When you play at both age levels, you realize there is a huge difference between playing 16s and 18s. This weekend I played the 18u Wisconsin State Tournament in Wausau. It was my first whole weekend playing with the Danes this year.
We started out rough in pool play losing 6-0 to the Badger Blitz and a heart breaker to the Firebirds 3-2. We started bracket play by losing again 2-1 to the Cyclones. Things were not looking bright and we got a well deserved butt chewing. We now were one game away from getting eliminated without winning one game. For me, and especially for the Danes name, that was a very embarrassing idea. The next game was very eye opening as we played the honey badgers (more on why later). We finally pulled out some key hits, earned a win and were still alive in the tournament. The next morning we had a chance for revenge, a rematch against the Firebirds. They threw their ace, Alice Fitgerald, who pitches for the University of Michigan. We played clean on defense, our pitchers did great, Carley Henning hit a two-run homer and I hit a solo one. We won 3-0!! Next we faced the Wisconsin Elite, and lost 2-0. It was a disappointing loss, but we had proved to ourselves that we do have the stuff to win games.
This weekend presented so many huge learning opportunities. First was how to deal with the weather. In every tournament we have played in there has been rain delays. This weekend we really focused on how to mentally prepare for a game, be able to bring it down during the delay, and when its game time be back up to the focus that you started with. Also we need to remember to control the controllables. We can't control whether it rains or not. We can't do anything but deal with the situation we are in. Remember that the other team is dealing with the same thing you are, the thing that will matter is who is the most adaptable. So do your part and control the controllables.
As I said before the Honey Badgers game was a huge eye opener for me. The game started out with us all watching their pitcher from UW River Falls warm up. She notices this so she glares at us hoping we will stop. We don't she stomps into the dugout and decides to stare right back at us. When she went to warm up on the mound, she had her teammates make a "wall" so we could not see her. When she was up to bat she decided to stare at our coach giving the signs. Things just got out of hand from there. For those of you who know my Coach, Tim Husted, you can imagine how he was reacting to all of this. Not only was this pitcher making herself look very arrogant, but she failed to realize that Tim knows the coach she is going to play for in college very well. We ended up knocking her out of the game and beating them. There are three things to learn from this. 1) You never act that way out on the field, it is an embarrassment to yourself, your parents, and your team. 2) Never overreact to the things the other team is doing, concentrate on your job and don't let them cause you to lose focus 3) You never know who has connections to who, and who is watching you. Always represent yourself in the way you want to be seen by everyone.
This weekend I learned the major differences between hitting at the 16u level and the 18u. It is not the pitches that I am swinging at that cause me to fail, but the pitches that I do not swing at. In 16s I can get away with letting a good pitch go by because I will see another one. In 18s you better be swinging at that good pitch because you may only get one that game. I also learned how important it is to have a plan and to execute. As the game progresses you need to have maximum communication with the other hitters and change your plan to be the most successful. Most pitchers want to throw strike one so that they have the advantage. As a hitter you need to know that and be ready for the good pitch to be strike one.
The last thing I learned is how to react when I fail in pressure situations. We were down by one and I was up with a runner on second and third and two outs. I flew out to the left fielder. I was upset that I didn't come through for my team. Coach reminded me that softball is a game of failure. Great hitters get out 60% of the time. By being in those pressure situations and yes by failing a lot, you learn to be comfortable with the pressure. You learn to concentrate on the successes, accept the failures and gain confidence that next time, I will be successful because I have been here so many times before.
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