Out of our 45 regular season games, 12 of them are home games.  Like the weeks past, we are 6 and a half hours from Lawrence Field, our home field.  This weekend we are in Salem Virginia.  Salem has a special little place in Lock Haven's heart because of what has been experienced here.  In May of 2006 our 8 seniors and 2 coaches were on these same fields when we won the National Championship.  We get some pretty vivid memories when our bumping bus pulls up to Moyer Sports Complex while we belt out our song "Thunderstruck" and bang on the windows with all our might.  The butterflies start to flutter in our stomachs and we remember how it felt to win it all, and all 10 of us who were there would give anything for the rest of our teammates to feel what we do.

            Last weekend we were in West Virginia.  We went 4-0 that weekend so we felt like we were getting back into our normal rhythm.  There was a different feeling on the field when we played in West Virginia, we were relaxed.  Our team plays so much better when we are calm and just having a good time.  For example, in one of our games, as Erb was throwing in one of her pitches, Ilia our shortstop says out loud that she is hungry.  It made everyone around her laugh and the atmosphere was just positive and uplifting during the whole game.  We did have a small bit of adversity during our weekend in West Virginia.  It wasn't how we played, team chemistry, or bad attitudes... it was the fact that our radio in the bus didn't work.  The radio plays a big part in our pre-game because that is where we get excited and fired up to play.  Without a proper radio, it seemed as though all was lost.  My teammates and I had to invest a little improv into our pre-game and we all began to sing.  All of our favorite songs came floating out of our mouths sounding better than the radio version... NOT!  "My Life Would Suck Without You", "Oh Happy Day", "Shoop", and "It Makes Me Ill" are all some of our favorites.  It was a lot of fun to try and hit the high notes and low notes of those songs, especially because we sound absolutely terrible! 

            Luckily with all of our traveling we have been able to watch Grey's Anatomy every Thursday at 9.  Most of our team has a very good relationship with this amazingly awesome series.  Even coaches stress about not being able to see it and having to watch it online if we have to miss an episode.  If you aren't a fan yourself, I strongly suggest you buy the seasons and begin a Grey's marathon.  J

            We won our first game tonight (Friday) in Salem.  We are continuing to have fun and play relaxed.  A major part of our success as a team is that anyone on our roster can come through and win the game.  If one or two people are having a bad game, someone else will come through in the clutch and get the job done.  That helps us stay relaxed and win!

            For this weekend and the past, Lock Haven hasn't quite felt right because we are missing two of our sisters.  Dianna and Becca are still in Lock Haven because they are injured and not able to travel with the team.  We miss them very, very much and can't wait until they are back with us filling the void in our hearts!!  

            Lock Haven Softball is beginning to get back into the groove of things and really play like we know we can.  It feels good to keep learning and improving from our past.  Being in Salem and on those fields brings a rush of emotions back to many of us that is hard to control.  Our season is starting to look brighter and it is up to us to keep going.  

            I have a little trivia question for anyone who may be reading these blogs.  Can you name 3 girls on the current Lock Haven roster who have been playing softball together since they were 11 years old?  The answer will be in the next blog. 

Talk to you soon!

Sarah #22

March 4, 2009

The spring break trip of Lock Haven University's softball team this year is a bit different then years past.  Instead of the Rebel Games in Orlando, Florida, our team has had the unbelievable opportunity to travel to Hawaii and play 10 games over a span of 10 days.  This is extremely new territory to us Lady Eagles and we love every second of it.  There are many of the girls on the team including myself that have never been this far west in the United States. (Sadly, some of the girls didn't know that Hawaii was a part of the U.S., and one girl thought we needed our passports... but I won't mention any names... Amanda Roosa. 

Today is the eighth day of our trip and it has been very exciting so far.  There has been 5 different flights, 2 different islands, 3 different hotels, 5 different airports, $25 meals in those airports, plenty of uncomfortable airplane seats, and 24 tired women adjusting to the 5 hour time difference.  There has also been Volcano Parks, snorkeling, swimming in the clear blue waters, some of the biggest waves any of us had ever seen, a tour of the Pearl Harbor Memorial and much more to come. 

On Monday we all went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve.  This was an amazing experience.  Some of us were a little nervous as to what we may see out there.  There were some scary looking eels and fish we were warned about but there were no dangerous encounters.  Our shortstop Ilia Lopez swears she saw a Barracuda or something hidden in a corner of the reef... hmm...  Our two coaches Coach Green and Coach Shannon stayed out in that water most of the day, exploring and looking for the hidden sea turtles that are hard to spot.  It is always such a pleasure to spend time with our team and coaches outside of our softball lives, it is such a very important part of how we work and perform as a team on the field.

Speaking of on the field, we haven't had quite the beginning we were expecting.  As of right now we are 5-3.  This is a very different start to the season for us but we are learning from every pitch and every inning of each game and putting what we have learned into our next competitions.  Everyone is enjoying the process of doing the little things and we aren't expecting to peak yet at this point in our season. 

Our Pearl Harbor experience on Tuesday was definitely one of my favorite things we have done so far.  Hearing a talk from one of the Rangers about the entire history of the build-up to December 7^th was one of my favorite parts of the tour.  The silence that was demanded on the memorial was heart shattering, it was hard to not put yourself in the shoes of those men and women who sacrificed and died out in those very waters.  To see the oil still leaking up to the surface of the waters from the USS Arizona was just astonishing.  9 liters of oil find their way up to the top every day.  We had the amazing oppurtunity to raise a flag in honor of those whose lives were lost in the name of Lock Haven University.  My teammates and I were very touched by this moment on the memorial.

We still have two games to play tomorrow and even though this spring break may seem like something written out of a story-book, my teammates and I and our coaches still know that we have a lot to learn and work on.  If we don't learn from our past then we won't be the team we expect ourselves to be, moving on and growing from past mistakes makes us the team that we are.  I am so excited to get into the heart of our season and make it our most memorable yet.  I am surrounded by the most amazing and talented group of people and I wouldn't want to share my senior year or senior season with any other clan of girls.  I am so proud to be apart of this school and this particular team, and we have some high hopes set for these coming months.  I'm also excited to continue to blog and keep others updated with what is going on in our season and also what is going on off the softball field, because with this crazy team, some of the most memorable experiences and funniest moments are the things that happen behind the scenes.

Sarah #22