Beijing, China Arrival
Arrived Beijing, CHINA! Hot and humid! Zhou Yu picked me up at the airport! Zhou prepared a pasta dinner- kind of funny after Italy cuisine! Went for a walk after dinner with Zhou and Bailu-felt an instant peace in the environment. Funny though that I almost fell twice. Chinese foot traps on the ground still. Noticed quickly that CCTV-Chinese television-has evolved a great deal. Much more production in their shows. Warmed up my Mandarin and Chenglish. I spoke with new CSF student athlete Chen Ying Yi. She is with CNST in Nanjing, but is still planning her USA arrival for January 2012. Wide awake at 2:48 AM! Lovely.....Jia You!
European Softball Experience; Training With Tex Town Tigers in Enschede, Holland; European Cup- Caserta, Italy
I just finished an eventful, amazing, exciting- and culturally humbling at times- two week trip to the European countries of Holland and Italy. I also spent time passing through Germany.
The first week there I was back with the Tex Town Tigers and my friend from Enschede, with Coach Monti VanBrunt, who has coached there before. We had an awesome week of training with the girls. One of the things we tried to do as coaches was try to change the culture and mentality of the players as quickly as possible in the short time we had. They had gone through a series of change and had many different coaches throughout the year and a kind of frustrating year, but with the talent we had going into the European Cup, I felt like we could play well. Basically we had some great defensive practices, and great pitching workouts with Lindsey Meadows, Jenna DeLong and some of the other pitchers. One of the most exciting things we focused on was making the hitters be aggressive and decisive. The word they didn’t like was I said “no kinda swings/no maybe swings” make it be yes or no. I’m proud to say that work paid off. Again, it was fun spending time with my friends in Enschede. Had fun with Bertil. On my way to go to Caserta, I made the mistake of leaving my bag in the back of his van- I thought he was helping me with my bags, but that’s my fault. My bag was left in Enschede as we were on the road to Düsseldorf to fly to Naples. It was a wild journey then to get my bag to me from Enschede to Caserta, but thanks to one of the Dutch National team member’s parent from Sparks, we got the bag from Schiphol in Amsterdam-got to the bag in early morning and they were able to carry it to me in Caserta, Italy. Everybody gave me a hard time about that- because I travel so much and lost my bag. With the Chinese girls, they always took care of my bags, and I always take care of my bags, but it was just a crazy situation on our bon voyage. Overall, it was a good week of training in Holland.
European Cup was a totally amazing experience, lots of fun, lots of good softball and lots of culture, many Americans there. We had a duel passport person Dutch and American in Lindsey Meadows, Jenna DeLong and Elena Leon from Drake University. Fun connection there with my coach, Rich Calvert, that I coached with at The Ohio State University, and Stephanie Clayton that went to Drake and is from Roxboro, NC. It was kind of a small world with all that coming together in meeting Jenna and Elena in Enschede through our relationships with Rich Calvert at Ohio State, and Stephanie Clayton through Roxboro. As you know, we ended up winning the European Cup and played very well. Jenna DeLong and Lindsey Meadows pitched well. Jenna was great offensively, and Karin Tuk was named the MVP and did a great job hitting. Overall it was a wonderful experience. We beat Sparks in the championship game, and had great wins over Caserta. Caserta was coached by my good friend Enrico Obletter, and they also had UCLA star pitcher Angelica Selden, who is from Northern California, where I grew up. Also, Kristie Fox, who played at the University of Arizona, but I also coached her on the USA Junior National Team in the World Championships in Nanjing, China. It was fun catching up with her. We also played the team Jourdes, from the Czech Republic. Some of the players I remember from doing clinics in Prague.
It was an interesting experience understanding the European softball status from coaching to management to players- I learned a lot trying to help. I had some disagreements with the umpires- I voiced my opinion and they made theirs known also. I was called “An American” a couple of times, which was interesting to profile me as a “bad guy coach from America.” Hopefully, we can all learn and grow from that. The Dutch softball culture and culture is different from the American culture and different from the Chinese culture. It is amazing to see the affect culture has on people and sports and how that culture affects relationships and communications if people are happy or unhappy. I was able to learn quite a bit from European Softball Federation Executive Ami Baran, who has a background at Ohio State and lives in Tel Aviv, Israel right now and travels around the world. Hopefully, I developed a great relationship with him.
