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| Promoting Fastpitch Softball in the Northwest |
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| 2/18/03 |
| Hi Everyone~ The day has finally come I am about 7 hours away from leaving the state of Oregon for 5 months to start training for summer competition. As of this point I have a lot of mixed emotions. I am feeling very anxious to get on the road to make the "short" drive to Arizona. Along with the anxiousness I am feeling very nervous to move away. I have always wanted to move to the sunshine but never in a million years did I actually think It was going to happen, I just liked to dream about it. I am also feeling very sad to leave all of you! I was so excited to watch everyone play and now I will not have the opportunity, which is hard for me. I know you all will do awesome and I better be updated on how things go! (Ha-ha) I am so excited about having this wonderful opportunity to train and coach in Arizona. I want to thank you all for the great experience I had while working with you. Every single one of you is awesome and have a lot to work towards, you will do great this season. Thank you and Good Luck - Crystal |
| Email Crystal @ |
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| Hi~ I am finally here in the sunny state of Arizona. Little did I know I brought the rain with me. Yes for the past two days it has been raining. Luckily I brought my umbrella with me so I am prepared for the elements. Just my luck. Nothing too exciting has been going on this week, I did get a membership to a gym down the street, and I love it already. It has a swimming pool, basketball courts, cardio room, weight room and much more. That is about it for this week, I was supposed to pick up Jodi's rival coach at the airport today but he became very ill and can not make it. It is ok though, I am going to Tucson this weekend to watch the Netherlands national team play. So I will have the opportunity to meet some of the girls Jodi will be playing with. Well I am off to the gym, take care and I miss you all-Crystal |
| 2/27/03 |
| Hello~ This has been a very busy but exciting week for me. Central Arizona College has had games all week so it has been keeping my time occupied. I am having a blast working with their pitchers, they all have so much potential it is exciting to see. One of their pitchers will be playing for University of Oregon next fall, so yes I am having to work with a Duck! (ha ha) Oh last weekend I did not have a chance to meet Jodi's teammates, instead I attended a baseball spring training game. The San Francisco Giants and the Anaheim Angels, the Giants ended up winning the contest. It was my first baseball game so it was a very exciting experience for me. Well I am off to another double header, so take care and I look forward to hearing from everyone soon! ~ Crystal~ |
| 3/06/03 |
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| HI~ I know it has been a couple of weeks since I have gotten to tell you all what I have been doing, there is a reason for that I am once again booked with many activities. Last time I mentioned I went to the baseball game, well I am now working at all of the spring training games where I sell lemonade. It is a lot of fun, not to mention I get to see some of the greatest baseball players up close. I also met and chatted with Tony Batista from the Seattle Mariners, the funny thing is that I had no idea who he was when he came up to us and introduced himself. ha ha. My team is doing well, we have won two tournements in two weeks and are ranked #1 in the country for Junior Colleges. It is very exciting, I love watching the girls play because they take advantage of every oppertunity possible. I am once again booked with lessons, which is so fun for me to do, the girls are great and have a lot of heart and ambishion. I have been working out really hard as well trying to get ready for the summer ahead, I have a meeting with my coach this afternoon to talk about the summer. Well I am off to some morning lessons, take care and I miss you a ton! ~Crystal~ |
| 3/19/03 |
| HI~ Oh how angry I am...I just typed out this wonderful entry to tell you all about and accidently deleted the whole thing. It is okay though it only took me about an hour to write the last one. haha I hope you all are doing well, it sounds like high school and sping asa are underway and I hear everyone is doing well. Keep up the great work! School is going well it keeps me plenty busy with a ton of paperwork. I would not reccomend taking more then one online class at a time if you are ever interested, it has been pure tourture trying to keep up with everything. It is going well though. Last week my roommate Erica and workout partner decided we were going to mix our workout up a bit. We were tired of lifting and then having to force ourselvs to get on those treadmills, so we had the great idea to join one of the areobics classes offered at our gym. So the first class we attended was a dance areobics class, I was excited until the music started and I saw how fast the insturctors feet and arms were moving. I seriously am not coordinated enough to move my body like that. So I danced around trying to keep up, I just looked like a chicken with my head cut off. I did get a good workout out