First and foremost, it was 70 degrees warmer in Orlando that it was in Chicago yesterday. When we landed last night (almost the entire team took the last flight out of Dodge), it was -2 in Chicago. We were wearing shorts and t-shirts in Orlando all day. Ugh.
Why shorts and t-shirts instead of softball uniforms? Well, it's because we lost twice on Saturday. We also won three games and won a forfeit on a fourth so we ended up 4-2 and probably finished around 20th out of 40-50 teams. Now that our team has experienced success, we don't even consider it a moral victory of any kind unless we at least make it to Sunday of a tournament. We had some things going against us this trip, but we just hit very poorly. From my recollection, we had maybe 5 people hit over .500 (myself being one of them) and that's just not acceptable. You need almost everyone to hit over .400, 80% to hit over .500, maybe 5-6 to hit over .600 and then one or two guys to hit over .700 if you're going to have a successful tournament. I don't think we had but one person hit over .600. Ugh.
The problems we had were mostly of our own doing. Three of our starters/regular contributors didn't make the trip, but we still had good depth so this was just a minor problem. The association that governed this tournament allows stealing and we don't have great team speed, but this also wasn't a deciding factor in our demise, just a contributing one. Friday we were supposed to have practice, but couldn't find a field. This really hurt us I feel. A good practice could have allowed our swings to be better the following day. For the tournament you might only get 10-15 at bats (due to player rotation in and out of the games), so each one has to count. Finally, the houses we were staying at (not a hotel as I would have preferred), were 45 minutes to an hour away from where we were playing. That was just stupid. Even with a 9:00 a.m. first game, we had to get up before 6 to get everyone ready, grab food at McDonald's, drive the hour, and then check in. Just stupid.
The victories and one defeat were all very close games. We won each of the games by one run and lost the last game by two. Our first lost, to a team from Georgia, we were crushed 19-2.
So all in all it was just a mediocre weekend from a softball perspective. It's a good group of guys though and the bonding experience can't be overlooked. Hopefully it will pay dividends as the season heats up in a few months.
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5 comments:
Don't you think that you guys were playing in your off season might have something to do with it. Athletes need to be playing regularly to be in playing condition (not the same as physical condition) and to operate optimally as a unit.
are the others on your team as dedicated as you are? Curious, as it is unusual for us as we grow older to be devoted to causes outside work and family.
...and it was 70 freakin' degrees warmer than Chicago! That is a big WIN in my book...
Good question Alexis. Yep, most of the people on the are pretty dedicated. One guy has lost 17 pounds since December in an effort to get into shape for this year. Two guys are having surgery so they can play this year (one delayed his surgery until after the orlando trip). So yep, though some people drink a little more than they should and maybe don't get the sleep they should before the tournament, we're all pretty dedicated.
Oh, and I don't really have family to be devoted too and work....well, you can only work so much!!
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