Practice/Workouts

From reading my blogs most people would assume that all I do is play games. But that is not the case. I practice softball in some way each and every day to continue to improve and get better.

I use various equipment when I practice that includes balls, bats, gloves, all of the basics, and technology.  I am going to share what an individual hitting practice is like for me.

Last Monday I met one of my teammates Cait Hughes and Coach Tim Husted at the Byron fields for a workout.  We started out hitting off a tee. I did several reps and then Tim asked, why isnt it going over the fence? Hit it over the fence please.  He videotaped a couple of swings and had me watch them. We discussed what needed to happen to achieve the goal. I needed to stay linear longer to get my weight going forward. I also needed more connection because my bottom was releasing too early causing me to swing with only my arms resulting in a loss of power. Next we moved to one armed drills.  We worked my bottom hand to make sure I was releasing in the correct order, hands elbow then shoulder. He challenged me to hit it out of the infield.  After a few attempts I accomplished the goal and was getting it correct every time.  The next drill was my top hand.  This drill was much harder to do and without knowing what you are doing, it is very easy to do incorrectly. Next we flipped my top hand so instead of having one pull and one push hand I had two push. When done correctly you feel an explosion of power off of the bat because you are able to create more bat speed.  It was super awkward at first but once I got the feel of it, I started to excel in the drill.  Next I hit front toss working on staying connected, being late with my hips, and getting as much linear as possible.  We again used video to break down the swing and see what to improve upon. 

After I earned a break and helped warm Cait up for her pitching lesson. I learned a lot about catching and how to frame. I also learned about the river on either side of the plate.  I will say im not envious of catchers having to squat all of that time, but am glad to do it to help my teammate improve.  Catching also gave me an opportunity to work on short hops that I would normally get in a game.  Once she completed her workout, she pitched about 20 live balls to me as Tim watched and videod to see how everything came together live. 

Being able to use video is a huge advantage forbour generation.  We can break swings down into slow mo and see exactly what we need to fix.  10 years ago we did not have the technology as readily available as we do now. As a player I love to take advantage of it to help me improve. 

On a normal day my dad and I will go to the field either in the morning or at night to have a hitting practice and do some defensive work.  At home mid day I convince my brother to take a break from soccer to play catch with me and work throwing mechanics.  Along with drill work 3-4 times a week I have strength and conditioning classes to help me get faster and stronger.  On opposite days of workouts I try to fit in a yoga class or swim laps. 

My ability to practice and improve every day is due to the people around me who give me the opportunity and the help to do so. I thank them each time for their help because it means the world to me as I work to achieve my goals.

16u Nationals in Kansas City

This past week my Royals team traveled to Kansas City for the 16u National Tournament there. We had played in this same tournament twice before when we were in 14u. Our top finish was 4th place so the team was hungry to win it all. We surprised everyone by making a run no one thought we accomplish.

On the first day we won our morning game setting us up to play another in the afternoon. In our second game we faced the Lincoln Storm. It was a very tight game all the way until they pulled away in the 6th inning scoring 3 runs. We ended up losing. The tournament was double elimination, so we were down to our last leg and weren't even close to achieving our goals yet. The next day to survive we had to win five games. Our morning game was a blowout win 9-1, but every other win was a comeback. Our second game we played the Thunder. We had already lost by one in international to them in pool play so we knew it was going to be a very close and high scoring game because of how well they hit the ball. In the bottom of the seventh we scored 3 runs to put us up 10-8. We shut them down in the bottom half and won the game! Our next game was vs The Heat Wave. The score was like a slow pitch game in which our team hit five homeruns and won 19-15! The next game we played the Minnesota Irish. We had played them several times and really wanted to beat them. We scored three runs in the 6th to win the game. Our last game of the day of course had to be the Clutch Hitters. In the second inning we were down 6-1. But we just chipped away and didn't let them score the rest of the game. In the bottom of the seventh we were down once again and we were at the meat of our lineup, Cori Kennedy, me, and then Lexi Ripka. Cori and I both got on and Lexi drove a double up the middle to score Cori. Our next batter hit a sac fly to left on which I scored. We scored three runs that inning to put us up by 1. We held them in the bottom and won!! It was our best comeback yet!! That day we were the first ones at the park and the last ones to leave, it was a long day and we wanted to do it all over again tomorrow.
 Our morning game we won on two home runs, one by Frankie Mickleson and the other by Kali Aldrich in international play. Their hits put us up by two going into the bottom of the ninth inning. We closed out the game and advanced to the next round! Up next was team Nebraska. We had faced them the previous year at nationals in the 15u A tournament in Iowa. We had won that game with three total hits 3-2 in international play. To lead off the game Kali Aldrich homered to put us up 1-0, and it stayed that way until the 5th inning. Cori led off with a double and I homered to score us both. The score was 3-2 and it looked like history was going to repeat itself. But that was not the case, in the bottom of the seventh we lost by one run. It was devastating to finally admit defeat, but we made such a huge run. I am so proud of my teammates and of myself for doing what we did. All of our wins were because everyone did their part. Luckily we are not done yet, we play in the Northern National Tournament being held in Rochester this year. I am looking towards another great week of softball.

