Inside Pitch with LC: WCWS Edition (Day Two)
5/28/2015 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 Two (Wednesday, May 27)
Although our first game is not until tomorrow, our schedule stayed quite busy during our second day in Oklahoma City. We left the hotel around lunch time and headed over to ASA Hall of Fame Stadium-OGE Energy Field, where all of the Women's College World Series games will be taking place this upcoming week. With its capacity that seats over 7,000 people, the legendary field was quite the spectacle for us to take in as we arrived.
Our day, which involved an appointment with the photographers, reporters, and media associated with the WCWS, was delayed an hour due to thunderstorms. The coaches found the perfect movie to watch on the bus during our wait -- the one-hour documentary about the Michigan Softball team that won the national championship in 2005. In addition to being convinced that the entire coaching staff has not aged one day in the past 10 years, it was motivating and inspiring to learn about the incredible athletes that achieved the same goal that we are looking to attain this week.
After the storm subsided, it was time to get to work! First, we had some fun doing model poses for ESPN... Sierra Lawrence's bucket hat even made it into a few pictures. Some members of the team had interviews with reporters and filmed video footage for ESPN, an experience we have all dreamed of since we were young. We then headed down to OGE Energy Field for a short practice, which was a great opportunity for us to get accustomed to the field we would be playing on for the next several days. The coaches and staff even wore their pizza socks they received as promised!
Although we had a short period of time we were allowed on the field, Hutch instructed us to sit on the bench for the last 10 minutes. "Take it all in," she told us, as we gazed around the large, historical stadium. She also told us some exciting news, that five of our players had garnered All-America honors (Haylie Wagner and Sierra Lawrence -- third team, Megan Betsa -- second team, and Kelly Christer and Sierra Romero -- first team). We are all so proud of these girls for winning such prestigious awards, but now we are on the hunt for an even bigger award -- the national championship. After an exciting (and tiring) day at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium, we will return there again at 7 p.m. ET as we face the University of Alabama in our first game of the WCWS.
Go Blue!
LC
