Welcome to the 2011 Monmouth University Softball Blog, an up-close look at the Hawks as told by the players on the team. Each week, one of the student-athletes will give their insight into the season and provide commentary and candor into the events that make up the year.
12th ENTRY - May, 9: Freshman Shannon Fitzgerald
Hey Hawk Fans!
After a strong weekend against CCSU and Wagner, we all felt great going into this weekend pumped and ready to play Mount St. Mary's. We had a nice three days off at the beginning of the week in order to regroup and study hard for finals, but once that stress was over we were ready to take off on our 4-hour bus ride to Emmitsburg, Maryland! I was very bummed, however, because on Friday I caught strep throat and was feeling pretty lousy, but with the help of some meds and some good care by our trainer Dave, I was on my way to Maryland with my team.
When we arrived at the field we were all taken by such surprise when suddenly the TV monitors on the bus came on and a video began to play of some silly memories from this past season as well as a photo slideshow of the team. It also showed some very inspirational clips from movies like “Miracle” “Remember the Titans” and “The Mighty Ducks,” all of which pumped us up for our double- header. The video clips were so inspiring, because it reminded us all why we love to play softball, and all of the hard work, blood, sweat, and tears that we put into this sport. That alone was enough to motivate us and it definitely worked as we came out strong and won the first game! Still being very sick, I was unable to play in the games but it didn't stop me from watching and supporting the team as the wonderful DeSanto's took care of me and my fever, and let me recline in their van parked along the side of the field. Unfortunately, however, we were unable to come out with a win in the second game and our season abruptly ended.
It was a tough season for the Hawks with our unsteady schedule because of our numerous rainouts, but we are taking this season and using it as a stepping-stone to a dominating season next year! There is one thing, however, that anyone can count on with our team, and that is you are guaranteed a laugh and to have a fun time in just about any situation. One may think that our bus ride back would be full of tears and sad faces, but it was just the opposite. Between Dara providing laughs after we got back on the bus from dinner at Cracker Barrel (anyone on the bus knows what I am referring to), and everyone else singing “99 bottles on the wall” (and just about finishing the whole song), nobody would have guessed that our season had just ended. Even me, who was feeling miserable with a fever and awful nausea, was cheered up on the bus ride back by my crazy, funny, happy, caring, loving, -not just team- but family. That is the one of the best things that I have gotten out of my freshmen year of college ~A FAMILY. I am so thankful for each and every one of them and so sad that two members of the family, our seniors Dara and Emily, are leaving. They will be dearly missed but will always have a place in the MUSB family.
Overall, I enjoyed my first season with the Hawks and I cannot wait to get back on the field with the team next season! Until then, all you Hawks fans have a wonderful summer!
11th ENTRY - May, 2: Sophomores Christine Scherr and Kayla Weiser
Hey MUSB Fans,
As classes are coming to a close and final exams are nearing, we are all excited to check off the days on our calenders, but not so quick to lose our season just yet. For those of you following the games this month, you know it's been full of boring weekdays of cancelled games and wet practices. This week we finally got to play some softball against some nonconference teams to get ready for the weekend. Tuesday, we split with Manhattan on our home turf. Then on Wednesday, after an hour of waiting out the cumulonimbus clouds, we took a "W" against Rider. Those Broncs must know how much we hit the weight room because they seem to always need help pulling their field tarp from left field. That's okay, who doesn't enjoy a good tarp workout? We love it almost as much as we love our wholesome medley trailmix between games. As designated videographer for the game, I got an up-close and personal view of all the at bats that got us our 13 runs including a few singles, more than a few doubles, and a two-run homer to secure the win. Didn't mind watching that through a 2x1" digital screen.
Follow up with Kayla to read about our weekend conference games and hear how we're going to pull out the big guns to make it into the NEC tournament!
Hello Hawk fans,
This is Kayla and I will be continuing on Christine's blog and updating you on what happened here with softball from Thursday on. Thursday we had hitting practice outside in groups. As usual there was an 80 percent chance of rain and it down-poured. Luckily my group was on the way back into the MAC when the rain started and we only got a little wet.
However, the second group wasn't as lucky as they came in looking like wet dripping dogs as they told us Coach Louie was pitching to them underneath an umbrella in the torrential downpour. That night the rain lightened up and some of the girls went to watch the Lakewood BlueClaws game. I, on the other hand, had to go to Rutgers for a mandatory class musical performance. I didn't have to go alone though; Tish came with me after I bribed her with a Chipotle burrito. (I think we both would have rather been at the BlueClaws game but Tish said the burrito was worth it).