Many of you may have seen a trend as I tell you about our games, we are always the away team. Our team has been home team maybe twice this year and chooses to hit every time. We love batting first and having the opportunity to jump on the other team and score first. Plus hitting is the best part, so why wouldn't  we want to hit all the time!

This whole tournament taught me how to play in high pressure games and make comebacks. I also learned how to talk to my teammates in these situations and lead them toward victory. In the beginning innings you need to remain calm and just play ball. As the innings pass you increase the intensity and the energy level. You need to stay up and into the game but not too high. Also when you are down, as a leader, you have to keep them positive and make them believe that we will come back, and we will win. I learned a lot about myself and my teammates this past week and know that we can do great things.

South Dakota Ringneck

It was finally time for the Ringneck tournament in South Dakota. I have played in this tournament for four years now and it is one of my favorites. There is always good competition and we get a chance to see how we stack up against teams around the midwest before heading into ASA State and then Nationals.

For our Friday night game we drew the Clutch Hitters. So we play them AGAIN! This time, not only is it just a pool game, but it counts as the championship of the Eagan Down n' Dirty that got rained out. They threw a pitcher from Kenyon-Wanamingo who several of my teammates and I face every year during high school. We beat them 5-1. It used to be such a deal when we played them in the past, but I think we are starting to get over it and have continued to beat them each time we play. Saturday morning we played the Omaha Echoes. We scored 4 runs in the first inning and that set the tone for the day. We went on to win 14-4 in 4 innings. Our afternoon game was against the Pipestone Pointers. They had got beat up on by the other teams in our bracket, so we coasted through the game and won 9-1. I was upset with our intensity and lack of focus even when we were playing a team that we would easily beat. After a quick pitstop at the track (more info to come) we began our games on Sunday. Our first game of the day was against the Grand Island Scorpions. We won 16-0 in 2 1/2 innings. Our next game was the best of the tournament. We faced the Sioux Falls Diamonds who beat the Extreme (team we beat in international tie breaker during the Eagan Down n' Dirty) by one in their previous game. We scored two runs in the top of the first and things were looking good. Then their first batter hit a leadoff homerun. The scoring came to halt from their until the last two innings. We ended up winning 7-6 in a very close game. Next we played the MN Stealth. We had already faced them 4 times this year and had won each game easily. Today was very different, we had several errors in the first inning, and our bats went quiet (very unusual for our team). We took the game for granted and were handed a 7-4 loss. The Diamonds and the upset by the Stealth team taught me my biggest lessons for the weekend.

First they taught me the truth of the statement, "Respect all, Fear none." In the game vs. the Diamonds, they had just beaten a team that game us a very tough game. But we were not scared and faced them head on. Because of that we played the game the way the Royals play and won. Also we learned you need to respect every one of your opponents. We had lost to them last year at Nationals, but we remained focused and played our best and showed the type of team we can be.

The second thing they taught me was about sportsmanship. During the game vs. the Diamonds one of their players decided to take out two of our girls. First was a play at the plate. I would have done the same thing when it comes to sliding into the catcher. But this girl slid into Cori, kicked up her leg and tried to take out her inside knee. Cori was lucky and just has a swollen knee from the cleat marks. Next was the last play of the game, a tag at second base. Dana our 2nd basemen was received the ball from right field well ahead of the runner getting to the base. The same girl slid through the base to the back where Dana was and took her out. Not only did she cleat her ankle, but as she was getting up she swung her arms and kicked her several more times. Things got out of hand on her side from there. She started laughing as my teammate was on the ground crying. I could do nothing but help to get Dana off of the field and to the trainer. It took so much composure not to lash out at her for doing that to my teammate. To top it off when we were going through the line, she slapped all of our hands. The sad part is that she is a very good ball player and is cheating herself and her abilities by playing dirty. During the Stealth game our parents received a lesson on how not to act. Many of their parents were cheering very arrogantly and saying some not so nice things to us. Even though we lost to them, we showed that we were bigger people when walking through the line. While they sneered and celebrated their win, we just smiled and shook their hands. The difference is that even though we were upset about the loss, we are still truly good people and good sports who know how to handle ourselves. I thank my coaches and especially my parents for never letting me act like that as a young kid, because I see how mean those people seem. I would never want someone to think of me how I think of some of those parents and players.

18u Wisconsin State Tournament in Wausau

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.

