SOFTBALL BLOGS FOR 2008 SEASON:
SOFTBALL BLOG with Charina Sumner
WE MADE IT TO REGIONALS!!!!! Can you believe it? This is so crazy. I am so excited that I my heart is still racing and we found out about four hours ago that we got an at-large bid into the NCAA Regional Tournament. Kaui was the first person to get the phone call. Everyone was like "no way" and "not even." We all thought it was a joke. Then within the next few minutes more people were getting calls and text messages. Then we all had to report to coach's office ASAP. It was so crazy. I couldn't help but scream and give everyone hugs. We got to coach's office and it was real. It wasn't just a dream.
So this is all I have to say right now: WHOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO! Haha...I am so happy that I am done with school. No more finals. No more studying. No more school work. Well at least until summer school starts. But I am done with my sophomore year of college. Dang I'm getting old. It feels so good. And now I get to go to Houston and play some softball. Life would be so easy if all I had to do was eat and play softball and go to the pool to get tanned. Life would be pretty sweet. But now since school is out of the mix, I am loving life. I've been done with finals since 10:00 this morning and I swear I haven't felt this good in a long time. Probably since we beat Carolina...haha.
We won the series against UAB today. It was nice to have the seniors win their last series at home ever. It was "Senior Weekend" so on Saturday all us younger ones decorated the field. Thanks to Ernie, our super cool field maintenance guy, the seniors had each of their numbers spray painted on the outfield grass. It looked awesome. I can't wait till I'm a senior and get my number on the grass:). Well actually I can wait. I know my next two years are gonna fly by and I'll be really sad. We also made posters for each senior, put some streamers and balloons on the bleachers, and put their numbers on the dugout fence with cups. I do have to say that we love our seniors a lot a lot and we will miss them sooooooooooo much. Erin, Paige, Stacey, and Beth...pretty much the greatest people ever.
Aloha mai 'oukou! (Hello everybody!)
Hello again blogger friends!
Aloha Pirate Softball Blog Readers!!!! 'O Charina ko'u inoa, aka 'o Rina ko'u inoa kapakapa. No Kailua, Hawai'i mai au. Hau'oli no wau no ka mea e kakau ana wau i na mea kakau i keia manawa.
SOFTBALL BLOG with Paige Baggett
Hello everyone. Well, it wasn’t the best of weekends. It started on Friday when leaving for Houston. We left Greenville around 9:30 am for a flight out of Raleigh-Durham around lunchtime. When we got to the airport we realized that our supposed flight had already taken off. So, we spent half of the day in Raleigh waiting for our four o’clock departure. We arrived in Houston late Friday night. Saturday we played two games against Houston. Houston was a great team and they showed this weekend. Nevertheless, we pulled together as a team and held our heads high. At least we can say that we were the best looking team there! Last but not least…our trip home wasn’t much better. When we landed in Raleigh we realized that our bus driver was late. So, we spent some extra time in the Raleigh airport waiting for him to arrive. Finally, we made it back at three o’clock Monday morning. So, I guess you can say that it was a weekend full of challenges!
It has been fun writing these blogs about our team and sharing our experiences. As a senior you never take any experience for granted because before you know it your career is over. As someone new takes over I hope everyone continues to support our team on and off the field. Go Pirates!
Hello again! Yesterday was a great day for Pirate softball. Our team pulled off two wins against UNCW. These two wins were very important for our team and we plan to use them as motivation for this weekend. Today our team had a great practice. The weather was great and so was our performance on the field. We worked together very well today and accomplished a lot before game day on Saturday. It is always good to end practice on a positive note before going into conference play.
Tomorrow morning we are traveling to Houston. Playing this Top 25 team is going to be very challenging but we are ready for the battle! Pulling a victory away from them will be huge for our program. Our games will be broadcast on CSTV and I hope everyone has a chance to watch. We will definitely have the best looking uniforms! So, until next time…Go Pirates!
Well it was a tough weekend for our team. Our games were cancelled because of rain on Saturday. So, we rescheduled two games for Sunday against Marshall. We knew that Marshall was going to be a tough team to beat and unfortunately we didn’t come away with a win. There were some positives with this past weekend. Brooke threw a great game against Marshall. So we plan to build on that as a team. With a day off and a strong day of practice we plan to turn things around. UNCW comes to our place on Wednesday and we are going to use these two games to motivate us for Houston. We are half way through with conference play and the remaining series are very important for us win. Every win will be crucial before we begin the conference tournament. So, we hope to see all pirate fans there on Wednesday as we take on UNCW. Go Pirates!
Well, I am back to give all the Pirate Fans some great news! We beat the Tarheels! Yesterday we played a double-header at UNC. The first game got away from us when UNC won 3-1. But, that did not keep us down! We came back and won the second game 3-2. We gave the Tarheels their first loss at home! Riggs got her second win on the mound as a freshman! We were all very proud of our team victory. The ride home was interesting as well. Our bus over heated and it took us a little longer to get home than expected. But, we made it back safely with a huge win and smiles on all of our faces.
After our exciting win it is now time to get back to work. Today at practice we began to focus on what we needed to fix before we play Marshall. Marshall is a very good team and winning this series would be huge. It is nice to take a break from being on the road and playing on our own field. It is always great to have the support from the fans when playing. Pirate fans make the games fun and exciting. We appreciate everything you do! So, with that being said…everyone get ready to cheer loud because game time is at one on Saturday! See you at the field! Go Pirates!
Last but not least…I want to wish my parents a Happy 25th Anniversary!
Since I have been handed the torch I will be taken over for the next couple of weeks. Although, the shoes will be hard to fill….
