit her properly!

So these are the things that Coach Kee and I have been working on for the last couple weeks. It doesn’t even include what has to be done AFTER traveling: travel reimbursement (figuring out TO THE PENNY how much money we spent), participation lists (every player who played even an out in each and every game), and the worst part – washing the uniforms so that they continue to look like new uniforms years after wearing.

Well, NEXT week will be a totally different workweek in preparation for NEXT weekend when we play at home. Hosting tournaments just adds about 20 more things to our “To Do” list! Sometimes it’s easier to play on the road for us coaches!

I hope you enjoyed a peek into our daily grind. Now you all know why we love being out on the field!

I hope to see lots of you this weekend!

Coach Koz

The countdown is STILL ticking away…10 days, 3 hours and 47 minutes until we throw the uniforms on and start this marathon of a season. I cannot believe our games are just around the corner?! When you start training in August for the spring season, you feel the actual games are light years away. When they do arrive, you almost go through a period of “disbelief”. J Hopefully we’ll be able to take advantage of our remaining practice days! Because like all coaches, I feel there is ALWAYS room for improvement.

This past Saturday, Coach Koz and I hosted a Coaches Clinic at Eppes Middle School here in Greenville. We hadn’t done one in six years due to our grueling schedule, but upon talking to the softball community, we felt the timing was right. We weren’t sure how the turnout would be, but we were confident in the fact we had tons to share and teach. We were hoping to draw at least 25 coaches. Needless to say when we had 65 show up, we were excited! The coaches came from all over eastern North Carolina, and from different levels. We had middle school coaches, high school coaches, and travel ball coaches ranging from those that fielded 8 and under teams to those who fielded 18 under teams. To see that kind of interest about a sport I base my career on was so heartwarming. Koz and I both loved interacting and answering their questions. I guess you could say it was nice to spend a day with “adults” who were fellow coaches! Considering every other day of our lives is spent dealing with our own team made up of “college kids”! J Hopefully the participants left there fired up about their upcoming seasons, and not thoroughly CONFUSED! I also think we increased our fan base, so that’s a win win for all parties involved. Who knows…maybe one of these coaches is coaching a FUTURE PIRATE!!

Before I wrap this note up, I personally want to thank the following people for helping pull our successful clinic off. Without them, none of it would have happened.

Coach Koz

Keli Harrell

Charlie Langley

Rod Vinson

Rod Skinner

Allen Lewis

Charlie’s “Crew”