of it though. After the dance Class Erica and I had the bright idea to join a step areobics class. Can I just tell you now I do not know what we were thinking. So for another hour we jumped around trying to master the art of step areobics. Luckilly I did not fall off the step when we were doing some of those moves. So the next day I roll my beat up body out of bed and do it all over again this time we only did one class it was called multi-step. Multi-step includes two steps one in front and one in back, hence the name multi-step. It was a fun class, vrey difficult to keep up but I didn't do too bad. So the next day rolls around, I go to stand up out of bed and just about collapsed. Yeah my calvs were not very happy with me, they were in a world of pain. Finally we get to the gym and looked on the board to see what was being offered, mixed impact. Perfect we thought no torture of having to jump up and down of the steps on this day. Little did we know when class started it was 45minutes of strait jumping up and down. I wanted to roll over and die right there, but I kept pushing the whole way through the class. By the time class was over I was very slow moving, the 91 year old man in our class was moving faster then I could. It is okay, on Monday I am joining the spinning class. I am very scared already about how hard it is going to be. Just imagine yourself on a bike for and hour ridding as fast as you can. Do not ask me why I am putting my body through this maddness. I will keep you updated. Also I have been playing a little slowpitch. Erica's whole family is on a team and they needed an extra player one night and asked if I would play of course I would not turn down the great oppertunity. So seems how I was filling in for a player that could not make it I had to go by the name Deb. Yes it is pretty funny everyone one the team calls me Deb because that is who I am filling in for. I did well enough that they asked Deb to come back again and play in their tournemnt next weekend. Well I have to finish my homework now, keep in touch and I miss you all. ~Crystal |
| 4/06/03 |
| HI~ Hope everyone is doing well, I have been getting updates from some of you and it sounds like the girls are doing great. I hope everyone had a nice easter weekend last week, mine was really good probably the best I have ever had to be honest. We had a nice family get together with Erica's sisters and parents, ate dinner and played a game of trivial pursuite. Yeah I would have to say it is not my kind of game, not so good with remembering history questions. (Her family is the best, they make me feel like I am such a part of it, it is such a wonderful feeling to know they care so much about me like one of their own. It is nice to have a home away from home). Then I went on a date to the movies to watch ANGER MANAGEMENT with someone I met playing slow-pitch on Friday night. He is a very good slow-pitch player, he hits lots of homeruns and also plays on a tournement team. I have been really busy as usual with working out, school, lessons and slow-pitch. Yes I said slow-pitch, I have been playing every Tuesday night with my roommates sisters team. It is a women's league so not a lot of competition atleast I do not see it. It is really fun I play in the outfield and gun people when they try to take extra bases, I have been hitting really well too, I had the game winning homerun the other night. The great thing about slow-pitch is getting to meet new people, I have met some wonderful people who will be a part of my life for a long time. Training is going well, everything is still on our own before we come together as a team in June. I have been working out with my catchers at the college, preparing for the journey ahead of me this summer. My pitches feel good though they are still not quite where I would like them to be, but they will only get better so that is good news. Our college team has their regionals this weekend and next to see if they will go to nationals which is in Florida. They should win pretty easily because there is not a lot of compettion in the area, they are pretty over powering. I have not been doing anything too exciting besides playing a lot of slow-pitch. Oh I should update you on the classes we have been doing, which are still going well. I think we kind of burned ourselves out by going so much the first couple of weeks, but I would have to say my favorite class is the spinning class. I was scared to death to do it at first but I love it now, and it is such a good workout. I miss you ~Crystal~ |
| 4/23/03 |