Hello everyone! My name is Paige Baggett and I am known as one of the “locals” on our team. That’s right, born and raised in Winterville, North Carolina! (About ten minutes from Greenville) It is great to have the love and support of your family nearby! I am a senior and will be graduating in December 2008. I am majoring in Physical Education and have a passion for teaching. I recommend this major to everyone!
ECU softball has always been very important to me growing up. I can remember growing up around the softball field when I was younger and it is amazing to see the growing support of softball fans. I am one of the lucky ones that know how it feels to stand on both sides of the fence!
This past weekend we played in Tulsa, Ok. We arrived back in Greenville early Monday morning. So, we needed a day off! As a team we were able to pull one win away from them. Tulsa is a difficult place to play and it doesn’t help when you have tough umpiring. Lets just say that the umpires were not on our side this weekend…. But our team pulled a huge win on the road and we hope to carry that momentum into Carolina on Wednesday. Playing this in-state rival, it is always a good game and we hope to come back with two wins!
I am very excited be giving all pirate fans an inside look to what goes on with our team for the next weeks. Until next time…Go Pirates!
SOFTBALL BLOG with Cristen Aona
Sadly, this will be my last entry… so you know its going to be a long one. So, here’s a little update on my life right now… school is kicking my butt. Not literally, but life as a student athlete is no picnic. (yes it is gonna be one of those speeches ) Sometimes I feel great frustration at teachers for not being more, I don’t want to say lenient (meaning easier) with athletes, but more understanding. This semester most of my classes (4) fall on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. That is just the way the dice fell. Sometimes athletes get lucky with class scheduling and can have a more balanced plate, but mostly not. As an athlete, you have to schedule your classes around your major, and your sport. Thus my schedule is packed on MWF and Tuesday too. But I’m not complaining, I know it could be worse, but teachers don’t make it much easier. This semester I miss about 15 school days, and most of them are MWF classes. Student athletes, when they are in season, are always playing catch-up. I am lost in translation when it comes to chemistry and because I’ve missed quite a few lectures, a couple due to softball trips, and the other one ill admit that I was cramming for a math test throughout lol. So I will take ownership for that one. Sorry mom. But enough with the complaining, I just have to tackle my work head on, even though watching tv and sleeping sounds like a better idea.
Next topic… I’d like to talk about how my house never seems to have hot water when I shower. It is quite disturbing to come home from practice and eat and get ready to take a shower, and freeze while doing so. Because I have longer hair, and an obsession about brushing it and washing it, I need to wash and condition my hair everyday. However, its discouraging when my shower head spits the Atlantic ocean minus the salt and sea creatures at me. And I know what you are thinking… someone in my house is using it all before I get there. Oh no my friend, that is not the case because even when I’m the first to take a shower this proves true. That means everyone in my house has to suck it up and cringe when taking a shower. If its too cold, I wont wash my hair, but because of my obsession with my hair it doesn’t happen often… so if you ever see me with oily hair, you know the water was extra cold the night before.
Disclaimer: I’ve been asked to talk about this for a while now, and have been debating whether to or not. On one hand… its hilarious, but on the other hand… it’s a little childish… but since this is my last blog I figured what the heck, who doesn’t need a little break from the seriousness of life and get a little silly… so here’s the story of Felix and friends… All athletes are sore. I don’t care what sport you play at some point or another, with the way we push our bodies and test our limits, everyone has their aches and pains… The training room is a great place to work on our owwees. We have a dedicated training staff that know the biz, and are also really great people. The softball girls are quite good friends with a number of athletic trainers, and we see them daily, because they are at every practice lol. Injuries and pain are not very pleasant to think about or deal with, but is a necessity to endure whenever you are competing, whether it be on the softball field or anywhere else, like in workplace. Sometimes you just have to suck it up. But in our case it is also our responsibility to get treatment for it too. So we like to lighten up the mood by giving our bodyparts’ nicknames. Felix is my arm. Yes yes… that’s weird I know… but if you know me, you probably aren’t surprised. Our trainers fondly ask about how felix is feeling, or hows Ferdinand and Fernandez (stacey’s calves) or how is Soleana…( sole for short, aka erin’s back). It’s quite entertaining. A few other names are Marge (Sissy’s arm), Lisa (felix’s best friend and Angel’s arm), and Joesef (Tiff’s hand). The best one is Edna in my opinion. Edna is Riggs’ arm. Riggs to say the least, took a while before warming up to the name I bestowed on her. She has since renamed it enda-diablo because she thinks it gives it that extra kick! Lol. O riggy.
So now you know… lol its been fun sharing my world with you, but all great things come to an end lol… im handing the torch over to paige who is awesome so it will be okay… bye everyone… GO PIRATES!
March 24, 2008
Wow I know, its been way too long since we’ve had a blog… my bad you guys, but as you know its been pretty tough. But I will catch you up, fear not.
