For all of you keeping track of our season, you'll know that the 2008 season for Stanford Softball is now over. Sad, I know... it was fun while it lasted but I wish it could have lasted longer. This past weekend we traveled to College Station to play the Aggies of Texas A & M. Unfortunately, our time was up and we lost both games. After our last game there were quite a few tears and a lot of emotion. Everyone knew that this team was special and was sad to see it end. As an underclassman, I know I am going to miss this senior class. For the past two years I have been watching them and pretty much trying to be more like them. They are great kids and they will be sorely missed.

On a slightly lighter note, the highlight of the trip was definitely our trip to Erin Howe's house on Thursday night for dinner. The food was awesome and the company was even better. We had some delicious BBQ and some amazing Mexican food. At one point, half the team ventured outside to the golf course the Howe's have in their backyard for some good old fashion competition. As some of you may know, I was the captain of my varsity golf team. Thus, I was super-excited to get a chance to swing at some balls. Both Coach and Coach Al have both been playing golf for a little while and proved to be the best. I haven't swung a club since my senior year in high school and unfortunately a good softball swing will annihilate a good golf swing (or at least, in my experience). I definitely didn't have the strongest showing. On the competition end, Coach Al destroyed Coach in the driving contest. Okay, so she didn't really destroy him and it wasn't really a driving contest. We were about 200 yards out and they were both using 5 irons to get on the green. Coach Al just happened to hit hers on first. (Sorry Coach :) ) The whole time we were out on the course, the other half of the team was inside the air-conditioned house (great idea guys) watching Grey's Anatomy. Needless to say they were all bummed when Coach said we had to get on the road for our 2-hour trip to College Station from Houston. The only positive to that long a road trip is that we had time to watch a movie. Movie of Choice? Transformers!! Every now and again, the DVD player or the TVs would malfunction and the whole bus would start yelling out "Missy, fix it!!" And naturally, Missy would get up and fix it. In addition to being an awesome ball player, the kid is a genius and good at fixing things :).

Anyway, this is likely my last blog until next year (assuming they ask me to do it again, haha) so I'd like to wish you well and I hope you have a great summer full of softball and fun.

Go Card!

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Next came the actual softball! First game out was against the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. Allowing only 3 base runners the whole game, I'd say we came out to dominate. Next came a 3 game series with UMass. The theme for those 3 games was pretty much who came out and scored first. The first and third games went our way and we walked away as the Regional Champs!! Woot woot!

Even more important than the softball was the flight home. Because a lot of us have midterms this week (myself included, gotta love statistics) we were lucky enough to get a chartered flight home on an Express Jet. Not only did we have the whole plane to ourselves but all of our baggage was handled for us!! In my opinion, the biggest hassle involved in traveling with the softball team is the fact that we each have two bags and usually a ball bag or the like. So to have someone take the bags from the bus to the plane and then straight from the plane back to the bus is pretty much the coolest thing ever!! Though we still ended up missing some class, the chartered plane was really nifty.

Next we take on Texas A & M in College Station. All I can say is that I'm super excited and pretty optimistic!! Well, I have to go learn some stats so I hope to see you out at the field!!

Go Card!!

Rosey

Now we get ready to head off to the East Coast. Lots of class work to catch up on and things to prepare for. Five out of the 16 of us are in the same statistics class and all of us are lucky enough to have a midterm on Monday! Woo hoo! Gotta love confidence intervals! More importantly, there is going to be nothing to distract us from the goal of winning a championship!! First we head to Amherst and then who knows?!? The Cardinal are about to conquer the world!

Have a lovely day and Go Card!!