| Greetings from Holland Once again I know it has been a long time since I have updated you all on how things are going with me. Look at it this way I have a lot more to tell you about since the last time I entered in my diary. Yes I am in Holland playing softball, I left in March but will be returning to the states next week. When I first arived I felt like I was in a movie, everything is so small and compact. We ride bikes, take the train and walk everywhere. The best is ridding double on the the back of a bike, oh yeah that is right double. Just imagine me on the back of a bike while someone is trying to bike me around, well it has been done and we almost crashed. Luckily the the guy has been biking people his whole life and kept us from crashing. It is so normal that you ride with two people on the back of a bike, it took a little bit to get use to it. I also feel like I am living in the Real World Holland. There are 5 of us crammed into a little itty bitty 3 bedroom house, with one of our roommates sleeping in the living room. My room is the size of a walk in closet, seriously it is that small, and the stairs in the house are a death trap, very narrow and steep. I have gotten to the point where I can jog up them now. It is small and crammed but it has been a blast living with evryone we all get along so well and have a lot of fun together, I wouldn' trade it for the world. One other thing that I just love is that the 1980's are making a come back, yep brace yourself America here it comes. Flourecent colors, pointy boots, fish net stockings, leg warmers and side pony tails. I love it! I love the fact that you can wear anything that you want and fit right in, nobody cares how you look or what you are wearing. I have been dying to wear a side pony tail for a long time and now I can finally do it. I think I am going to hold off on the fish net tights though. It is a lot of fun and very laid back. I had a wonderful experiance here the people are so wonderful, everyone is always trying to make you feel at home and help you with what ever it is you might need. I have made a lot of friends and am sad that I have to go, I am hoping that I will be able to come and visit one more time this summer if all goes well. The softball is nothing like I expected it to be, everyone here is just on a different level then what I am use too, I am very appriciative of all the great coaches I had a long the way that is for sure. It is not bad by any means just very different. The best part of the whole trip was have the oppertunity to play with Jodi, Shawna and Erica on an All-Star team for a tournement. I have not had that much fun playing softball in a long time, we all had so much fun and showed the Dutch girls what softball is like in America. All that they could say was wow, they way you guys do things is so different but it works so well, we warm up on our own take as many cuts and throws as we need. Just a lot of diferences between the way we play and the way the Dutch play. We have a tournament this weekend and then it is back to the states for me. I still am not sure what is going to happen with the Greek National Team, we are still trying to get all of my paperwork in order so I can join the team this summer. It has been a night mare trying to locate two people that we barely have any information about, but hopefully the people we have looking will come up with something soon. To the individuals who have been helping through all of this stuff, I thank you a million times. My Junior College team won the National Championship last month so congrats to all my girls on the team. Wish that I could have been there to support you, I am so proud of all the hard work that you put in. Well for now I have to get going we are going to play the National Team tonight...Take Care and email us about how your summer is going.....DOEI (good bye in dutch)...Crystal |
| 06/03/03 |
| Hi~ Monday was a very sad day for me as I had to leave all of my friends in The Netherlands. I came back to Arizona because I thought I was going to be traveling for the Greek National Team, but come to find out it is not going to happen this summer. I am a bit bummed out about that because I gave up such a wonderful experience, but I am going to try and get back to Holland in August. What a crazy month it was being in a forien country so far away from all of the things that were comfortable for you. I started the first week in a half pretty homesick the weather was simmilar to Oregon where all that it did was rain and we were stuck in the house all day. Then it started getting better for me the sun came out and we were doing things, going places and meeting people. By the time Sunday evening rolled around I was dreading having to get on a plane and leave, it was a tear filled night by the time we all got back to house on Bantanstraat. The friends I have made in such a short amount of time will always be a part of my life now, they are such wonderful people and I am so glad I had the oppertunity to become friends with them all. Even the friends that I had before going to The Netherlands such as Jodi, Erica and Shawana became even closer then befoe, these are girls that I have known for a long time too. We all had so much fun and I am so greatful that I had the oppertunity to share it with such great freinds. Last week was a fun filled week we did a clinic for about 85 dutch children and what a blast we had. It was split up into two groups 8-12 yrs and 13-17 yrs. I was in charge of the running station, teaching mechanics of running and base running rules. So I have groups of about 10 little dutch girls who at this age speak very little english, I am trying to demonstrate running drills and techniques so I demonstrate the drills and probably get as much of a work out as they all did. It was a blast I would just yell hootso which means good job or prima which is the same. Then about half an hour into the second group we had to run and take cover becasue it started to storm. I have never been in such a storm, the rain was coming down