April 30, 2008

TAMING THE TITANS…
At this point every win is important and necessary for an opportunity at the postseason, but some wins feel greater than others. Three weekends ago (April 5-6) we played Cal State Fullerton and although they took the series, or a couple of battles, we definitely won the war.

Saturday’s games were not to any of our likings as the Titans turned close games into victories in the late innings.

Following the games, we broke down the things where we were lacking and were challenged by our coaching staff, captains and ourselves to find a way to win as a team or lose as a team; the key challenge was to be a team first.

The bus ride on Saturday after the games was somber and even Sunday morning's trip brought with it more of a focused silence. But that suddenly changed as we stepped onto CSF softball field.

The positive energy was there combined with some laughter, thoughts of personal desires for Sunday’s game, all mixed with the lingering frustration from the day before.

It is often said that the true test of a person or a team is how they respond to adversity.

Well, respond we did, with a 6-4 win – our first in the Big West in two years.

But as important as the win was with regards to overall records and conference standings, it represented something much larger.

It was on April 6, 2008 that this year's version of the UC Riverside softball team, a team nearly eight months in the making, rose to the occasion and became a TEAM in the truest sense of the word.

All roads taken from this point forward in games won or lost, any pain endured or inflicted, all challenges faced or created will be traveled as a unit – as a TEAM.

~Kristie