First of all, I’d like to say Happy Belated Easter to everyone and their families. If your Easter was anything like ours you still have bags full of candy taunting youJ. Our parents kept us well stocked for the long plane ride home with bags of goodies and farewell hugs and kisses. Pirate fans came out in full force this weekend in Stanford and took over the park outside of the stadium. Toni’s parents rolled up in a miniature mobile home! Lol even Percy and her family (a player joining us next year) came out to play. So much love and support surrounded us as we played all the way in California. Most of us west coasters were able to see our families for the first time since January! I remember waking up on the Friday morning and walking outside our hotel room and hearing my mom’s voice down the hall!!! After zigging and zagging my way through our maze hotel, I found my mom and dad, along with Kaui’s family! It felt so good to see their smiling faces. On Saturday Sissy’s family set up a pot luck! All of sissy’s family came out! Lol seriously though… all of her family and extended family were there! We had a huge spread right in the middle of this wooded picnic area outside of the stadium. O man and was the food ono (ono means delicious in Hawaiian)! We had some teriyaki tri-tip steak, some green beans, rice, chili, pasta salad, and Rina’s favorite, rolls. lol. It was so good, I went back for seconds! I know I know, what's new, but I wasn’t the only one :). Also, we had killer desserts! Thanks to all those involved in the pot luck, those who put it together and for all those who came out, because it really was special. Sissy’s dog also made a surprise visit. Miss you all… :( and take care. But now we are back on the east coast getting our classes squared away and gearing up for conference on Saturday! More later pirate fans! I'm going to do some math… yikes!
Quick shout out… Today is the big 35. Yes, 35 years ago my parents tied the knot! Congrats and Happy Anniversary I love you guys so much. Well we managed two wins today before the thunder and lightening rolled in! Thanks for all the families and friends coming out to support us. Also thank you to the chicken pickin crew. Thank you to all the moms and dads who had a wonderful meal for us after the game! It was soooooo good!
As you know, I’m a sophomore, and you know what that means… yes, I can live off campus. Usually, freshman HAVE to stay in the dorm. Now don’t get me wrong, dorm life is a great experience and something that I feel you need to go through in college, but one year is good for me. I love living off campus and so do my other teammates. There are just some things that you don’t miss about the dorms like community bathrooms. Yes. Finding the opportune time to do your business is a skill you have to learn there, and I can tell you it kind of like batting, its all about your timing. But anyways there is a point to my babbling. I live in an apartment with 3 of my best friends in the world, we each have our own room and bathroom… I know… clutch! But the downside is that we only have one washer and one dryer, and when we are all on the same schedule with a bag full of dirty clothes from the road trip… you find yourself in a predicament. Thank goodness for our freshman in the dorms and FREE LAUNDRY! Yesterday after getting takeout from my favorite restaurant, FAJITAS!, I went to the dorm with Sissy, Riggs and Brit to do laundry. It was really fun… there are multiple washers and dryers so you can do all your laundry at one time! And there is this HUGE TV in the deserted lobby where we watched a little king of queens and still standing, which are both hilarious! So I would like to thank them for letting me use their facilities!
March 14, 2008
Hi again! Sorry It has been forever, but with traveling and games, I'm a little pooped out. We just got back not too long ago from our series win, and road trip to Georgia, and its good to be back home! Today, besides practice, we had class scheduling… o yes great fun. Actually we have a very entertaining and well-prepared advisor named Jamie Quinn. She is really patient and kind and understanding and smart, and I think I’ve brown nosed enough haha. Most of us met with her today to make our class loads for next year, and for most of us, fall 2008 looks like the most difficult semester yet. I'm going to be taking a few health classes, anatomy, chemistry, biology, first aid, botany and rocket science. Okay maybe I was joking about the last two, but I might as well be taking those classes too J. But we have more important things to gear up for… SOUTHERN MISS is rolling into Greenville this weekend. Tomorrow is the start of our 3 game conference series with Southern Mississippi, so I'm just about to head in for the night. But, before I go, I want to thank aunty Rita for the goody bags on our road trip… the snickers bars were cultch! Hope to see you all out there tomorrow!
March 7, 2008
Hi again, well we are now in Florida. After a long morning of traveling, and more traveling we arrived in Orlando. Today started off great, we rushed to the car, loaded our luggage, and headed to the bus at 6:30am. However, after we got there and unloaded our luggage… my car wouldn’t start. Perfect. To top it off I was stalled in the middle of the road. A friendly policeman tried to jump start my car, but it was no use… she was being stubborn. It took the muscles of the team to push… no, shove, my car into a nearby stall… that was a chore. Note to all those in the future, when pushing a stalled car in neutral, there is NO power steering. I was wrestling the wheel while the team pushed and pulled my car into a spot. Thanks Guys for all the help! Thankfully, Coach Kell’s dad was able to tow it to safety… just my luck. So we got to Orlando safely and sardine packed ourselves into the van and headed to UCF’s stadium for our practice slot… Boy is it humid… we were all sweaty beasts after an efficient, quick practice and we cooled off with an icee! Me and JJ, being as studious as we are, just finished doing our math homework and we are about to call it a night, you should too! Well goodnight to all and GO PIRATES!
March 6, 2008
Hello again. Sorry it has been a while, but school has been a bear… a big one… I had 3 tests this week and as you know speech. Thankfully, they all went okay!
So we had weights this morning at 6:30am… which means alarm at 5:45 and a weak 5 min snooze. The thing about weights is that there is a sound system in there, so while we are working out and getting ripped… haha, we can listen to some music. Coach Wheel is the DJ every morning, and we never know what we are going to get. One day it will be some hard core metal, the next day it may be some alternative rock from the late 90’s, then maybe we will get some 80’s contemporary, or a whole morning of Shania. One day Coach Wheel let me bring in a local Hawaiian mix CD… only me, Kaui, Rina, Toni and Tiffany liked it. I know what you’re thinking… Kaui and Rina fit, but where does Tiffany and Toni fit? Well Tiffany came to Hawaii this past summer and learned to like it, Toni by default has been living in close proximity to Hawaiians for going on two years so she has heard them all. Anyways, today we got R&B… DJ Coach Wheel broke out his rhythm and blues collection… and it was a HIT! We grooved to the temptations, moved to the beat of Billy jean and Michael Jackson, did abs to Diana Ross’s you can’t hurry love, and we stayed together with Al Green. Mom, you probably would have, how do you say it, shaken your groove thing? haha too. Either way, R&B Thursday started our day off right! Thanks Coach Wheel!
