Getting Hurt

On June 28th my whole entire world was flipped upside down. This day changed life as I knew it and sent me into the world of the unknown. Friday started out just like any other summer day. I had lifting in the morning with a bunch of my friends and teammates. After that I went to lunch with one of my friends and hung out before having to head the fields. I was so excited because this weekend the tournament was in Rochester. Many of my friends and family were going to come and watch me play because we rarely get the chance to play this close to home during the summer.

The Danes typically do not start until after Father's Day weekend so I had the opportunity to play with the Royals in a few early season tournaments.  Several of my former teammates still played for them so I wanted to watch them play this weekend if I got the chance. I headed over to McQuillan Fields because the Royals were playing before I had to warm-up. Even though I was not playing with them I still went in the dugout to hang out with the kids on the bench. I love bantering back and forth with the girls I have played with forever. Soon I had to go to a different field to start warming up for our game. I was feeling amazing during warm-ups. The past couple weeks I had been seeing the ball very well. In the previous tournament in the Quad Cities I hit five homeruns in five games. On the season I was averaging one homerun per every three at-bats. You could say that I was on a hot streak that I really wanted to continue.

The rest of pre-game was the same. We ran through all of the same drills and were ready to play. People from this area have always questioned why I chose to play for the Danes instead of a large program like the Sting. Playing this close to home I wanted to show them how good we were and why I love playing for the Danes. Finally getting this chance I was so excited to get out on the field. I was the lead-off hitter in the top of the first. I was walked on five pitches so I jogged down to my spot at first. On the fourth pitch of Abby Klopp's at-bat I was given the steal sign. When I slide, I slide hard, especially if there is someone blocking the bag. When I saw the shortstop coming across the front side of the bag I slid into her hard just like I had done so many times before. There was a big collision and she went flying backwards. I popped up to see where the ball went because I saw it sail over my head as I slid in. The throw had not even been close and the ball ended up in short right center field. Then I look down and see the shortstop still laying on the ground. The umpires call time for the game and the tournament trainer comes out to help her off the field. During this I jog over to my coach and notice that my foot does not feel right. When I made contact with the other girl the ball of my foot was jammed backwards towards my shin. It was pretty much numb and tingling but didn't hurt excessively. Based on my pain I thought that I had just sprained an

ankle like I had so many times in basketball so I tried to just jog it off. I returned to second and on the next pitch Abby hit a double to left center. Sprinting home my foot did not feel right so when I went into the dugout I asked for it to be taped. After being taped I tried to go out and play defense but it hurt a lot to plant on it after throwing. My coach decided to just sit me for the rest of the game, it was only Friday night and the most important day is Sunday. Once I took my shoe off to ice my foot inflated like a balloon. My teammate helped me out of the dugout and onto one of the picnic tables so that the trainer could look at my foot. Based on my pain they said that it was only a bad sprain, I may want to go in just in case to get it looked at but they did not think anything was seriously wrong.

I woke up the next morning and in between my toes was black and blue. On the inside arch of my foot there was a dark red line with bruising. It still killed to walk on so I borrowed a pair of crutches from my grandpa. After not being able to walk in the morning I decided to sit out the rest of the tournament. At the time it was frustrating but playing in the end of the season and nationals was much more important to me than just one normal tournament. Sitting out the rest of the weekend was torture. I don't like having to sit out for an inning or two to begin with, much less eight games because I am hurt. We made it to the Championship game after playing six games on Sunday. I was so proud of my team but I still wished that I could have been out on the field with them. Next weekend I told myself. I will be back and everything will be normal. Little did I know this is not how things were going to end up.

Battle Between Teammates

Imagine stepping into the box versus a pitcher that knows everyone of your strengths and your weaknesses. Intimidating right? I experience this every time my Byron High School team plays Stewartville. Cait has been my teammate for over 5 years now and is one of my closest friends, but, she is also one of my competitors. Being teammates during the summer presents us with a very interesting situation when it comes time to play each other in the spring. At-bats are like a chess match, their are many conflicting emotions you must control, and the competion is higher than ever.