Moving forward, it was great working with the young players and the players in Tex Town. Time went by too fast. I would like to thank the Tex Town Tigers for helping me to come. Hopefully I helped them develop in Tex Town and in Holland and Europe as a whole.
Also was able to see Caroline Powell in Olympia Haarlem and go to a practice one day. Was able to do some front toss and talked to the girls. Olympia Haarlem is in 4th place and qualified for the playoffs. They actually had a game with Tex Town Tigers right after the European Cup- lost to a score of 6-2, but Tex Town had to win by a +7 run margin, so Olympia Haarlem qualified for the Dutch playoffs. I would like to congratulate Coach Caroline Powell, a Team TFS athlete and Fastpitch School Student. I am very proud of her.
My summer 2011
I gave jj a ride to Detroit in late May to pick up her passport. There was some issue with her Canadian transit visa. We made a round route, so we got the chance to see some famous places. We went to see Mizzou softball game and St. Louis in our way to Columbus, spent a night at Donna's home. Donna's kitty was really cute. I played with him a long time that night. : ) Then we went to Niagara Falls the following day, but we just stayed there for half an hour...we needed to hurry to go to Cincinnati so we can catch up the office hour to pick up jj's passport next day. Niagara Falls is really beautiful, really cool, I will take my parents come to see it some day, and I'm sure they will love it.
In our way back from Detroit to home we stopped by our friend's home for a night. I must say that Illinois highway gave me a very bad impression. We got stucked in the road for 1 hour right after we enter Illinois. I don't know how long we moved during that 1 hour, maybe 1 mile? After we got out of the traffic I decided to speed a little, otherwise it will pass the midnight when we arrive our friend's home. The consequence is...I got my first ticket for speed over 14 miles. Well I was really unlucky that day.
We had a great dinner with our friend. She made very good Chinese food for us. However, we need to say goodbye to her very early the following moring because jj needed to go to see Iowa State. We spent about 4 hours in there and had Applebee for lunch. The most unforgetable thing is the severe storm we encounterd near Ames. In our way home from Ames, we met the worst storm in our life. It was really dangerous driving in that weather. I can see nothing but dark and the emergency light from the car ahead of us. All the cars were moving 5 miles per hour on highway. And the crazy thing was jj was on her phone! I don't know what she was thinking, but I hope she knows phones sould be extremely prohibited in this kind of weather...
Finally we got back safe in Lincoln. The following day we got on a plane head to Seattle. I really want to go to University of Washington for my Ph.D study. The campus is really beautiful, really nice. The climate in Seattle is just what I like. Not too hot in summer nor too cold in winter. We also went to Olympic National Park. There we saw snow in late May and several deers with black tails. We went to Safeco field to see a Mariners' game. Ichiro played very well that day. I was lucky enough to see him steal base. The outlet in Seattle is jj's favorite so we can't miss it. We spent half day in there.
We spent the night at the airport before we fly to our destinations. I came back to Lincoln get ready for classes and jj went back to Beijing. I went to see Coach Revelle to set up my job in softball team this year. I enjoy staying around with the team. I have been in three teams in the U.S. and I think the husker is the best. The team is a family for me.
Starting from June my summer was pretty boring. Class and research, these two things filled up my life. I kept talking to people back home hoping to hear some interesting things from them. The best thing I heard from them is my softball team is getting stronger and stronger, and we won the Youth National Champion. This year is the first year I can't go to the game with my team out of the recent 8 years. I hoped I could be there when we won the Champion. What made me very happy is my coach started realizing he need to make some change to bring the team up. He hired an assistant coach from one of the professional team. I want to say that the girls in team now are so lucky. I would like to go back to home to teach them all I learned from UNL softball team during the passed year to make the team even stronger.
I asked myself what I want to do as my job in the future. After thinking for a long time I'm sure I can't leave softball. Although I'm interested in studying climate change, I can't say I love it. But I love softball. I think I want to be a college teacher for climatology and teach softball during my leisure time. I don't know if it will change in the future, but this is the first time I have a such clear goal for my career. I'm on my way to make it.