Well the day is getting closer, you know I'm talking about UCF… a lot memories were made on that field, and a lot of unfinished business is there too. We’ve been gearing up for the trip and everyone is pumped… by this time tomorrow we will be in the F! Well, I’m going to squeeze in a cat nap before practice! Have a good day! GO PIRATES!
So I had to make a speech today and I was terrified and I talked with a heavy pidgin accent. For those of you who don’t know what pidgin is, its broken English and the official language of Hawaii (lol). It basically shortens every sound and is in fast forward mode. Yes, it is as bad as it seems, and hard to understand when you’re not used to it. Thankfully our team does well with me, Kaui, and Rina’s occasional pidgin slang and are getting quite good at understanding it, Toni and Tiffany especially.
Well our day off coming to an end, and it
seems like everyone is leaving. Charina’s Nana and Papa are on a
plane to Hawaii, Toni’s parents are off to California, and soon
Kaui’s parents will be leaving us too, safe travels to all. :( O woe
is me. But, soon we will see them all again at Stanford, with my
mom and dad! I can’t wait!
So I just realized that I haven’t really introduced
myself very well. As you know I’m Cristen Aona, and I’m one of the
Hawaiians on the team. What you probably didn’t know is that I have
a twin. Don’t beat yourself up about not knowing that I have a twin,
Angel didn’t even know I had a twin until this past Friday and I've
known her for a year and spend everyday with her. Lol. I have a
twin brother named Christian… so its Cristen and Christian… typical
of twins to have names that are pretty close, almost like tweedle
dee and tweedle dum. I'm tweedle dee… and he’s… well you know. JUST
JOKING… J
But my brother is a huge part of my life. Its really hard being
away from him because we are so close… although he never calls… im
sure he misses me as much as I miss him… sure haha. We call him
Bucky, and he goes to Southern Utah University where he plays
baseball. He is awesome, and probably the funniest person I know.
I'm so proud of him! Ill tell you more later…
J bye
March 2, 2008
So ends another day at the softball field, as we took two today and won the tournament! We defeated Towson and Fordham. Parts of the game got exciting when some of our opponents thought they were linebackers… clearly they weren’t, their form was awful. Kudos to Brooke for the well deserved mvp award of the tournament! Thanks to all the supporters and fans for always being there to cheer us on. We appreciate it greatly. Oh by the way, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JJ! Yes folks, today is JJ’s 21st birthday, and how nice is it that she got to spend it with the ones she loves at the field all day, and her mom and dad and sister came too. What a treat! Also I want to send a quick birthday shout out to Aunty Linda (teenie’s mom) and Aunty Bonnie (Brooke’s mom)… LOOKIN GOOD!!!
So what does a softball player do after softball? Not much. I mean there’s eating, schoolwork, and sleeping, in that order, and then not much else. Now we are just going to enjoy our families company, and study. Exciting right? And when I say our families, I'm including myself with my roommates’ families. I’d like to thank uncle Elia (E-lee-ah), Kaui’s dad, for going to the store to pick me up a new headlight for my car that has been winking in the darkness for a few days. So currently I am working up the courage to study for my chemistry test that is tomorrow at 8am. I am probably one of the worst professional procrastinators there is. Instead of jumping into my homework and getting it done, I like to do other things like watch tv, eat, sleep and clean… yes mom, clean but not your clean lol. I tend to move my room around… but there’s not much you can do with it besides turn the bed perpendicular to the window or parallel. On Friday I moved it parallel to the window :). But I won’t delay any longer, I’ll start my homework… after my shower. Haha. Well I hope you have a great rest of the day. And Families… We LOVE YOU AND WILL MISS YOU :(
February 29, 2008
Hi again.
Well today was freezing, but we managed to throw two in the win column. Tomorrow we play at 12pm and 2pm! Be there, but dress warmly!
The big news of the day would definitely be the HUGE SURPRISE. Aunty Kathy and Uncle Elia (pronounced E-Lee-ah), Kaui’s parents, surprised her, and everyone else it seemed, as they snuck into Greenville for the weekend. I mean, it is a GREAT vacation spot... haha. That means everyone in my household has family here except me… so you know I’m keeping my eyes peeled for my family to pop in sometime! Fat chance since I just called my house phone and my mom answered, but just for fun I’m going to keep a look out.
Also in for the tournament are Coach Koz’s, JJ’s, Rina’s, Toni’s, Tiff’s, Rigg’s, Stacey’s, Erin’s, Paige’s, Brooke’s, and now Kaui’s family here repping the purple and gold along with our die hard fans!
Thanks guys! Keep up the great work and GO PIRATES!
February 28, 2008
Aloha! I'm Cristen Aona, I play 3rd base and will be writing this blog for a while!
First off, I'd like to wish my Daddy, or as Tiffany says, my Diddy,
A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY and I love you!Well, let’s see, what's new... Yesterday was pretty eventful. Along with our basketball winning a conference game and scoring more than 75 points, which means free tacos with your ticket stub :), our softball team was recognized two times throughout the game. At half-time, all of ECU's student athletes on the honor roll were recognized on the court. We are proud to say that softball represented 17 deep. While out there we received an award recognizing our high team GPA! That wasn't the end of the awards though, a little later during a media timeout, we found ourselves on the court again receiving a thousand dollar check for winning the service award last year! The check was larger than Teenie! We are currently working on winning the service award this year too. So some exciting things went down last night I think you will agree!