Friday was pretty uneventful with just practice and I was so happy I didn't have to wake up for lift at 7a.m.!!!! Saturday was a special day because it was our senior's last home game.
I can't even begin to tell you how much my teammates and I are going to miss Dara and Emily. They are both amazing people on and off the field and it's hard to think what it's going to be like next year without them. That day we split games with Central. I think it was a pretty great senior day overall and both seniors put on spectacular performances as well.
Sunday was a pretty exciting day. We swept Wagner and Emily tied the homerun record at Monmouth; now she has to beat it next weekend when we take on Mount St. Mary's. During our game Sunday Colleen was up to bat and got hit by a pitch in her already banged up hand. She went over to Coach Louie when they called time out for her and was brought to tears not because of her hand but because she couldn't stop looking and laughing at the pitchers fly being down. This past weekend games were really fun and exciting, close ball games.
I'm looking forward to next weekend. Check back next week for more exciting Hawks news.
TENTH ENTRY - April, 25: Freshman Lauren Hayes
Hello Hawk fans, its Buck here with this week's blog. As you all know this week as been pretty uneventful as far as softball goes with the cancellations of Wednesday and Saturday's games.
As far as us softball girls well you know we are always busy. Monday started off the week with an off day and Gurdy (Kaitie) Leesh (Alicia) and I treated ourselves to a day at the spa aka a pedicure! Tuesday we had hitting with Coach Louie, where once again she gave another one of her fabulous boxing lessons. Wednesday our games were canceled and Thursday we had "conditioning" which had us all fretting!! We all wondered what was up our coach's sleeves??
Thursday, after a few of us hit up the lacrosse game, we headed up to the softball field to meet our match, CONDITIONING, which turned out to be a very fun, but very competitive, game of put the football in the bucket! (editior's note: the game is called can football) We split up into two teams but my team was short a few so we recruited trainer Dave and coach Jami. Long story short, the game is two empty, five-gallon buckets, one on the foul line in right and one in center field with 2 halves and 15 minutes each to make as many buckets as we could. Well, Dave cost my team the game with two really great passes to the other team, but in all reality the other team should of been disqualified because Miss Emily Delong sat on the bucket so we couldn't score, but we took our 2- 3 loss with pride because in our hearts we all knew who the real winners were.
Friday rolled around and brought the news that our Saturday games were canceled and so that freed up our Easter weekends, so most of us went home or to a team mates house for the holiday!!
NINTH ENTRY - April, 18: Freshman Kaitie Schumacher
Hello Hawk Fans,
Well this week started off with us having Monday off to catch up on schoolwork and such. We had practice Tuesday, and following we had everyone's favorite activity of tarping the field to prepare for the rain, in hopes that we would still be able to play on Wednesday.
However, as we have all begun to realize, 2011 is the year of rain on Tuesdays, so our non-conference games were rained out and we had practice instead of taking on Seton Hall. We altered our schedule a little bit and instead of playing Saturday due to the possibility of bad weather, and no surprise there there was in fact bad weather, we hosted Fairleigh Dickinson Friday, which turned out to be two disappointing losses. We had a hitting practice Saturday to prepare for our Sunday games against Bryant.
It rained Saturday night, yet again, and we got to the field to find the tarp had blown off the infield at some point during the night. We untarped the field early before our games so that they could lay down a lot of turface, and get the remaining water off the warning track. Our games were delayed about a half hour so we had a mini dance off with Bryant. We would have won if we had Dara there (sorry you missed out on all the fun), so instead of attempting to show off our good (or not so good moves as the case may be), we played hackey sack in the outfield. I am pleased to announce that our team record has now improved to a whooping eight hackies. Little did we know that Trainer Dave is our secret weapon, and in fact has some impressive hackey sack skills. It is too bad we didn't know this all along.
After we finally got on to the field to take on Bryant, we had two disappointing games, especially with the loss in eight innings.
EIGHTH ENTRY - April, 11: Junior Lauren Sulick
Hey there Hawk Fans! Lauren here with this week's update! We started off our week after two tough losses to Quinnipiac on Sunday with a refreshing mental practice on Monday consisting of challenges to spark our inner competitor. They were made up of push-up events, ab workouts, tennis ball drop, and more fun challenges.
Tuesday we had games scheduled at home against La Salle, but Chelsea must have been drawing turtles in the dirt again because it got rained out. Thursday we headed up to Brooklyn to take on our long-time rival Blackbirds. Coach Louie and Jami were very excited to go on this journey and we got to hear Louie's singing skills as well. Our bats were all warmed up for Long Island as we took home two wins. Our angel in the outfield was definitely looking down. After the game we got some Brooklyn-style pizza and a large supply of pretzels and chocolate for our ride home.