so hard and blowing every which way it was crazy, so we had to cancel the rest of the day. It really fun teaching little kids who were so excited to learn from the Americans, they were so cute at the end of the day they all wanted pictures with us all and autographs. This past weekend we all got together and played in a big tournament the six americans and the rest were dutch players. As of Sunday we were undefeated and going to play in the championship game Monday afternoon, I guess it did not go so well we ended up losing. That is okay the best part of playing last weekend was how much fun we all had together it was just like summer ball for us again, we were loud, having fun and doing well. Every dutch girl who played with us had a lot of fun. They could not belive that we could have so much fun and do so well, we told them that is how we do it in America. You can have fun, be focused and win games! Thank you so much to everyone in The Netherlands that made my experience so wonderful! I miss you already and don't wory I will be back in August. ~Crystal |
| 6/10/03 |
| Been back fro 4 days now and I am still trying to adjust to the time I keep waking up at 5:30am. It is okay I make that my workout time since it is a lot cooler,I am not trying to run 4 miles in 108 degree weather. For the past month I was getting use to hearing and speaking very little dutch. So now that I am home I catch myself still trying to use the daily words that we used all the time, i'm like wait this person will have no idea what I am trying to say so I stop myself. I am talking about words like please, thank you, your welcome, goodbye, hello, good job, little things like that. These were all words we used on a daily bases with eachother so you can imagine they slip out once in a while, I will be like donk u vel which means thank you or ashublieft which is please, or your welcome.. Or my favorite word ever that I learned is doei pronounced dooey which means goodbye. I am always like doei instead of goodbye, I like it much better it has a nice little tone to it. Well I am planning on heading back to Oregon for a few weeks comming up in July, I can't wait to see everyone and watch you all play, don't worry I will let you know when it gets closer. It will be nice to go home for a while, it will be cherry season so I can't wait to eat fresh fruit again. I will tell you all that I miss walking out my door across the driveway to the cherry trees and picking my own off the tree. I am very picky when it comes to fruit, I refuse to eat cherries out of the store, or pretty much any fruit that we grow for that matter. I only eat the fruit that is in season. When you grow up with it you have a right to be very picky, and oh I am. I was asked to play on a competitive women's team this summer but had to decline due to the time commitment. I know I would have had a blast it was mostly made up of players from the Pac, past and present. Oh good news I was asked to come back to Central Arizona College in the fall to work with the pitchers and I can't wait, I will get to start them from scratch instead of mid-season. I am going to kind of divert my energy into the topic of friendships because it is really starting to hit home that you are all far away. I'm talking about all of you who are in Holland not just Erica, Jodi and Shawna but the friends I made while I was there. Even my friends in Oregon who I have not seen in 5 months, I miss you all. Packing up and moving to Arizona was quite the transition for me, it ment for the first time in my life I was moving away from everyone. I knew my family would always be in the same place but when you are ready to move on with your life your friends scatter too. Kind of scary to think about, but reality. You go through college where you have so many friends but when it's time to go you find out who your true friends are. These are friends that you will keep in contact with for the rest of your life, i'm not talking everyday folks but a phone call here and there or an email every once in a while. I found out who my true friends were when I moved to Arizona and it's not the hundred that I had while I was in school, it is a select few. It is almost the same thing as when you leave high school, you are friends with the entire school but then you go to college and look at how many potential frieds are there. You might only keep in contact with one or two high school chums. The same type of situation occured when I moved to Holland for the short amount of time, who were my friends when I am 4000 miles away? It did not phase my friends in Oregon I still heard from them every once in a while when they had time, they had already been through the trauma of me being gone. As for the few friends that I made in Arizona when I wasn't working, lets just say I found out the hard way that they didn't know how to deal with having distant friends. I mean I still talk to them occasionaly but it is just a little different. I know it is very sad that someone you think is your good friend one day just decides they can't deal with you being so far away. To me that is weird but it happens so what do you do? So my advise for the younsters is to have as many friends as you want while you are growing up, friends are great souces of fun and adventure. Just so you know the friends you have now might be different than the freinds you have in middle school, high school and even college and that is okay because you will always have friends. Oh one more thing for the girls you know how you have those rival teams that you just don't like? Well just keep in mind that those girls on those specific teams might be your future teammates and friends of yours. ~Crystal |