I look forward to sharing my life with you through this blog period, you will find that school takes up a lot of the free time I have, so if I get boring talking about school, bear with me. :) Until next entry, best wishes to all.
SOFTBALL BLOG with Jessica Johnson
Hi everyone!! I'm JJ (Jessica Johnson) and I'll be doing the next round of blogs for all of you that can't get enough of ECU softball:) I'm a junior and I play first base and sometimes I play third base as well. I'm studying apparel merchandising with minor in business and I can honestly say that I love the classes. I haven't fallen asleep in a class in two years!! It makes it easy to stay awake when you actually have a passion for what you're learning about and I love fashion.
I'm from Laguna Niguel, California,
which is about 5 minutes away from Laguna Beach, so I am very, very far
away from my family. I miss them like crazy and to be honest, the older
I get the more I miss them:( I'll be happy when my mom and dad come in a
couple weeks for the Pirate Clash tournament, which is also my birthday
weekend. I'm turning 21!!!! They do they're best to come and watch me
play as much as they can, but it's hard because I also have a sister who
is away at college; she is a freshman at the University of Arizona.
As you all know, we had our first tournament this past weekend and
thanks to all of you that came out to support us...we love it when we
have fans!! I'm proud of the way that our team played because the first
weekend is always pretty sketchy because people are nervous and afraid
to make mistakes, but our team kept our composure and showed that we
have a lot of potential. Overall, this weekend was a solid base that I
feel we can build from. I think this weekend gave us a clear picture as
to what we need to work on. Also, congrats to Coach Kee for her 500th
win! Hopefully, we can keep getting some more W's for her to put in her
win column!
Today is our beloved day off and unfortunately I'll be spending most of
it studying for a statistics test, doing homework, and working on resume
in which I have no information to put. Is that bad that I've never had a
job?? Softball has been my full time job since I was 5, but I guess
employers want a little more experience than that, oh well. Anyways, I
will talk to you guys soon...bye bye!!
Hi guys,
I don't even know where to start because today has been the worst day ever
for me, but hopefully everyone else had a great day. I had to miss practice
today because I spent my entire afternoon until 5 pm at Wal-Mart with a
police officer making out a police report. To make the long story short, I
left my purse in a cart and 10 minutes later the purse is gone. An hour
later the purse is found, but my $400 iphone and its $350 Louis Vuitton case
are missing. Needless to say I practically had an anxiety attack in the
store because I'll probably never get another iphone again; I spent all my
Christmas money on it and bought it for myself before I came back to school
in January. I must have looked like an idiot walking around the entire
parking lot and store with the police officer bawling the entire time.
People probably thought that I stole something. Try being in a beyond
stressful situation with no cell phone, it makes the situation 100 times
worse because you can't speak to anybody!
Anyways, today was also mine and Josh's one year anniversary<3 So romantic,
I think I saw him for 2.5 seconds when I met up with him to take his cell
phone. Tomorrow we are going to Finelli's for dinner to celebrate our one
year and Valentine's Day. Hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day
tomorrow! Only one more day of practice until Gameday...hopefully the field
is softer from the rain so we can go at it tomorrow. Hope I didn't depress
everyone and if you see someone with an iphone, it's probably mine!!! Bye
bye.
Hi guys!
Today we had our first home games and we managed to pull out 2 wins! It's always a good day when we win both our games, no matter if it's pretty or ugly. We actually played pretty well today and our pitchers did great. We all found out yesterday that Toni will be out for a minimum of two weeks, so we were all really concerned about these next weeks coming up. We knew that our other pitchers were going to need to step up and so far they have both elevated their game. When I told my dad about Toni's injury I was really surprised about his reaction. He was like "Great, because this is going to help you guys in the long run. This is going to force you guys to really hit the ball, which will pay off later in the season." He's a bit crazy, but he actually does know what he's talking about when it comes to baseball and I agree that this injury will only make the rest of the team play harder. Hopefully we can beat Ohio tomorrow because if I remember correctly, they've beat us at home before.
We're also having a pig pickin' after our last game, so hopefully all of you can come out and support us tomorrow! See you at the field...bye bye!
Hey everyone!
Today we beat Boston College and won the tournament! I thought that
overall we played really well this weekend. We definitely need more
timely hitting, but hopefully that will be coming around soon. Our
pitching staff really stepped it up this weekend and we played some
great defense behind them as well. Also, congrats to Erin for getting
Tournament MVP, she had a great weekend delivering big hits and steady
defense. It was awesome beating Boston College because I played on
travel ball teams with a couple of them and they definitely had a team
swagger. It was okay because our team seems to play better with
incentives anyways and today's was simply just to shut them up;)
Tomorrow we all have a day off, which we are all looking very forward to. After 6 straight days of softball, your body needs a day off just to rest. I've been really fortunate to have never really experienced any type of injury, so I never have to worry about going on my day off to get treatment and I have no class tomorrow either. So, tomorrow is a legit day off from everything and I can promise a good portion of it will be spent sleeping and recharging my batteries. Hope everyone has a great week and don't forget to watch Rock of Love tonight at 9 (the trashiest and most entertaining show on TV) !! BYE BYE!
