Charlottesville
March 13, 2022
I went back to Palmer Field for the third game of a three-game series against the Irish. It was cold — and while sun helped, the wind more than offset it. I was able to hang in there for five and a half innings — it was 2 apiece when I left.
According to Twitter the Irish scored one run in the top of the seventh so the Wahoos are looking for a rally.
The gal from Lucian’s high school came in to pitch three four innings of relief. She’s fun to watch — works quickly, throws strikes. I suspect her height snd long arms are deceptive to the batters.
As I am apt to do, I thought about all the time these kids put in to play this game. Forget about college for a minute — they likely played travel softball on elite teams since they were 10 years old. That’s likely 3/4 of each year including lots of out of town tournaments most weekends of the summer.
Then if they are exceptionally good they get recruited to play in college. According to Google, each team gets 12 scholarships. So few are getting a full ride. I suspect they practice/workout 3-4 hours each day starting in September. Then starting early February they play at least four games per week — with half the weekends being away games. Certainly a different college experience than I had.
I bet the girls have remarkable time management skills, incredible work ethic and drive that they carry into “real life” after college. What a gift.
Humbles me.
Oh, Notre Dame won 3-2.
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