Inside Pitch With LC: WCWS Edition (Day 8)
6/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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 Eight (Tuesday, June 2)
We have officially been in Oklahoma City for a full week, which is every team's goal when they head to the Women's College World Series. We have fallen into a bit of a routine since we have been here, as we have our own distinctive habits, whether it is the same breakfast food we eat each morning, which chairs we sit in with our families in the hotel lobby, or even what time we get our Starbucks coffee.
After Monday night's (June 1) loss, our first loss since April, many people wondered if we should make changes to our routine to avoid elimination in Tuesday night's game. The answer, we decided, is no.
Our police escort to OGE Energy Field asked us if we wanted to go a different route to the field as a way of changing things up from the previous night's loss. Hutch told him that she wanted us to go the same way we had been going all week, because we do not need to do anything different.
We kept everything the same leading up to our commute to the field as well. We had our breakfast favorites. We got the same boxed lunches we had enjoyed all week. We went on a walk to the Botanical Gardens again. We walked to a pregame meal downtown at a local Italian restaurant. We spent time with our families in the hotel lobby.
Nothing was different from anything we had been doing the entire week, and it did not need to be. Our process led us to a Big Ten title, a regional title, a super regional title, and a spot in the national championship game. Michigan Softball got us to where we are; why would we change anything just because of one adversity?
Tuesday night's win was a result of true Michigan Softball. We had fun and did not make the game bigger than what it was. Hutch told us to "Do what you do; that's enough. You don't have to try harder." There was a different calm energy pulsing throughout every member of Team 38's body entering game two. From the first pitch it was a tangible belief that we were going to come together to defeat the Gators.
Today we will continue to stay in our process, whether that involves getting an omelette for breakfast or seeing the back of the ball and hitting the back of the ball. Our process got us this far, and it is what is going to put us in the best position to win game three of the national championship series.
Watch us sprinkle the cheese like we have all season at 7 p.m. CDT on ESPN tonight in the winner-take-all battle between the Wolverines and the Gators.
Go Blue!
LC
• Previous Entries: Day 7 | Day 6 | Day 5 | Day 4 | Day 3 | Day 2 | Day 1