| 6/13/03 |
| I just got home from watching my friend play slow pitch tonight which was fun because I had not watched him play in a while. He's fun to watch because he moves so smoothly on the field, reads it off the bat well, gets good jumps and he has a gun for an arm. He also has a great presence on the field, good leadership qualities, takes charge. I guess I got there to late and missed one of his homeruns but he always hits them so I am sure I will have the oppertunity to see him hit another one. Their team won of course, I guess they are undefeated or something. Then I went with Erica's family to TGI Fridays and had a nice dinner for fathers day, and now here I am writing another diary entry for all of you to read. I am beginning to come to the realization that my softball career may be coming to an end for this summer. Since the Greek Team didn't work out I thought for sure I could find a competitive women's team to play on, which I did but it was too big of a time commitment. I am keeping my fingers crossed that maybe they will need a pick up player for Canada Cup and Nationals, we'll see what happens. It just makes me so sad because here I put my life on hold to move to Arizona so I could be prepared for the summer. I left all of my players in Oregon, put my last two terms of school on hold and left my family and friends. Through all of this I have learned that it was just another sacrifice I was willing to make in my softball career, which did not turn out bad by any means I am just sad I don't get to play. Ever since I started playing softball I have had to make a lot of sacrifices. I knew that if I wanted to be a top player it would mean giving up things I wanted to do or missing out on activities that my friends were doing. Now that I look back I realized I didn't miss out on anything. I played PAC 10 division 1 softball, played in another country, and was part of a National Team which were all goals and dreams I had when I started playing. Yes I would do it all over again if I had to make the same decisions, making sacrifices to accomplish these goals is well worth it in my book. I'm not saying that it wasn't hard but I stayed focused on my dreams and desires and wan't about to let anything get in the way. I remember making this poster in high school that listed my 4 of my goals and dreams on it, well kids I have accomplished 3 of the 4 already. The 4th well if you know me at all you know that I have always dreamed of attending cosmetology school , the dream; to be a hair stylist for the stars! Girls if you have dreams and desires I want you to know they are all attainable. Yes it will be hard, it will be a lot of work and you do have to make sacrifices. Let me be the one to tell you that if it is something that you want to accomplish YOU WILL! Also don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't. If they do then you must work that much harder to prove them wrong! You can do it, I did it and if I can over come all of the obstacles that I did to get where I am today then surely you will too. I started this entry thinking that I was going to tell you about some habits I seemed to pick up while spending time in Netherland but, once my pen started writing I couldn't stop it all just has to come out. :) Being in another country sometimes you realize how much you miss something and wish you could have it. If you are planing on traveling to Netherland here are some things that you might want to take notes on. Make sure you allow a lot of time when you dine out, most of the time it will be about a two hour experience, you have to flag down the waitress/waiter for your check. If you enjoy ice in your drinks order ice tea because ice does not really exist, also do not expect refills on drinks, no such thing as free. Size of drinks are also very small, so you must learn to sip. The first few days I was like how in the world am I going to do this, I am American and we have super size and refills. I did learn how to do it and I find myself doing it back here in the states now. Good story to tell you I am a big coffee drinker before I moved to Arizona I use to drink about a pot a day (mostly because I was always cold). I know it is really bad for me. Then in Arizona I limited myself to once a day at Starbucks, so you can imagine that with no refills I was going crazy. What I did though so I wouldn't crave it I only drank about 4 cups the whole month I was there. Now the past few days I have been going back to Starbucks where I order the usual grande in a venti cup, "for the love of god it's so good." Funny thing is that I can't even finish the whole thing anymore and I am sipping on it for over an hour. It is actually not a bad thing because I don't need to drink so much of it. Now that I am back in the states there are things that I wish I had from Holland such as; tosties, saute sauce, apple strudel yogurt, stroop waffles, cheese, pretty much everything was so delicious...I miss everyone and keep in touch..:) Doeg~ Crystal |