Friday we all went in to the office to watch some film and had the rest of the day off to rest up and get ready for the weekend. Sunday we took on Saint Francis and got off to a slow start falling 2-1 in the first game, but picked it up to gain a 'W' in the second. The DeSanto family had a nice cookout after the game with pulled pork sandwiches, hot dogs, grilled chicken, pasta salad(I think Kaitie had about 4 plates), and some very delicious brownies (which Chelsea could not stop eating).
This week we play Seton Hall and have a long weekend of conference games ahead when we face Fairleigh Dickinson and Bryant. That's about all I have for the week. Thanks for following the Hawks! I'll see you next time!
SEVENTH ENTRY - April, 4: Sophomore Kate Kuzma
Hello Monmouth fans! Chelsea is one tough act to follow, but I guess someone has to do it. We started the week with the arctic weather yet again. Are we ever going to be able to lose our long sleeves and get our tans on?
We had practice as usual, but Tuesday brought a little adventure for Kayla, Lauren Hayes, and I. Just as we were putting our cleats on we were beckoned from center field, where Coach Louie, Coach Jami, and Jess were rummaging behind the fence. When the three of us got out there, we helped the coaches move some mats onto Jami's truck. The reason coach asked us is because we are the team's muscle (haha).
After we hoisted these mats onto the truck, the three of us got to ride, for a brief moment, in the back of Coach Jami's truck, where Lauren assured me that it was okay to be driving in the bed of a truck ( I guess it's not a big deal in Oklahoma).
Thursday and Friday were rainy days, and our games against Villanova were cancelled. We had to tarp the field on Wednesday, which brought more excitement for the team. Despite heavy winds, we were able to secure the tarp.
Friday was a travel day, and of course it was April Fool's Day. For those of you who don't know my personality, I am very type A, and very detail-oriented. When I packed my bags for the weekend, I tripled checked that everything was in there, and then went to eat dinner before we left. When we got to the hotel, I opened my bag to lie out my uniforms for the next two days; however, I couldn't find my white jersey.
The first thing that crossed my mind was that someone was playing a joke on me, but I didn't know who. I went to every player on the team but no one had it and no one seemed like they were lying. I contacted a friend on the lacrosse team to see if she could check our locker room in the morning because I knew it would bother me all night. Just when I was calming down and starting to forget about it, my phone vibrated and it was from Coach Jami. It read: Louie wants y'all to hang up both jerseys so they don't wrinkle." That was my clue that one of the coaches had it and I finally took a deep breath knowing that I didn't leave it behind. When Coach Louie did bed checks, she was wearing my jersey that she stole from my travel bag. Touche' Coach Louie, but you better watch your back. Let's take six wins this week Hawks!
SIXTH ENTRY - March, 28: Junior Chelsea Paprocki
Unfortunately, last week started out with our games at Stony Brook getting cancelled on Wednesday due to rain. But I guess this was a good thing because Coach Louie got to show off the moves she learned from her LA Boxing membership and the movie "The Fighter" to help "teach me how to hit" (small joke). On a real note, these rained out games just made us all more eager to get out on the field Saturday afternoon for our home opener games against Robert Morris University! Though it was not the most ideal weather outside, I'm pretty sure the excitement inside all of us made it quite alright to be outside playing some ball.
For anyone who was there watching or even heard about the ending of the games, I'm sure, like me, your obsession with Emily deLong sky-rocketed. Some people live for the moment of hitting a game-winning home run or throwing someone out to end the game as the tying run is rounding third base heading for home. But for Emily deLong, this seems to be a regular day at the field. (You go ahead girl!)
Also, a big round of applause goes to Lauren Sulick for pitching and leading us to our first conference wins of the season. Thank you Lauren Sulick, for all of the sacrifices, extra conditioning, and hard work you put in to the season for your fellow appreciative teammates.
Although we have all worked very hard for this season and these two wins, there was definitely proof our 'angel in the outfield' was out there watching over us. Forever and always will we play for 7; we love and miss you Janelle. Thank you to everyone for coming out and watching our games and be sure to catch those rescheduled LIU games for April 7th! I'm sure, as always, that it will be very exciting to play and watch!
FIFTH ENTRY - March, 21: Junior Michelle Rapp
Hey Hawks fans! We got back from Florida and Jersey welcomed us with some nice cold weather to practice in for the week. Needless to say we all definitely missed that Florida sunshine. You know the week will always start well when the topic at morning lift is Kaitie's friend Theodore... and for anyone who's thinking, who's Theodore, well, it's a squirrel that Kaitie knows personally. Whenever we need a good laugh we can always count on her to do something "normal" for us. (Kaitie if you're reading this don't hate me!)