No one that I know wants to step into a box and face a pitcher that knows a ton about them. Facing Cait is different than any other pitcher because of how familiar we are with each other. Not only are we long time friends but we were also hitting partners! This means that during warm-ups and during games you are constantly analyzing your partners swing to try and help them to get better. This is where the chess match begins. As I step in, Cait knows where I struggle just as well as I do. This changes your mental preparation coming into the at-bat. I know that she is going to pitch me a certain way or try to get me to chase a certain pitch. Knowing these things, I form the mindset that I will adjust my approach to hit take advantage of what she is likely to try to do. After the first at-bat you asses your strategy and the strategy she used. Through the next two at-bats you go back and forth each making small adjustments to beat the other. In the next half of the inning the roles reverse. Now I am the pitcher and Cait the batter. I only pitch during the high school season as I am an infielder during the summer. But, I still do the best I can to help my team win by pitching. Pitching to someone you know is completely different because you understand their abilities, and if you miss in a certain spot, you know they will make you pay for it. The only true way to win this game of chess is to get the other person out or to get a hit. 

Playing against your own teammates sparks so many different emotions. First there is excitement. You are excited to see them because it has been a long time. Next is anticipation. I get antsy on any game day, but especially restless when playing Stewie because of how close our games have been in the past. Last is the feeling of determination when the game finally starts. You are preparing to do everything in your power to win and have the mindset you will not fail. During the game you have to control your emotions on either side of the board whether you are having success or not. It can be a great struggle to do when you put everything you have into the game. But that is all part of the mental side of the game. 

The most evident difference when playing against a teammate is the level of the competion. You always want to win when playing, but the desire is even greater when it is against one of your own. This level brings out the best on both sides and often leads to great plays. If your teammate gets a hit or makes a play, you automatically want to do something to top them. Not only does it earn you a bit of bragging rights come summer but also it fuels your self confidence. 

A lot of different feelings and emotions come into play when you go up against your own teammate, but personally I love it. During H.S. I constantly am playing people that I know, so I am very familiar with these feelings. Even though the game is like a chess match, it brings out a lot of emotion, and provides high competition, they are my favorite games of the year.  

NDSU vs. SDSU

Most people spend their Saturday mornings sleeping in, watching t.v., and just relaxing. I couldn't tell you the last time I did that! So getting up at 6 to hit the road and watch some softball this weekend was nothing out of the ordinary. Our destination was Brookings, SD, to watch NDSU vs SDSU.

A quick gane recap: The game was tied at zero until NDSU opened it up with 8 runs in the 3rd inning. From there on it was very one sided. The final score was 12-0, with Krista Meinke throwing a 1-hitter for the Bison. It was a perfect game until the bottom of the fifth with one out and a lefty blooped a hit into short RF. It was awesome to watch NDSU string a bunch of hits together just like their last comeback win in Illinois that I saw.

I love watching college softball because there is so many things that you can learn. Each game I watch I try to pick out about  three different skills or plays that have good teaching points and talk about them with my dad or coaches. The three things that I picked up from this game was warming up through the 3rd baseman, hitting in different pitch counts,  and sliding into home. 

The first thing was doing most of infield warmups through the third baseman.  Using this technique everyone gets a ball coming from the home plate angle and the 1st baseman still fields their throws.  Instead of rolling to the ball to them,  the 1st baseman throws the ball to 3rd and she begins the next play. It also provides the right angles to work double plays. Each session of warm ups starts with the 3rd baseman rolling it to the pitcher once and then moving onto the other infielders. Every other inning they differed the situation (just going to first, turning two, or bunts). Then it is ended with the third baseman getting her two balls. I think that this type of pre inning infield provides a better game simulation for fielding balls and is more time efficient. It is definitely something that I would love our infield coaches to look into and hopefully transition to it for the summer.

The next thing I noticed was how much the count effects your at-bat. At the college level you will only see one maybe two good pitches per at-bat. Once they get ahead of you, don't expect a pitch that you can drive. That is why I feel it is SUPER important to be aggressive and be the one in control of the at-bat. In my last blog I compared an at-bat to a chess match, it is all about your strategy to beat the opposition. If you want to win you do not sit back and react, you are the one making the moves and being aggressive.  For me, this translates directly to hitting. Almost every hitter's batting average increases when they are ahead in the count. So it is simple, don't get behind in the count. Recognize the first good pitch and do something with it!

The last thing I noticed that whenever there was a close play at home the on-deck hitter for the Bison only used hand signals to instruct their teammate. Now I am not sure whether it was just because I could not hear them talking but it sparked an idea. When you do talk you help your runner but you also tell the catcher where she is going to be sliding. If you only use your hands and no voice the catcher does not necessarily know where you are going to slide. I am still unsure about this idea but it is definitely something to further discuss.

I had a blast at the game watching my Bison play and learned a few things which will be beneficial. The long drive was definitely worth getting to watch a ball game on a beautiful Saturday.