Hola! Today is Tuesday and for me it is the busiest day of the week. I will give you guys a little bit of insight as to what my usual Tuesday and Thursdays are like. First of all, we start bright and early at 6:30 for weights with my two most favorite people in the world, Coach Wheel and Mike! Just kidding, but it is honestly hard to be excited for anything at 6:30 in the morning. That usually goes to about 7:30 and then I quickly change, catch the bus, and go to my first class that starts at 8:00. I have three classes in a row (Statistics, Merchandising Analysis, & Pre-Professional Merchandising) and none of my teachers let us out early, so I have just enough time to get to my next class. These are over at 12:15 at which point I get my car and Minges and drive home for a quick lunch before I have to be at practice at 2:00. Our practices vary in length, but usually we will get done sometime around 5:00pm. After practice I come home, grab a bit to eat, change my clothes, and head to my night class (Communication) that is from 6-9pm. This class is all about speeches and public speaking, so we have to dress nice just about every time we go class and I always look really haggard and gross because I'm coming right from practice. Oh well, there's nothing I can do about it! So, as you can see my day is extremely hectic going from 6:30 am to 9 at night and I barely have enough time to eat, much less relax. Thursdays are exactly the same, but I don't have night class. Also, my Monday, Wednesday, Fridays are pretty stress-free compared to this, so I don't have it sooo bad.
So, hope this let's you know a little bit how my days are planned out. Talk to you guys soon..BYEE!
Hey guys! I wanted to start by saying thanks to everyone that came out tonight for Supper with Softball...it was nice meeting all of you! I was surprised that I knew so many faces, I guess it's from all the softball clinics. I think that this was really good for everyone because the kids enjoyed getting to know us and we need all the support we can get, so it was a win-win. I also wanted to give a shout out to Elaina, mine and Toni's five year old buddy:)
Anyways, it looks like we've got some bad weather coming up, so we most likely won't play tomorrow. Hopefully, we don't lose out on any games this weekend because we really need these games against tough opponents. Sometimes it's these early tough games that make us or break us when it comes to getting a bid to regionals, so keep your fingers crossed that we 1) play all the games scheduled and 2) win them all!!
I know I'm especially happy these days because my mom is coming into town tonight...I am seriously so excited! Hopefully the weather is warm for her because she doesn't take the cold well...I remember her saying at one of the games freshman year that she was so cold she felt like crying haha. So, hopefully I can hit good for mommy and win some games this weekend...see you all at the field! bye bye!
Hey people! Today was a rough day...we didn't play until 4 and 6, but somehow we managed to be awake since 7:30 am. The weather forecast was pretty off because it was nowhere near the high 60's and on and off showers just made the day even worse.
We went into international tiebreaker both games and managed to pull out a win against Syracuse. The game against Purdue ended in a loss even though our team wanted more than anything to beat them. Hopefully we can bounce back tomorrow.
It's very late and I need to get some sleep so that maybe tomorrow will be a better day. Thanks to everyone that came out to watch today..See you guys tomorrow..bye!
Hey everyone! Today will be my last blog, I know you're all really sad about that since I have such great blogs..but I promise our next blogger will be pretty awesome also. Today was our day off and I spent most of it with my mexican littles (my mom). We went to the Animal Shelter because the animal shelter only keeps dogs for a few days before putting them to sleep, while the humane society keeps them until they get adopted. I've been really wanting a dog for a while, but I know I can't have one right now, so maybe next year I can have my own puppy. The trip to the animal shelter ended up being really sad because I knew that all of those dogs would be put to sleep in 3 days. Anyways, that's how I spent my day off...tomorrow it's back to school and softball. Talk to you guys soon and thanks for reading my blogs:) Bye Bye!
SOFTBALL BLOG with Sissy Jimenez
January 28, 2008
Hello people! My name is Britain, but everyone calls me Sissy. I am a freshman, first baseman from northern California. I am definitely a long way from home, but when I came out to ECU for my visit I fell in love with my teammates as well as the southern hospitality. (It is very different from home). It was not hard for my family and I to see that the ECU softball program was the right fit for me. Soon after my visit I was signing my National Letter of Intent and planning the colors I wanted for the dorm room. When it came time to leave the comfort of my family and friends, I have to admit that I was very excited as well as sad to leave the comfort of my small hometown. I felt that it was extremely tough to pack up everything that I own to move across the country.
Once I arrived and settled in to my dorm room with my roommate, Brittany Howell, it was smooth sailing. There simply was not enough time in the day between study hall, classes, and practice to be homesick. I was also lucky enough to have Christina "Teenie", good friend from home, here to help smooth the transition, especially after winter break. Coach Kee wasn’t kidding around when she said that coming back after winter break was the hardest time of all. Luckily softball is in full swing now and again there is no time to be homesick. I just get to look forward to seeing my dad and boyfriend on the February 8th and everyone else when we fly out to California!!!
January 30, 2008
What is there to say about the past two days? Well, I guess I’ll start with yesterday. Classes went well and I was fairly rested despite the fact that we had weights that morning and I felt like we did a million push-ups, which are my all-time favorite… NOT!! Anyways, things didn’t start off too bad at practice, for the first part of practice we worked solely offense and I must admit that my swing was feeling pretty smooth. The second part of practice didn’t go so well for me. During our first set of defense I was the base runner, and I just happened to be running when I tripped on second base and rolled my ankle. And since that point in time I have been in the training room five times. I was in there immediately after practice on Tuesday, at eight in the morning, after my last class, before practice, and after practice. We athletes at East Carolina are truly lucky to have dedicated trainers who work long hours to insure our health for our upcoming season. Well, it is about time for me to do some homework and prepare myself for the long day that I have ahead of me tomorrow! Peace!