Sophomore year is over!!
After this weekend, my sophomore season is over. As my last blog said, I have been work really hard on the mount for our second regional championship and All-American. I have a really good start this season. I was rank 1st in the nation but after I knew that I started to panic. I want to keep it so bad, so I start to afraid to pitch. I straggled for two games until Coach Dai helped me out. He told me the way to make my mind stable. After the straggle, one of the biggest games for me came up, against Iowa Western where I went to before Highland. I pitched really well that game and showed they how good I am now. In the whole season, I have four one hit game, until our last home game, I got my first no hitter game in my college career. I break school lowest ERA and most career strikeouts records after the regular season. I also lead conference ERA and strikeouts. As right now, I’m rank 5th in the nation for ERA and 4th on Strikeouts leader. Since that, I got 1st All-Conference and 1st team All-Region, and I also get the chance to be All-American.
I started my school research for next year since fall. However, it wasn’t go well in the beginning. My goal is play D1 but only Utah State showed interested about me. I went to try out before our season started. It was fun, and Coach K told me she likes me. I was so excited and waiting to hear from her back. However, Coach B told me she wouldn’t make an offer for me until their season done. I was really nervous but coach B just tells me to wait. Coach B came to watch my games in April and told me I need to go to Nationals because a lot coach wants to see me there.
In regional, we won first game 3-2 in the 7th inning. I pitched second game against Cowley the team that was rank 4th in the nation when season started. We won 6-1 and I have 7 strikeouts. In the championship game, we against Cowley again, I relief the game from 5th inning, we won it in 10th. I didn’t give any runs in 6 innings. We won 2-1. I’m the winning pitcher for this two years regional championship, but it feels so different. Last year, we scored 9 runs. It was no pressure on me.
On the way to nationals wasn’t a good experience. Our catcher has kidney stone that hurt really badly, so we need to stop by the hospital drop her off. Then the bus has some problem that we need to change the bus. I was really nervous about my catcher because we need her so bad. She is a really good player. I feel really confortable when she is behind the plate. She came the morning before the game started. She still in pain but work her ass off for the team.
The first game in national, we against Kirkwood, the team that rank 3rd in nation with a girl rank 1st in home run leader in the nation, another two girl in the top 25 and also four girls have BA over .400. I knew that is a tough game right there. Also all the coaches will come to see me. It is really important for my whole life. I was kind nervous before I came to Normal. But I felt more excited the night before. I told myself don't think about we win or lose this game, just focus on every batter, every pitch. I just need to show real me to the coach, than is their job to decided wants me or not.
I did really well in the game. I give 4 hits in the whole game and two of them were bunt. The only hard hit they hit off me was that homerun in the 7th inning, but that was catchable. It's sad that we lose in the last inning by that. Good thing is I showed how I pitch to everybody there. After the game, their AD talked to me and told me he really enjoys the game and I’m a pitcher fun to watch. For a Athlete, nothing is more important than people enjoys to watch your games.
We still didn't get our first win in nationals, but we have good chance in both of games. It is a really good experience to play in Highland. However, I got say bye now. Thanks Heidi and Scott, thanks all my teammates, thanks all the people been helping me in Highland, thanks my American family let me know about Highland.
Sophomore year is over!!
After this weekend, my sophomore season is over. As my last blog said, I have been work really hard on the mount for our second regional championship and All-American. I have a really good start this season. I was rank 1st in the nation but after I knew that I started to panic. I want to keep it so bad, so I start to afraid to pitch. I straggled for two games until Coach Dai helped me out. He told me the way to make my mind stable. After the straggle, one of the biggest games for me came up, against Iowa Western where I went to before Highland. I pitched really well that game and showed they how good I am now. In the whole season, I have four one hit game, until our last home game, I got my first no hitter game in my college career. I break school lowest ERA and most career strikeouts records after the regular season. I also lead conference ERA and strikeouts. As right now, I’m rank 5th in the nation for ERA and 4th on Strikeouts leader. Since that, I got 1st All-Conference and 1st team All-Region, and I also get the chance to be All-American.