| 6/15/03 |
| This has absolutly nothing to do with softball but I really want to tell you all this story really quick. You know how I have been going to Starbucks every morning after I workout to sip my coffee and read the paper. Well I like to take a table and move it in the shade kind of away from everyone else. So this has happened the past two days while I am comfortable sitting reading the paper minding my own business, this guy comes along and moves his table right next to mine. I'm not talking like 5ft away I am talking like his chairs are nearly sitting at my table. I am thinking to myself there is 20ft avaliable to move a table in the shade but you pick a spot that is right next to me, nice. Then about fifteen minutes later another guy pulls up a table on the other side of me, then another group of people pull their table right behind me, so now here I am surrounded by chairs and people. I don't have a problem with it, well actually I do. You know how we all have that personal bubble that is around us and it just really bothers me when I am sitting in a huge area and then comes along three tables that just have to sit right next to me. I wouldn't mind so much if there was not so much area where they could move them, and even if they do move them by me why so close? I guess I am just popular! yeah right. That is my little story for the day, oh next week is big slow-pich national qualifier, can't wait. Erica is coming home to visit for a couple of weeks too she gets home on Friday, I can't wait to see her I miss her a ton. Chat with ya all next time when something interesting happens. Dag !!! Crystal |
| 6/17/03 |
| I am leaving for San Diego on Friday morning and I am so excited. I recieved a phone call tonight about being a pick up player on that team I had to turn down for the summer. They needed a pitcher for this weekend and for Canada Cup coming up here on the 4th of July, of course I was not going to turn this oppertunity down. I have been so bummed out the past week thinking my career was over but then when I got the call I was like oh my goodness YES, YES i want to play. So here I find myself leaving for California for the weekend, Yippee!!! So I will return to Arizona after the weekend work a few days and then head to Canada to play for two weeks then back to Az for a couple of weeks and then I need to head to Oregon to see all ya'll :) I had a great weekend I hung out with Erica and her sister all weekend which was soooo fun, we spent Saturday swimming and Sunday we had a BBQ. Also, on Sunday evenings Erica's dad, brother-in-law, brother-in-law to be and my good friend Nacho all play on a slowpitch team togher so we went out to watch those games. They kicked some major butt, in one hour and ten minutes they finished two games. Not bad eh? I can't even tell you how much fun I have going out to watch my friends and family play, they are such wonderful people. That is about all that happened this weekend but I will keep you posted on how the tournement goes. Miss you all tons...Doeg ~ Crystal |
| 6/23/03 |
| My team took 1st this past weekend in the San Diego tournement, we were 5-1. Our only loss came on Sunday afternoon against a very much improved Venazuala team. They played the game of their life against us and ended up with the victory. Other then that one game we did awesome, I have never been on a team that hits so many homeruns. It makes it very nice as a pitcher when your offence scores so many runs, relives a lot of pressure. What a great time i had throwing again, but I will tell you I have not been that sore in a long time. Trying to roll out of bed Saturday morning posed to be quite the challenge for me but onece I was up and moving my muscels loosened up a bit, luckily. On Friday night I threw against Chineese Taipei and ended up throwing about 75% change-ups to them. I have played agianst them before and knew that they would not swing at them so each batter saw about two to three change-ups each at bat. On Satruday I threw against Canada, ah it is always a good day when we beat Canada, which in the past three years we have. Annie my pitcher from Central Arizona is on the Canadian National team and threw against us, she did well. Then on Sunday I pitched against another women's team called the Hurricanes, again we won and I threw well. If I kept track of stats I might be able to let you all know how well but, I am not a person who gets hung up on stats so I never know. So yes it was a great weekend, I had so much fun playing again and love the team, they are a great group of girls, I am so excited for Canada! Happy 4th of July! ~ Crystal |
| 7/03/03 |
