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