February 1, 2008
Today and yesterday have been significantly better that Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday was a long one, but I am glad to say that I made it out alive. I am happy to say that classes went well today and I was able to see this big tarantula in Biology. It was huge and hairy. It made me really uncomfortable when our professor kept blowing on it to show everyone it fangs, so I stayed a safe distance away with a book handy just in case it came near me! I can’t stand spiders, yuck!! Enough about that nasty creature, last night was fun and interesting at the same time. We had to tarp the field for the second time since I have arrived here in North Carolina. I admit that it is quite a task because we had to throw anything that we could find on top of it in an effort to keep it from flying away to the baseball field. Today before practice, we were given the task of pulling the tarp off in the wind and rain that literally had me walking like a crab (side note: crabs walk sideways). Picture this, eighteen people in this nasty weather trying to keep the tarp from flying away, when at one point coach Koz and some girls were standing off to the side while we were sliding the tarp off the field. When a big gust of wind went underneath the tarp and splashed water onto them. They all screamed, but I couldn’t help but laugh. Nonetheless, it is about that time for me to take a quiz for biology and after that it will be time for me to rest my eyes. Adios amigos!
February 3, 2008
The past couple of days have gone by quickly and I am very happy to say that my dad and boyfriend will be here this Thursday!! Saturday morning we had practice and we scrimmaged each other and I am glad to say that the team is making great progress as we headed into our last weekend practice of the season. I was also happy to have hosted our recruit on Saturday night along with my roommate, Britt. We had a great time together!
Today we had another successful day of practice. However, now that practice is over the entire team and many friends are going to hang out at the “SOFTBALL HOUSE”, or in other words Erin, Sarah, and Vanessa’s house. Everyone is planning on meeting at the house for the Super Bowl…. GO GIANTS!! I don’t even like them that much, but I really don’t like the Patriots. So pretty much I would cheer any team as long as it’s not the Patriots. I have to get all dolled up for tonight, have a super Super Bowl Sunday!!
February 5, 2008
To start this blog off, I would just like to say that I get see my dad and my boyfriend on Thursday!
This week has been an exciting one thus far. Not only are they coming to visit me, but we also play our first game at Chapel Hill this Friday. As you can imagine, I am pumped up and extremely motivated for both Thursday and Friday. Today we had an amazing practice and we were let out early for probably the only time ever! Everyone on the team was energetic and practice seemed to flow very smoothly. We fixed things we needed and kept a steady consistency by staying relaxed.
The only down side of this week is that I have two test on Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday I have a biology test and also psychology test on Wednesday and a health test on Thursday. I expect all three of the tests to be hard. Everyone knows that the first test is the most difficult because one has to learn the teachers’ style of test. I have been hitting the books hard the past couple of days in effort to get a decent score on the first test. However, it is difficult to stay focused when my favorite shows are on TV tonight. These shows would be of course “American Idol” and also “House.” I need to study for these extremely difficult exams and I need all the help I can get…. Wish me luck!!
February 7, 2008
Today has been a very exciting day! Not only did my dad and my boyfriend arrive today, but also my mom and my little brother came as a surprise! I am so happy to see my family and be able to spend some time with them. As soon as they arrived my family and I met Jill, my teammate, at Logan's where we loaded up on our protein for tomorrow. I am thoroughly excited for our games tomorrow. I am not as nervous as I thought that I would be, but I'm not necessarily the nervous type for games. I truly don't believe that there are enough words to describe how happy I am to have the majority of the people that I love here to support me through this first tournament. I don't know how I would react if my other two sisters were able to make it out...But I understand those girls are busy people.
This week went by fast and I am glad that it did. I had some tough tests that I miraculously received A's on and another that I am still waiting to hear from.
We have worked hard this week and I can't wait to see how our team does this weekend. We even have our fans and my family here to cheer us on as we embark on this marathon.
Wish us luck!
February 10, 2008
This weekend went by way too fast. I feel like my family just got here and now they already have to leave. It was difficult saying goodbye to them again, and it only makes it easier when you have teammates who know what it feels like and are here for me. I am just glad that they were able to make the trip out here and spend some time with me. On the bright side, my dad is coming back out to North Carolina in two weeks for the Pirate Classic tournament, and the rest of my family will be at the Stanford tournament in March.
This week has been a difficult one. There has been little to no down time for me to really relax between practice, my family, tests, and the tournament. The good news is that my tests this week went really well. I came out with an A+ on my Psychology test, an A on my health test, and a B on my biology test!! I am very pleased with all of these outcomes.
Tonight marks the last night that I will be writing these blogs. It has been real, it’s been fun, and it’s been real fun! Good luck to whoever is our next blogger and keep supporting our team! GO PIRATES!
SOFTBALL BLOG with Erin St. Ledger
January 11, 2008
Hi everyone! It’s Erin and I’m a senior, second baseman on the ECU Softball Team. Everyone just got back into town after a nice, long Christmas break and ready to prepare for our upcoming season. On Thursday, January 10, we all met up at the field for “light” conditioning, but Coaches had another trick up their sleeve and surprised us with a game of kickball! The Skulls won, trying to redeem themselves after losing the Pirate Clash. We followed up with a team dinner at McAllisters and a meeting. It was so nice to see everyone after such a long break. Our team is so tight knit, it’s hard to be away from each other for a long period of time. On Friday, we had our first team practice. We started at the track for conditioning then headed to the field for some offense, defense, and base running. The first day back is used to evaluate what looks good and what we need to spend more time on. After a month of not playing with each other, I was extremely excited to see how good we looked, and am ready to pick back up where we left off in the fall, and continue training like a first place team.
January 12, 2008
Ohhhh and also, I forgot to mention yesterday how awesome our field looks thanks to Ernie and the rest of the field crew! They did a really nice job getting it together for us by the time practice started....I think it's the greenest our grass has been in my four years in the program...so THANKS!!
Until next time... GO PIRATES!