| Sorry that I didn't get a chance to update you all on the Canada Cup right away but I have been pretty busy this week. I had to catch a ride back to Oregon with some friends when out team lost because my grandma has become ill. It is very sad because I am so very close to my grandparents but, she is a strong lady and I have faith that she will be just fine. Have you ever ben given a second chance to show your true abillity? Well this past weekend Team Smith (my summer team) got a second chance, turned the whole weekend around and made history. Our team struggled through pool play a bit we just were not putting it all together like we needed too, which in turn left us out of bracket play and back at the hotel. There was only one way we could make it back into the tournement but the chances of that happening were slim to none, if Iowa could beat Chineese Taipei it would force a playoff game between us and Taipei. Here is a little background history on Iowa (bless their hearts) they had been run rulled the whole tournement, so you can see we never would have pictured them beating Taipei. The day we heard about the score we had all been enjoying our day some rented mopeds and explored the town, while others just lay in bed the entire day, heck we all thought we were finished playing softball for the weekend. Well we all found out that the score was tied in the 7th inning right as we were headed to our host family's home for dinner, most of our jaws hit the floor because we were in shock. What seemed like forever checking in on the score every 5minutes Iowa finally pulled out the win in the 11th inning. That was it we had recived a second chance and we were all fired up, I felt bad for the teams that had to take us on that next day, even if it was The USA Olympic Team. Here we are 6:45am Friday morning at Softball City warming up to play Chineese Taipei everyone is fired up ready to go. We jumped on them and I think hit about 5 homeruns that game, next up USA Olympic Team. Scared? NO WAY Bring them on! 7 innings, 12 hits, 5 runs and 4 USA pitchers later we pulled out the victory in front of about 1000 fans. I can not even begin to tell you how excited we were, the fans were, and our coaches were, it was by far the best game and upset of the tournement. I will tell you that those two games we payed that day drained every little last bit of energy out of our system becasue the next day we got beat twice. But hey how many teams can say they beat the olympic team? It is not often you are granted a second chance to prove a point that should have been proven eariler, but we were and look what we did with it. Nobody can ever take that away from us. Team Smith Rocks! I am so glad I had the oppertunity to play with them, I have never played on a team where there was no drama. Everyone gets a long and we pulled it together when we really needed too, I had such a great time with them and wish them the best of luck at Nationals. One would think that winning that big game would top the whole experience for our team but it did not there was more, we started the week out with a clinic we put on for about 200 Canadian children. It was so much fun to work with the children and teach them new drills and mechanics that we do in the States. It was so fullfilling to see the smiles and happiness that the kids left with, to them we are all super-stars. During the lunch break and after the clinic all the little kids came running up to us asking for our autographs, to me thats what it is all about making their day it is all about them. It so much fun to give back to the kids. During our tournement there is also a special olympics slow-pitch tournement that takes place at the same complex, which is always so much fun for me to watch and cheer them on. I love to watch these men and women play becasue there is no pressure of winning, no worries who makes an error or strikes out, it is all about fun, heart and love of the sport. Every year I make a priority to chat with some of the players from the teams, I like to know who I should root for and watch play. The teams get fired up with excitement that we talk to them because they love to see us play as well, almost as if they look up to us as athletes too. So after I chatted with some players from one Canadian team they came to our next game and cheered us on, it was so wonderful they go right up close to the dugout and cheered for us to cheer louder. They took a special liking to us which the reason I belive is because our team was loud and had a lot of fun. (Well if you don't know me pretty well or know how I play my voice has a tendency to cary somewhat like a fog horn. I put a lot of energy and loudness into pumping my teammates up and they usally feed off of that enthusiasm). Anyway enough about me lets get back to our biggest fans, they came over to our game when we were loosing and tried to pump us up to get us in the game again. They would say "comon ladies we can't hear you what is wrong?" For me it was very inspirational even after we lost the game they guys would come over and tell us that we were still their favorite team and we were the best team there. That comment right there put things into perspective no matter how many wins or losses we had we left it all on the field and we were still champions in their eyes. That wonderful team from Canada played a big part in what made this years experience so great for Team Smith. Oh and I would like to thank our loyal van drivers Brian aka Hugh and Bob best van drivers in Canada! ~Crystal |
| 7/16/03 |
