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Throughout the season, members of the Virginia softball team will blog about being on the road and recent games, activities and news in and around the softball world. Fourth-year co-captain Whitney Holstun is up next, recalling the first half of the team’s Spring Break 2008 trip to Jacksonville, Atlanta and Louisville.
The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the bus was loaded as our team set out for Spring Break 08. Our journey began with a flight down to Jacksonville, Fla., followed by a bus trek up to Atlanta and finally to Louisville, Ky.
After arriving at our hotel and a quick team meeting, we all headed off to bed as preparing for an early game the next morning. In Jacksonville, there wasn’t much time for anything outside of softball, so there is not much to say about the quick weekend trip. Karla, however, had an almost life-altering moment! She has a silver sparkly head band that she wears in her hair for every game. While getting ready to “drop a bomb” (get a hit in softball lingo), she dropped her headband and because the plastic was not too sturdy, her slight step caused the band to break! Luckily, however, Karla was able to complete the game and help us get a win. Afterwards, Coach Freed stopped by Target to try to find a replacement, and was met with some great options. She settled on a crisp white satin wrapped headband; the best part, was that it also included a grand bow to sit atop Karla’s head while she racked up the strikeouts! Needless to say, that headband did not make it off of the bus.
A short bus ride later, we arrived in Atlanta in time to explore the city a bit while looking for a bite to eat. Lindsey, Meghan, Pitt, and I stumbled upon a small caf where we were greeted not only with tasty food, but karaoke for entertainment! We were all ready to take a shot at becoming American Idols and testing our karaoke skills, when our table received some delicious desserts. By the time we had savored enough of the chocolate cake and cheesecake, we checked our watches and realized we only had 15 minutes to get back to the hotel before our meeting. A brisk jog and we made it back with time to spare. Monday morning we headed to the field for practice. A bit of defensive practice followed by some quick hitting, Coach Freed took a note from Billy Blanks and lead us in a Tae-Bo workout. Some of the more rhythmically challenged on our team had a bit of trouble with some of the complex moves, but we pulled together and made it through.
We were all excited at the end of practice because our itinerary said that Monday night included a “Surprise.” The surprise, Coach Schmidt informed us, was a trip to Dave and Buster’s! I can honestly say that this surprise brought us all a relaxing night of “family-fun.” Lindsey and Pitt took their best shot at the boxing game. Sorry to say it, but us fourth-years have more experience; Linds made it four rounds, while Pitt only survived two. Don’t worry Pitt, you have three more years to try to get to level 4. Courtney, on the other hand, struck it rich! While playing a game called “Earthquake” (the game where the light goes around in a circle and you have to try to stop it when it’s on a certain spot), she hit the jackpot! Somehow the machine decided that Courtney deserved much more than the advertised 400 tickets for the jackpot. 8,000 tickets later (literally), Courtney and the team enjoyed a great dinner, and then hit the gift shop. Court was generous, and everyone was able to get what they wanted including various stuffed animals, maracas, candy, even some cute D&B pants for our athletic trainer Ashleigh.
After a victorious night, we woke up ready to play some games, only to find that we would be rain delayed for a few hours. After two more hours, the games were delayed until the next day. After getting so pumped for the game, the team was really disappointed. But it was a smart decision because the outfield had huge puddles, and we feared Tacke might drown in right field if she tried to make a diving catch. The next day, our winning streak, which started with Court’s big “Earthquake” spin, continued as we won our first ACC series against Georgia Tech. We are now on our way out of the warm spring-break weather, to a snow-filled Kentucky. Let’s hope that the wins keep rolling, and that the temperatures keep, or start, rising.
-Whitney Holstun