Jersey also brought us a nice muddy, wet field to practice on. Lauren Hayes dove for a ball in right field and slid so far she almost ended up in left field. All this was just in time for us to pack up our travel bags again and head down to Fairfax, Virginia for the George Mason Tournament. The bus ride down was a pretty quiet one, yet when we got there the hotel was filled with hundreds of middle schoolers for class trips, more cheerleaders than ever, and fire trucks (not really what you want to see when you arrive at a new hotel).
Friday night dinner was an adventure to say the least, luckily Alicia's GPS skills were working strong since we adventured around Fairfax to find the Friday's, and yes we adventured by foot. Good thing we all had our walking shoes on and weren't carrying to many books in our backpacks (Not!). At Friday's we also got to see Texas A&M's basketball team lose (sorry Coach Jami we know that was rough for you!)
Saturday night brought another adventure as after our games we went to Chelsea's house for a barbeque, her family made all of us feel just like we were home. Thanks Paprocki Family! From passing her dogs from one person to the next, to eating way to much food, to sitting outside on the deck just talking and laughing a lot, to seeing embarrassing pictures of Chelsea through all stages of life, and of course to hearing Voice of an Angel recorded by Lauren Sulick; it was definitely much needed relaxing time for all of us. Later that night Dara, Lauren, and myself had another adventure by foot to Starbucks, we learned Virginia really does not believe in street lights, luckily we made it home safely.
Sunday brought another quiet bus trip back home where I'm sure cold weather will greet us once again. Hope to see you all at our home opener this Saturday against Robert Morris!
FOURTH ENTRY - March, 14: Freshman Alicia DeSanto
Hey Hawks fans! We are back from our Florida trip and we now have many games under our belt. Although we did not win every game, we were able to work out many of our kinks while playing on beautiful fields in beautiful weather. On Monday we had practice in the morning followed by some entertainment from Lauren Sulick playing with some HUGE birds and then eventually running away from them. After practice we had the day to ourselves to enjoy sunny Orlando. A few of us went to Universal Studios for the day. My favorite rides would have to be the Hulk and the Mummy because Christine was screaming so loud on both I couldn't help but laugh!
On Tuesday we lost to Ball State, but spent the whole day together watching UCF play Ball state, and watching UCF play UNC. Wednesday we traveled to Stetson and split with them. In the second game we really played well as a team and hit like we can and eventually came out with a win. The facilities at Stetson were unbelievable, and it was really cool to see our pictures up on the digital scoreboard while up at the plate!
Thursday showed the only signs of bad weather, so practice was cancelled in the morning and we had the day to ourselves. Lucky for Tish and I, the weather cleared and we made our way to Clearwater to watch our Phillies beat the Yankees, 7-0.
Friday we traveled to Bethune-Cookman where we won both games to finish our trip. Our ride home was uneventful besides Coach Jami ignoring my directions as her co-pilot and getting lost for a little while. We finally ended up at the restaurant and ate our last dinner in Orlando for the week as a team. We packed the vans and headed back to the airport Saturday morning to go back to school. Coach really wanted to sit next to me on the plane but I explained that I already had seating arrangements with Tish and Kayla (She was a little bit jealous).
I want to thank all of the parents that joined us in Orlando for the week, hopefully we'll see everyone again at some point this season!! We are now safely back at Monmouth, and are ready to keep our three-game winning streak going next weekend at the George Mason Tournament!!
THIRD ENTRY - March, 7: Sophomore Tish Derer
Hello MU Hawks Fans! I am writing to you all from my hotel room in Orlando, Florida which is a lot more roomy than my dorm room and seeing the sun shining and palm trees outside makes me never want to leave. We got lucky with some nice weather down here besides a few rain showers that interrupted a couple of our games. It has been great to be able to play on the dirt in beautiful weather and have some fun while preparing for our season.
We had a nice short week of practice after returning from Virginia on Sunday night, but it was a little hectic having to go to class and pack for our trip to Florida; somehow we got it all done. Thursday afternoon we took a bus to the Philadelphia International Airport and entertained ourselves by watching Due Date (hilarious, gotta see it!) and everyone got through security fine, no one was randomly inspected, even Coach Louie got through with her metal body parts! We had a portrait drawing competition while waiting for our flight. Lauren Sulick beat me at the shoe but I totally kicked her butt in the picture of Alicia. We touched down in Orlando at about 6:30 which was 30 minutes earlier than it was scheduled, so that's always nice. But it kinda set us up for a long wait for the rental vans. Otherwise, the flight was a nice smooth ride and most of us were able to get our naps in for the day. Even though some of us had to sit next to strangers, I think a few of us made some new friends (Kaitie). Once we finally got all of our luggage in the vans, including Coach's "Big Bertha" (I got stuck with that giant bag and I don't know why), we stopped at Chipotle and Quizno's on the way to the hotel and finally settled into our rooms and were out for the night.