Colorado Jamboree

After our tournament in Wausau ended I hopped in the car and we drove 14 hours to Denver Colorado. I was attending the On-Deck showcase event there. I had tried out this spring in Minnesota and was granted this great opportunity to come and showcase my skills.
We left Wisconsin at about 1 pm and arrived in Denver at 4:30 am. I crashed in the hotel room for just under two hours until wake-up call. I was super tired. We arrived at the park and were immediately split into four groups. My group was to go warm up for the hitting station first, suddenly I wasn't so tired. This woke me up because I love to hit, and the fact that there were over 50 college coaches there gets your blood pumping. At the first station I was super nervous, but after hitting a few out of the park I settled down and got into my rhythm for the day. Throughout the morning you were warmed up for every station and then completed that station. The stations were front toss hitting, testing for running, arm strength, and bat speed, and finally defense. In front toss hitting there were two pitchers one throwing inside and the other outside. You were thrown eight pitches at each station. During the testing for running you were timed in a 40 yard dash as well as a shuttle run. The other testing was done with a gun for your arm and a machine that registered all of the distances and speeds ect after you hit the ball off the tee. After lunch we had a full defensive workout and fielded for the batters hitting live. Once they were done we switched and had the chance to hit. You were thrown 6 pitches and then went to the other field for a one on one matchup with a pitcher from the showcase.
I had a great day because I had the opportunity to do what I love. I also enjoyed meeting all of those new players from other states. My family and I have spent the remainder of the week in and around Denver. We have gone hiking in the Rockies, white water rafting in Idaho Springs, went to a Rockies game, and even saw a rodeo! Today we start our drive up to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to to play in the Ringneck. It has been a very crazy but amazing week!

2013 Minnesota USSSA State Tournament

For the past four years I have played in the Minnesota USSSA State Tournament. Our first two years playing 14u we got beat up pretty bad and struggled to make it through to Saturday night. Even last year, in our first year playing 16u, we were knocked out Sunday morning. But, this year things were finally different. This year we became the 16u state champions. 

This weekend we were undefeated. None of the games that we played were very close besides for our Saturday night game against the Clutch Hitters. The Clutch Hitters are our unspoken rivals. They are a very good team and always give us a very good game but the true rivalry stems from our players. One of our first baseman, Lexi Ripka, used to play for Clutch. She is our only player from the cities and it also happens that she is our head coach Steve Lewison's niece. She stopped playing for them for several reasons but you always want to beat your old team right? The best part about the win against them was how we won. In the 5th inning with about 10 min to go left in the game we were down by two runs. Our leadoff and number two hitter were standing on first and second. I come up to the plate and they decided to intentionally walk me to load the bases. Now,in steps our number four hitter Lexi. On the first pitch she drives the ball to the gap scoring all three runs and putting us up by two. From there we went on to win 4-2. We were ecstatic because of how we battled back and were able to win for our teammate.

Getting the win was great but, looking to the future, what matters even more is what we can learn from the game and the situation. In that game we learned how to stay composed and how to come together as a team when we were behind and come out with a victory. In this intense atmosphere you have to remember to stay calm and not put more pressure on yourself, especially when you are losing. You have to stay composed and learn not to panic but to feed off of the pressure. For us things were even more intense because not only are we fighting to stay in the game but were losing to Clutch. As the innings pass the pressure is mounting, and the girls start to press more and more. This is where I learned how to be an even better leader. I realized how my team was behaving, so as we came into our infield meeting I called everyone together. I told them, to just relax. We had seen this pitcher before and know that we can hit off of her. Lets focus on just hitting the ball hard and good things will happen, we CAN do this. I learned how to take the focus away from the pressure and replace it with high energy, and being positive to motivate them that we can do this, we will win. As a team we learned that we can come from behind and win in a big game. Now we have that experience we will be even better off next time knowing how to deal with the pressure, and believing because we have been here before and won! 

Softball has a great way of giving you feedback about your actions, and it isn’t whether or not you win the game. What determines success or failure is the look in your teammates eyes when they believe in you, when they relax and rally around each other and perform better. It could have turned out differently. They could have caught Lexi’s hit into the gap and we may have lost. But we still would have learned so much about ourselves and life. If you open your eyes and embrace the moment you can learn something very beneficial from these games. 

College Camp Experiences

Normally when you think of summer you picture laying by the pool relaxing now that school is out. But not for me, my life has gotten about 5x busier since I officially became a junior! Besides for watching the state tournament, in the last two weeks I have had the opportunity to attend the Illinois State Camp, Danes Camp, and Wisconsin Camp along with playing with the Rochester Royals and the Danes every weekend. I learned a lot from each camp that I attended and hope to take little things from each of them to improve my game. 