| Iv'e been back in Oregon for almost two weeks now and am enjoying my time here visiting with family, friends and especially my grandparents. Yes my family is very excited that I am back for a while not just to see me but to put me to work. First thing my mom did was say "oh good I am glad your home to run the fruit stand" and honestly I don't know how she survives without me here. haha I pretty much run the whole business, my sisters try but they just can't do it like me, I guess I have it under control since iv'e been doing it since I was 8. It's also nice to be back and have all the fresh fruit avaliable, I'm going to be honest I have been stuffing myself everyday with cherries, peaches, and necterines. Hopefully we will have some apples by the time I head back to Arizona so I can have my fix of those because once I get back I am done eating fruit. I can't eat fruit unless it comes strait from our farm i'm just really picky actually just really spoiled, guess my mom is going to have to ship a lot of fruit to me when I go back. I have a great story that will probably crack most of you up, it was cracking me up the whole time and I was the one perfroming the duty. My sister and I go out to dinner with a friend and after dinner we go to get in my grandma's car (plymouth sundance) and there is a flat tire. Well I look at her and am like shoot what to do now, so we drive to the gas station about two blocks away and then I tell my sister to put air in it and she looks at me and says "like I know how to do that" so we contemplate for a few minutes and the attendent ends up comming over and helps us put air in the tire. We get home and I ask my dad to take a look at the tire because I have to drive to Portland in the morning, he says ugh ok yeah I will look at it. 7:30am rolls around I go outside to jump in the car...flat tire again. I'm so mad because I was already running a little late and I had to stop and get the tire fixed, well dad is no where to be found and I am stuck without a car. Not a big deal I will just go later in the week. So my dad comes back and I ask him if he can put air in the tire so I can go get it fixed he takes one look at the car and looks back at me and says "I think it is time you learned to change a flat tire especially since you live in Az you might need to know how to change one." Yeah right dad I don't have time for that, that's why I have AAA! Then he says "guess you don't need to go anywhere then." He had a good point so here I am never changed a tire in my life having to change one in my driveway. The little 12yr old neighbor boy is also over helping my dad and I ask him if he knows how to change a tire, he looks at me and laughs and says of course I do. Sweet the little boy can change a tire and I have no clue what I am doing, but thanks to my dad for showing me the ropes of changing a tire I now know how to do it. I will tell you that it was pretty funny and I put on quite the show, don't worry no broken nails just greese all over myself. haha For the people who know me I'm sure you got a good laugh out of this story and I am glad I can provide you with some comedy since I am away, I know it's no Boom Chicago but it close enough. :) Miss you all~ Crystal |
| 7/23/03 |
| Team Smith takes 2nd at the Women's Major National Tournement! Yes I ended up traveling to Pekin Illinois a couple of weeks ago for the National Tournement. It was a last minute decision and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity so I jumped at the chance. We battled all of our games to make it to the championship round on Saturday morning where we dropped our first game to the Stafford Breaketts, we than had to play another game to get back to the Championship game and then beat the top seed twice. All in all it would of taken us 4 games to come out on top, and in that blazing heat and 200% humidity it would have not been too realistic. We still had a great time and ended the season on a good note even though second place sucks, we all want to come out on top. There also were 5 girls on the team were named first team all-americans and I was named to the second team all-american group. Here I thought that I grew up in a small town, but I think Pekin takes the cake. Our team did enjoy the friendliness of the people and the diner that we ate breakfast at everyday because it was so good and cheap. You would order a hot cake and it was huge you wouldn't even be able to eat the whole thing, cost of it was $.70. Good Stuff I started back at Central Arizona College this past week and what a challnge it is going to be, a very good challenge it will be. I have 4 freshman and one returner, and only one of them has worked with a pitching coach in their career. I am very excited though because in just one week they have all improved their mechanics, they are the hardest working girls I have worked with. I'm excited to see how we will do this fall, I think it will be a great eye opening experience for them and show them what they will need to work on to be sucessful in the sping. Not only am I just working with the pitchers but I am also training with the team to keep in shape for the professional league next summer. I am so sore today, it is amazing how many muscles you find that you dont use in everyday life. I have been running long distance but when I jumped on the bases to do sprints WOW my muscles were mad at me today. Oh well it is just part of it, hopefully it will be gone by Tuesday so I can do it again. Well that is all I have for ya'll today, take care and keep in touch. Oh I am flying back to Oregon on Sept. 17 for a week. ~Crystal |
| 8/30/03 |