<3>

In addition to the awesome softball aspect, the Oregon trip also provided some sweet situations for us to go crazy! Because we stayed in Eugene all three nights but played in Corvallis on Saturday and Sunday and then had to drive from Corvallis to Portland to fly out we had a lot of time on the bus to hang out. Some of the more memorable moments came on the trip to the airport when we started playing a game called "spotlight." A game Habes and I learned on the Junior National Team while in Puerto Rico, the rules are simple: pick a song and have no shame! From the back of the bus, we got a rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody" from Shan and Habes, a solo from Habes doing "Thizz Face", another solo from Anna doing "Bleeding Love" (seriously... Leona Lewis better watch out! Anna is GOOD), a rough rendition of "We Didn't Start the Fire" from Erin and Jess, and Tricia and I sang "Seasons of Love". There were many, many others but those were some highlights. There was also a rousing team rendition of Build Me Up Buttercup. I'm not going to lie, it was a little tough trying to write an American Studies paper during that particular bus trip but it was worth it. At Ruby Tuesdays before heading to the airport we also had the Saltine Challenge! The saltine challenge is simply to eat 6 saltine crackers in one minute (try it... I dare you!). Needless to say, none of us succeeded but a lot of hilarity ensued. Let's just say a lot of us had saltine dust in our drinks afterward . I'm going to have to vote Erin the funniest loss when she laughed and blew saltine dust in Maddy's face.

The weekend was fun but now it's time to look to the future. We have the Arizonas this weekend and hopefully we will get a rolling start into the post-season. One day at a time, one game at a time, and one weekend at a time. Hope to see you out there!!

Go Card!!

<3>

Friday night was a super fun game that resulted in a tight 2-1 victory over Washington. If you read the box score for the game, I'm sure it was a little bit strange! Both of our runs were scored because of bases loaded walks! Our first run came via a base on balls to Michelle Smith with the bases loaded and the winning run scored because of a 3-2 screw ball that went a touch high to me in the bottom of the 10th with the bases loaded! There was definitely a party in right field during the post-game talk!

The rest of the weekend was dedicated to our totally awesome seniors. Sunday got a little teary eyed when all of the seniors were presented and all of their tremendous accomplishments were listed. But then we buckled down and played some ball! Unfortunately we couldn't pull out the win. Sad but true. Luckily enough, we had a sweet BBQ after the game to take our minds off of the day's loss.

As usual, Monday is fun-day because it's our only offday during the week. Don't get me wrong, I love playing ball but a body can only take so much!! Monday is always a good day to relax and unwind while getting psyched up for the week to come. Today's offday was dedicated to cleaning the room, doing dishes, and studying for my Psych 70 midterm. Days like these that make me realize how strange it would be to be a normal student here at Stanford! To be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way!!

We're off to Oregon next weekend and hopefully we'll get a few more wins!!

Have a nice day and GO CARD!

Rosey

Not only were there a bunch of local teams out supporting us but it was a weekend for alumni. Lindsay Key (Class of '07), Jackie Rinehart (Class of '07), Megan Bordelon (Class of '06), Leah Nelson (Class of '05), and Kira Ching (Class of '03) were all present and accounted for this particular Cal weekend. It's always fun to see former teammates and players that came out of the same program. Also present at Friday's game in full force was the Stanford Women's Field Hockey Team. They were out to support not only their teammate and new Stanford Softball running phenom, Jess Zutz, but also the softball team. We definitely got some amazing renditions of of the Stanford Axe cheer! It was a bummer to travel to Berkeley on Sunday and lose a game in the bottom of the 7th inning but all and all the weekend was a success. Taking 2 out of 3 in a weekend is always good in the Pac-10 and this weekend was no different!

Coming up next weekend is our last home weekend and Senior Day! UCLA and Washington are coming around to the Bay Area. If we sweep the weekend we will take the series from both UW and UCLA! But before this weekend we have to get through a week of practice and a mid-week game against San Jose State. One thing is for sure, after a nice off-day we are ready to get back on the field and play ball!!

Hope to see you out there!!

Rosey

Just another day in paradise here at Stanford!  This past weekend was one of the best for Stanford Softball.  Get out the broom for the sweep of the Oregon schools!!  Game 1 on Friday was a big game for a lot of reasons.  Not only was it our first Pac-10 win by run-rule but it was also Coach's 500th career win!! At the end of the game we all looked up and saw the whole crowd holding "500" signs!  What an awesome night!!

Our next two wins came by way of the Oregon Ducks.  Both one-run games were pretty exciting but even more exciting was the sweep!  Saturday was an especially fun game because the marketing department declared that it was "Red Zone" day and the first 100 students got a free t-shirt!  Games are always more fun with a bigger crowd!