The Illinois State Camp was in Bloomington, Illinois. (For those who don't know where that is, its in the middle of a corn field next too all of these ginormous State Farm buildings! ;) ) In the morning we started out with their usual warm-up along with intros from the coaches and players. From there up until lunch we worked on fielding. We completed their normal every day drills working on different throws, footwork, drop steps, and full infield drills. After lunch we moved to hitting. First Coach Fischer explained the way that they teach hitting and the proper mechanics. Her goal was to get us to try something new that we hadn't done before or take something that they taught and add it to your swing to make it better. After we moved to different stations doing tee, soft toss, and front toss drills. For the finish we split up into 4 groups to scrimmage another team while the other two groups were touring the indoor facilities. Illinois was my first outdoor college team camp. I was nervous because of the unknown but knew that I would have a blast because I was getting the chance to play softball. I love hitting so the biggest thing that stood out to me was how their hitters all started. Their stance started open with their negative movement and then finished closed with their positive movement. The reasoning behind it is so that they could have two eyes on the ball instead of one. Which makes a lot of sense because I definitely see better with two eyes instead of one. 

Danes Camp was unlike anything I had ever experienced. It was three straight days of learning and hard work. On the first morning it was raining, so we held practice in the dome. There we learned all of the plays we will run this year, our throwing warm-up, and completed our first challenge drill. It had finally cleared up so we drove back the the fields in Hudson to work on bunting and slapping. I had never slapped before so that was very interesting. I learned so many new types of bunts besides for the normal sacrifice that I had been taught before. It opened my eyes to how many more tools I can learn and add to my game to make me that much better of a player. To finish the night we did the Big 300. The Big 300 is a very simple drill, field 300 ground balls as a team without everyone getting out on an error. We only got to 298 when our last girl and team captain had an error. The Big 300 isn't just a drill, but a tool to teach life lessons, use strategy, and where your true leaders stand out. Over the next two days we continued to learn all of the information in our style sheet...(by the way, it is 130 pages, thank you Tim!!) Although it is a lot to process, it is the greatest learning tool someone has ever given me. This way if I have questions some of them I can answer them and learn the why even if I am not around my coaches. On Thursday night we had a double header which was very encouraging in showing us how well we were coming together. Friday was mostly batting practice and then starting the journey over to Mankato for our first tournament! Even though I was exhausted from it, I learned so much and feel I improved a lot over the course of the three days. 

The Badger camp started out with the usual introductions and check ins for camp. But then we went right into my favorite part, hitting. To begin Coach Schneider had us spread out and close our eyes. During this he talked about mechanics and had us feel with our bodies what the correct form was (after watching him with our eyes open). Then we broke up into our hitting groups of about 6 girls to do different tee stations, baserunning, live front toss, and bunting. After hitting we had a chalk talk. During the season, Coach said they try to have at least one chalk talk a week. A talk would contain anything from proper mechanics, strategies, plays, or even inspirational speakers. One of the biggest things that stood out to me during the talk was how they talked about plussing your plusses. Focus on the things that you do well and be positive while working on the things that you can't do as well. They also talked about how much they love their kids and that by being positive they give so much more back to them. After the talk it was finally lunchtime. I love lunch! The second half of the day was throwing, their everyday drills, and diving practice. They worked a ton on picking shorthops and making sure you had good diving form to make great plays. Coach said that if a girl doesn't dive for a foul ball, that the Softball Gods will come back to get her by letting the hitter get a hit or her making an error. So the lesson is, dive for that ball!! Lastly we did several drills to try and recreate how you have to be able to think and react at the same time. To do this we started out very simple by doing a simple pattern through a ladder. Next we added that you had to juggle two softballs as you went through the ladder. Each round we built up how much you had to do at once until we were sitting on the ground facing backwards, then get up, juggle the balls, go through the ladder, all while counting down from 50. I was amazed at how much slower my brain worked after adding all of these things and simply how hard it was to count backwards! The next day was all scrimmaging. You were assigned to a team, went through warm-ups, an evaluation, and then got to show your skills at the scrimmage. 

During these camps I learned a lot about myself. The combination of driving to Illinois, getting home at 1 AM, leaving for Danes at 7:30 AM, then having camp all week, and based on weather cancellations, two tournaments in one weekend taught me how far I can push myself. You hit the wall of how much you think you can do, and if you can break that, you find you can do so much more. I learned to fight through fatigue and how mentally strong I need to be to stay focused and be on top of my game.  

Besides for cramming all of these camps into the past two weeks I have played in three tournaments one the first weekend and because of weather cancellations two after the week of Danes camp. Most kids would complain that they don't have enough free time and want to be with their friends, but my friends are my teammates and wouldn't trade the opportunities I have been given to learn more about softball and show my skills for anything. 

The most important thing I learned was to recognize and be thankful for how blessed I am to be able to play this sport. Many other players have the talent but their families don't have the money to give them the opportunity. Also others may have the money and the talent but, like one of my former teammates, not be able to play anymore because of injuries. I am incredibly blessed to be able to physically and mentally play the game that I love.