Feb. 24, 2010

"Type it in the search box, D-oogle will find it (claps 10x)! Type it in the search box, D-oogle will find it!" Yes, this is one of our newly announced cheers for the 2010 season for big Diesel (Deanna Hartsough) herself, but it means more than a cheer. This past weekend was about finding the answers to our questions that we had after last weekend at Arizona State. In Arizona we took a lot of steps forward and steps backwards. What we did not know was did we leave Arizona with our right foot forward or our left foot forward. Some may say it does not matter which foot you lead with as long as you get the job done. Is that good enough for this team? Is it good enough that we lead the scoreboard by one run? What about the games that we lead in every category, but the scoreboard does not show the outcome that we want? These are questions that we cannot type in Google and simply find the answer. Questions of this caliber are not found in any top 10 searches of the day. Answers of this sort come within each individual on this team. What is it going to take to score one more run than the opposing team? That is the question that we as a team need to explore.

We dug our cleats into the batter's box, foot by foot, kicking out any extra dirt, and tapped our bat on the corner of the plate and took a few half swings. A last look at home plate with our eyes before we looked up; knowing that they will return home. As each batter's eyes rose to the pitcher, an invisible line from our eyes lined up to the pitchers hand. The cheering from the dugout slowly faded. The alumni screaming became a blur. The opposing teams attics and words of encourage to their pitcher quickly became white noise. The scoreboard, the outfield fence, the dirt in the infield, and the circle surrounding the pitcher faded into the black light. All that was left was the batter and the pitcher; the Bobcats and the opposing team. One last deep breath from the batter, and one last check between the pitcher and the catcher... The windup, the pitch...

That is what Ohio softball is right now. We control the outcome. We control our inner thoughts. We control the bat. We control the game.

Yes, Bobcats will find it! And when we do...(fill in the blank)

- Jillian "JV" Van Wagnen