Outside the softball field, there was the annual Spring Game for the Stanford Football team.  Cardinal vs. White!!  For those of you keeping track, the Cardinal team won by a significant margin.  Looks like next year should be a good year for Stanford Football!  More importantly THIS year is looking good for Stanford Softball!!

This week we take on Santa Clara and Cal... hope to see you out there!!

Rosey

My goodness was that a weekend!  We got back from Washington last night and man, is it nice to be home!  The Washington/UCLA trip is typically the most challenging trip in the PAC-10 schedule based simply on the travel schedule.  In one weekend we pretty much do a whole tour of the West coast!  The best part of the weekend was definitely our first PAC-10 win against Washington on Sunday.  Despite the coldest day of the weekend, we got it together and picked up a win!  Even cooler: our first PAC-10 win came on my birthday!!  Awesome birthday present, guys!

After the game, we went straight to the airport where we all sat outside an airport bar to watch the Stanford Women's Basketball team triumph over UConn in the Final Four.  Even when the plane was about to take off, we were still getting minute-by-minute updates from Erikka's dad via text message!  Then when we landed, we got the good news from the flight attendants that Stanford won!!  Woohoo!

Aside from the win, the best birthday present I got came from two of our freshmen.  When Shannon (my roommate) and I were leaving our room for breakfast I was greeted with a large poster taped to my door.  The poster was adorned with stickers and witty commentary.  The stickers and poster were supplied by the front desk receptionist and the witty commentary by Autumn Albers and Erikka Moreno.

Well, we're back at it with a full week of practice and then we host the Oregon schools for our second home weekend of PAC-10 games.  Hope to see you out there!!

Rosey

Greetings from Stanny!

This week's blog finds us at the start of Spring quarter.  First day of classes and then off to more softball!  Tomorrow we will head to Sac State for a midweek game before heading to UCLA and Washington.  Right now I'm finishing up the end of my spring break with an afternoon of shopping on our off day.  My roommate Alissa Haber, and I went shopping today and went out for dinner in celebration of Spring Break and the off day.  All and all spring break was fun but it could have ended a little better if you know what I mean.

The first week of classes should be pretty easy especially considering that the quarter starts on Tuesday, we go to Sac State on Wednesday, and leave for the UCLA/Washington trip on Thursday.  Yup, this quarter is going to be fun!  Nothing but class and ball!

Have a lovely week and Go Card!!

Rosey

Hey Everyone!

Week One of my "blog" finds us in the midst of spring break!  Time to party and vacation?  Not really but still an awesome week for Stanford Softball!  While gearing up for our home opening weekend of Pac-10s, we had plenty of time to practice and to have some fun.  The closest we got to a stereotypical "spring break" was a day at the beach with the girls.  We had a day off on Monday and decided to make a day of it and head out to Santa Cruz for a day in the sun.  Almost the whole team made it out and fun times ensued.  Most of us just laid out in the sun for a while but the day off was definitely needed and well deserved.  We also had a fun night after a day of practice, when we all went out to karaoke bowling night at the Palo Alto Bowl!  While only a few of us actually bowled, all of us karaoked.  Including an amazing team rendition of "Build Me up Buttercup" where everyone sang.  I'm not so sure that the Palo Alto Bowl will ever be the same...

We also had an opportunity for one last tune-up before starting Pac-10s with a doubleheader against UC Davis.  Wouldn't you know, something would go wrong!  We all get there on time and finish our warm-ups but lo and behold, no umpires!  As it turns out there was a scheduling "miscommunication" and our doubleheader was overlooked by the scheduler.  Coach said that it was the first time in all of his years of coaching that this had ever happened.  Luckily enough, we rounded up some umpires who had just finished games in the area and we still managed to play at least one game.  After quite the delay we threw down a 2-0 win over the Aggies on a cool Wednesday night.

Well that's it for me... I have to go watch some game film for the upcoming weekend (catcher's job they say!).  Hope to see you out on the field!

Go Card!

Rosey Neill