Inside Pitch with LC: WCWS Edition (Day One)
5/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 26, 2015
Junior catcher Lauren Connell will be blogging throughout the softball season to let Michigan fans in on what happens outside of the field of play. This week she takes "The Inside Pitch with LC" on the road to Oklahoma City for a daily blog at the Women's College World Series.
WCWS Day One (Tuesday, May 26)
We're here! Team 38 arrived at the locker room bright and early this morning to pack everything up to head to Oklahoma City. Last year's seniors had purchased a baseball-shaped piñata with balloons displaying the numbers "38" for Team 38 as a send-off gift for the Women's College World Series.
Today is also a big day for the team as it also happens to be Hutch's birthday! We let Hutch do the honors of taking a bat to the piñata as we scrambled for the candy for our upcoming flight. We also made her wear a 21st birthday tiara as she passed our her cupcakes she had brought for the team (as per tradition, birthday girl brings the treat).
We had the incredible opportunity to take a chartered flight to Oklahoma City (aka a private plane). We felt like the President as we walked on the runway and up the stairs straight onto the plane. After loading all 39,538 bags onto the plane, the wheels were up for Oklahoma City! As we got off the plane after our two-and-a-half-hour flight, we were greeted by our bat girl for the tournament, Katie, who had brought us letters and a big poster. We look forward to getting to spend more time with Katie in the dugout during our time in OKC.
As soon as we landed, we got right to work. We changed into our practice outfits and headed straight to the diamond for a workout to shake the plane ride out of our bodies. There is nothing quite like having practice to remind us that we are here to get down to business. After practice, we checked in to our hotel and had a few hours to get settled in our rooms, rest, and get ready for the banquet we were headed to later.
All of the eight teams participating in the WCWS all congregated in downtown Oklahoma City for a Championship Celebration. The Player of the Year (our own Sierra Romero was a finalist, but Florida's Lauren Haeger won the award), Freshman of the Year, and the Elite 89 Award for Academic Performance honors were all given out during the banquet. It was really fun to see all of the different players we will be competing against in the WCWS this week as well as reconnect with former travel teammates -- a few pictures might have been taken.
All in all, day one of what we hope with be many in Oklahoma City was exciting and busy. Check back tomorrow to find out what we do during day two!
Go Blue!
LC