January 15, 2008
Sunday's practice went really well. It was a really good note to end on before our first day off of the season! Even though we just started practice on Friday, Monday was a much needed day off. It was nice to just go to class and get to come home and relax, even though we spent our whole day cleaning.
This morning we started weights bright and early at 6:30!!! The first week of weights you don't sleep very well because you are sooo scared you are going to oversleep and have to run stadiums! That would not be okay on top of practice! Haha.... everyone was really happy and ready to go this morning, but as soon as we started warm-ups the soreness already set in...and from then on it got worse.....even though we were lifting light, it's just like the beginning of team practice. No matter what you do over break, a workout with the team at ECU is 100 times more intense. After weights I went straight to class at 8 and got a loooooong break until treatment and practice at 2.
Practice was okay...not one of our better ones. Offense went well, but defense wasn't our best day of the year. But you are going to have those days..... when stuff isn't working. You have to try your best to keep your focus and not get frustrated.....you have to remember that you are talented athlete and work through it. I actually had to leave practice a little early to get to my night class. It's been really hard my senior year to play softball and be a hospitality major. All my classes are offered in the middle of the afternoon during practice so my schedule is really hectic. I'm about to get some sleep though before tomorrow...byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
January 16, 2008
As I start to write today's blog the only thing I can think to talk about is the soreness. The first day after weights never fails. You wake up feeling refreshed and you go to get out of bed and realize you can't move. I finally get myself out of bed and all I can think about is today's practice. I knew that I wasn't the only one feeling this way, so I didn't think it was going to be a good one....haha....However, it was actually one of our better practices, even when we ended with a tough conditioning workout! I was happy to see my team come together again and build up our mental strength. Even though we were sore, we didn't let that be an excuse and worked through lots of things. The corners had a great day and worked some reaction drills, and Vanessa had a great day behind the plate! I think she broke my hand when she through a bullet to first base, haha... Tomorrow morning is another early morning of weights. Hopefully Coach Wheel will take it easy on us....haha jk, that will never happen! Anyway, I'm going to get some homework done now.
Not much has gone on the past few days. The weather hasn't allowed us to get much done outside because it is either raining or below freezing. We have been working lots of fundamentals in the locker room and the baseball team has been nice enough to let us get some hitting done in their indoor facility. We also started reviewing some of the mental parts of the game since we've been stuck inside, which has allowed us to put it together with infield, outfield, and runners. Weights are starting get better again too as we get back into the groove. Hopefully the weather will get a little warmer so that we can get more done outside. We are all really excited for our first game. It's exciting to think we only have a couple more weeks until we get another chance at Carolina....... until next time...our motto for the day thanks to Sarah Bibee was "good, better, best, never let it rest, until your good is your better, and your better is your best!"
Today was a very loooooong day. However, we got LOTS accomplished! We started our day off with treatment at 9 followed by weights. It was nice to get one of our days of weights out of the way at 10 rather than 6:30 am! After that coaches gave us a short break to grab some lunch before an eventful practice...... The whole practice was centered around the defensive aspect of the game because we had lost so many days outside in the past week because of the weather. You might think we would have taken steps back considering we hadn't gotten the chance to take ground balls and make throws in a while, but we didn't! We started by splitting up infield and outfield and just getting some reps in then put it together for numerous sets of situations. We split up the situations by going over different segments like first and third and what not, then would put it back together with runners. Once practice was over we changed our shoes and went on a facility run for our conditioning. It was a long day, but we got a lot out of it and continued to take the steps forward that we needed too. Only a couple more weeks until our first game! Hopefully the weather will get a little warmer for us. It's hard to move with so many layers on!!! Tomorrow's our day off, other than class and treatment, which will be nice, and then we will pick back up where we left off on Wednesday....
The past few days haven't been all that great. I don't know if we are just wanting to be done with practice and ready to play games, or what it is, but we HAVE to fix it. We cannot afford to let days slip away this close to the beginning of the season. We've discussed why we keep getting looked over when it comes to regionals and we know we can't let even ONE game slip away from us. Mondays practice was awesome, but since our day off was Tuesday, it's like we have not recovered since then. I think that we have diagnosed our problems, and it's going to take a team effort to get back on track tomorrow. I don't think anyone is going out there not trying, I just think that everyone needs to rethink their motive and assess what they personally need to get done to help this team, and help bring us together to work as one. I have no doubt in my team that we will pull it together. We have so much talent and such a promising season ahead of us. Now it's just time to practice like one on a consistent basis.
Well today will be my last day as a blogger..... I'm passing the thrown down to one of our freshman, Sissy.
This past week has been a roller
coaster ride. However, I'm happy to say that we've gotten back on
the right track. We have had two of the best practices of the year
and we are really starting to come together. Yesterday coaches ran
a clinic for about 60 coaches during the day while we met at the
field as a team and did our warm up, hitting, and throwing by
ourselves, before coaches got there with the rest of the people that
attended their clinic. We did really well, even with everyone
watching. Actually, we did better than we've done all week with a
huuuuuge crowd. Coaches said it seemed like we needed an audience
to get back on track. Haha. They surprised us and let us know that
we were done for the day. Everyone was so excited and vocal and
came ready to work. Today we came back and had such a good practice
all the way around. We started with some ground balls, tee work,
and hitting off the machine, and ended the second half of the
practice with our first scrimmage of the year. Hitting, defense,
and pitching were all on their "A" game. The energy and
communication was higher than it has been all year and it made me so
happy to see everyone excited to play! I hope that we can continue
to make steps and continue to stay consistent. It's been a hard
week, but I think that we have gotten the hardships out of the way
and will keep on the same path we are headed.....