We had an early morning on Friday and played two tough games but we were able to put that behind us and have some fun. On the way back from the field, our van was entertained by what we thought were a couple of ducks being eaten by a gator, but we were told that they were "mating." When we saw there were actually three ducks, we guessed they were having a lot of fun...When we got back to the hotel, Emily decided to set her picture on Facebook as a hideous action shot of me (Thanks Eddy) and if I didn't think it was bad enough that that was on our athletics website, now all of Emily's Facebook friends could see it. I am still thinking of ways to get her back, any and all ideas are welcomed. Then we decided to have a little fun with Lauren Sulick's friend Stewart (a stuffed cat). We captured him from her bed and Alicia, Lauren Hayes, and Shannon all helped hang him from the exit sign in the hallway. After taking pictures with him, we safely returned him to Lauren's bed.
We had a little later morning on Saturday and played two tough games once again, including a 3 hour, 11-inning game against UCF. Even though we didn't come out on top, we played with a lot of heart and left it all on the field. In between games we played a little "bat hackey" and had some fun with that. Coach Jami currently holds the record at 56, but we'll see how long that stands. After our games we went back to the hotel and almost got stuck in the elevator, which was hilarious and scary at the same time. We had a nice dinner at Pei Wei and got to bed early since we had a very early morning on Sunday.
We got our first win down here in Orlando Sunday morning and it felt great to finally beat up on another team. We played very well but still have a few things to work on which will come along as we play more games. We closed out our Sunday with a team stretch session in the pool, which was freezing to say the least, but we were able to loosen up our sore body parts.
We are looking forward to the rest of our week down here and are hoping for some more wins!
SECOND ENTRY - February, 28: Junior Colleen Kelly
Hawks fans, it's that time of the year again; the season has officially begun! I am writing to you from the bus, on our way back from Norfolk (and everyone is asleep but me). It was our first weekend out and while there are still some kinks to work out, we played good ball. It felt great to finally get out on the field and compete. Iona spoiled our plans to go undefeated at the tournament, but that game showed us the areas in which we can improve.
I know I speak for the whole team in saying that it was a very sobering experience to step on the field for the first time without Janelle, but I'm sure she was watching and cheering (and shaking her head at bad calls) right along with us. We miss her every day and every game we play, we play for her.
The bus ride to Norfolk was long, but the excitement of playing the next day created a bunch of chatty Cathy's. We watched Miracle (watch it if you haven't seen it!) and I think everyone was that much more inspired to go out and win this weekend. We were up early on Saturday for our 9 a.m. game and after everyone wiped the sleep from their eye's it was game on! We came out strong in the George Washington game and kept the lead the entire time. In the second game, we started a little slow and were losing to Norfolk State until Emily, Kate and Kaitie all dropped bombs over the outfield fence! We held the lead and won.
It was another early morning on Sunday when we faced off against Morgan State. Again, we started a little slow, but we found our stride and pulled out another 'W'. Unfortunately, we could not match up to Iona in the second game, but I think we all are eager for a rematch. Anyone want to call up the coach???
All in all, it was a weekend of firsts; the first games of the freshmen's collegiate careers, the last, first games of the season for the seniors, and the first time playing without a teammate.
Well, we can't wait to get off this bus and get some sleep! Only three more days till the sunshine of Florida; a whole week to work on our tans! Wohoo! Go Hawks!
FIRST ENTRY - February, 21: Senior Dara Palms
Well, it has certainly been a whirlwind of a semester so far. As most of you may know, we recently lost Janelle Moorehead, an amazing teammate, sister, and friend, earlier this year. It has been extremely hard for us to deal with the loss of Janelle, but in the end it has brought us so much closer as a team. We rely on each other each and every day to get through it together, and we know that Janelle will forever be our angel in the outfield!
We are currently preparing for our first games of the season, and we're all very excited to finally get to play on an actual softball field! We've been bouncing back and forth from practicing in the gym and practicing on the football field, since our field is still covered with snow. We're all looking forward to Spring Break when we get to go to Florida and finally play without layers on.
That's pretty much all that's going on with the Monmouth Softball crew these days; we're preparing each and every day to compete at the highest level possible! We look forward to the season and we can't wait to step onto the field in our uniforms. Thanks for reading!
