Secured

With our win Sunday we have clinched the first place seed for the play-offs! This only means that we will have home court advantage through-out the play-offs, which is a big advantage, but winning on the road will play a big part in finishing the 3- or 5-game series early and having more rest than the other teams. We aren't at a place where we are playing great right now, so hopefully these next two weeks against two top four teams (that don't matter at all for seeding for us, but tons for them) we can get back to just playing ball freely. We need to be rolling by the time the play-offs start in a couple of weeks!

Plus, Jodi's got a game Wed. against a big rival. I believe LC is ranked number 1 still, and the other team is currently number 2 in the nation. Should be a great game!

Two current national #1's

From Jodi's team website: (http://www.lcwildcats.net/index.aspx?path=softball)

LC softball moves to No. 1 in nation

3.17.2010 | Softball

PINEVILLE - It wasn't exactly worst to first, but the Louisiana College softball team did manage to move from unranked in the initial National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll three weeks ago to No. 1 in a matter of one month.

And we have a chance this weekend to seal up our number one spot for the play-offs we 3 regular season games left (http://www.eurobasket.com/Italy/basketball.asp?Women=1)

A1 Standings

1. Taranto 18-1 2. Familia Schio 15-4 3. Faenza 15-4 4. Umana Reyer 13-6 5. Priolo 11-8 6. Comense 9-10 7. Bracco Geas 8-11 8. Umbertide 7-12 9. Livorno 6-13 10. GMA Napoli 5-14 11. Basket Parma 5-14 12. Vomero NA 2-17

Hope we can keep it rollin'!

Back on the Winning Streak

Alright. We've had a couple of games against one middle team and a bottom team, and not only did we get the wins, but we played much harder and much more like a team. I've been doing some extra shooting (and visualizing shooting), so I'm kind of getting my shot back as well. Now we have another week of practice, then we play against a decent team, another week of practice and play against one of the top teams at home, another week of practice, then we play at Venice again (another top team) and then the play-offs begin! The weather is getting nicer, but just not quite warm enough to hang out at the beach. None of us can wait until then....

Update on the Jode-ster! Louisiana College is still undefeated, and they are now ranked third in the nation! She is still on fire and hit three home-runs this past weekend (to bring her total to 5 on the year) at their tournament in Panama City Beach, and the parentals were there to see it all. Her personality is apparently contagious on the team, so as a leader she is spreading a great work ethic as well as having a blast while out on the field. I think they have a great chance at making a run at a national title this year (granted, I haven't seen a game yet!), and that makes me happy because that's probably the only way I'll get to see them play due to the long play-off schedule we have and the fact that we should be playing all the way through the finals ourselves. Go Wildcats and Forza Cras!

(P.S. I know that top picture looks like they made me eat the ball, but somehow falling to the ground, I leaned back a bit and not only got the shot off, but made the basket. No foul was called. This is the game we lost at Venice for the Italian Cup, so I was upset for the game, but this play is one of my career highlights. Wish I could do that more often!)

Sorry, Maybe Next Year....

We didn't even win the semi-final game of the Italian Cup... We knew the first game against Venice would be tough since we were playing at Venice, but we always knew we were a better team, especially without one of their top players that just went down with a knee injury. It was really a dramatic game, and I had a fantastic 2nd quarter, but I just don't feel like recounting what happened... It was really "nightmare-ish", and I'm upset that pretty much all of us missed out on the opportunity for our first Italian Cup Championship (and the bonuses we would have gotten with even one of those victories...........)

Ok, it's over, and the meeting with our coach today was about owning up to being the best. We need to know we are the best, accept that every team is going to bring us their best game every game and we need to be fine with that and bring our best right back at them. We aren't "playing" any more games, but we are "challenging" them every game. He wants to see more fire and more fight in us, and I think he's right. It was up to me to translate today, like almost always, to the foreigners, so I hope I conveyed his message strongly enough.

We are playing a make-up game Wednesday away and then we are finally back for a home game Sunday. Then, if we can believe it, just three more regular season games and then the play-offs! Time just flies by after the Christmas break. What we are focusing on now is staying in our first place position in the league to go into the play-offs with "home field advantage". Crucial.

Jodi ballin' out as a Senior already!

My lil' sis is just growing up so fast! She really worked hard this summer to put herself in a position to be a leader in her last year of college softball at Louisiana College, and she is already seeing the fruits of her labor. They have been a top contender in their conference for years now, and they have also regularly been nationally ranked in the NCAA Division III.

A little background history for those of you who may not know: she was all set to go to LSU and be just a student there and then she played in one more summer softball tournament and pitched one of the games of her life! The LC coach saw her and recruited her and her teammate (now her roommate of 4 years!) to play at the very nice private college for a partial academic scholarship (Div. III schools don't have athletic scholarships). As a freshman she was an all-conference pitcher, but then got moved to right field for her last two seasons. However, she was able to bat every game, which is something she was very eager to do. I'm not sure how many conference championships they've won, but I have made all three conference tournaments she's had (but will miss this year's due to our play-offs!) and they've won at least one of those. This year, due to injuries, she has been asked to "un-retire" from pitching after two seasons and make a come back. And when she's not pitching, she's the starting center-fielder and 3-hole hitter for now. They've only played four games so far, but she's already gotten a win as a pitcher (they're 4-0 overall) and she just hit a 2-run homer last game. You could pretty much say that I'm a proud sister :) I'll try and keep you guys up-to-date on Jodi as well every now and then.

Check out these great montages that our cousin's husband did of her game. Bravissimo Michael!