I started my school research for next year since fall. However, it wasn’t go well in the beginning. My goal is play D1 but only Utah State showed interested about me. I went to try out before our season started. It was fun, and Coach K told me she likes me. I was so excited and waiting to hear from her back. However, Coach B told me she wouldn’t make an offer for me until their season done. I was really nervous but coach B just tells me to wait. Coach B came to watch my games in April and told me I need to go to Nationals because a lot coach wants to see me there.
In regional, we won first game 3-2 in the 7th inning. I pitched second game against Cowley the team that was rank 4th in the nation when season started. We won 6-1 and I have 7 strikeouts. In the championship game, we against Cowley again, I relief the game from 5th inning, we won it in 10th. I didn’t give any runs in 6 innings. We won 2-1. I’m the winning pitcher for this two years regional championship, but it feels so different. Last year, we scored 9 runs. It was no pressure on me.
On the way to nationals wasn’t a good experience. Our catcher has kidney stone that hurt really badly, so we need to stop by the hospital drop her off. Then the bus has some problem that we need to change the bus. I was really nervous about my catcher because we need her so bad. She is a really good player. I feel really confortable when she is behind the plate. She came the morning before the game started. She still in pain but work her ass off for the team.
The first game in national, we against Kirkwood, the team that rank 3rd in nation with a girl rank 1st in home run leader in the nation, another two girl in the top 25 and also four girls have BA over .400. I knew that is a tough game right there. Also all the coaches will come to see me. It is really important for my whole life. I was kind nervous before I came to Normal. But I felt more excited the night before. I told myself don't think about we win or lose this game, just focus on every batter, every pitch. I just need to show real me to the coach, than is their job to decided wants me or not.
I did really well in the game. I give 4 hits in the whole game and two of them were bunt. The only hard hit they hit off me was that homerun in the 7th inning, but that was catchable. It's sad that we lose in the last inning by that. Good thing is I showed how I pitch to everybody there. After the game, their AD talked to me and told me he really enjoys the game and I’m a pitcher fun to watch. For a Athlete, nothing is more important than people enjoys to watch your games.
We still didn't get our first win in nationals, but we have good chance in both of games. It is a really good experience to play in Highland. However, I got say bye now. Thanks Heidi and Scott, thanks all my teammates, thanks all the people been helping me in Highland, thanks my American family let me know about Highland.
between spring semester and summer session
I will go to Seattle to visit University of Washington from May 25th to June 1st. I want to go to graduate school there. The atmospheric sciences program in UW is very strong and very difficult to get in, but I will try everything I can to get scholarship from them. JJ is going with me. She's heading back to Beijing on June 1st, and I'm coming back to Lincoln to get ready for summer session.
I have alread started my research project this week. Right now I'm only collecting the data I need for the study. It is a big work. I have to find precipitation data of all stations from 5 states for the recent 50 years.
Quick Update
Busy time end for right now.
Last weekend I went back to Highland to help the catching camp. I didn't have any chance or time to play softball since I made the decision to take GRE this year, so it felt so great to put the gear up again.
The huskers is having a great start of the season and ranked 21 by last weekend. They are 10 and 1 right now and the freshman catcher broke the record by homering in 6 consecutive games. Hope they have another great weekend this weekend in California. The huskers is going to play against Nevada, Xiaoxue's school, let's see who will win.
I'm going back to help the huskers as soon as I know my GRE writing score. I should receive it in 10 business days. I hope the score is not that low...The GRE issue topic is too hard that I can't even write something good about it in Chinese...
Also I applied for a research topic earlier this semester: The variations of extreme precipitation over Great Plain US. It will be the best if the school can accept my research idea and give fundings for it so I can make it as my research experience and use it to apply for graduate school.
So I think I can relax for a while and waiting for the coming of spring break...
sophomore year
Not only pitching but the atmosphere just drive me nuts. I don't feel happy and enjoy to go to practice at all. I thought about quit several times. But I cannot do that. I cannot being stupid to let other people stop me on my way.
Now it's the time to play ball. I hope everything can turn better during the season. Before the first game, coach ask us "What you can do to help the team win?". I said "Pitch like myself". I know I can achieve what I did last year again. And I believe I can do better.
When I started to play college ball, I saw my old roommate's name on the wall "Toni Dance-All American". From that very first day, my goal is to get All-American. I'll try my best to go for it this season.
