Piedmont University Athletics

Piedmont College softball fans can follow the team's trip to the SUNY Cortland Regional of the 2011 NCAA Division-III National Tournament in Cortland, NY through a daily blog from seniors B.J. Cofer and Raley White. The pitcher-hitter combo will be blogging to provide PC fans an insider's perspective on the team's trip from the selection show to the final swing.

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011
I was a little too emotional last night to blog, but I can't leave Regionals without saying a few last things. If your are reading this blog then you are most likely a Piedmont softball fan and know the outcome of yesterday's game. If you don't know, we lost. I have never been taught to be complacent with second best. There is a big difference, however, between complacency and satisfaction. I am completely satisfied with my final season as Piedmont Lady Lion. We accomplished something that few can say they have. We made it to the top 16 teams in the country. When that final out was made, I couldn't accept that I had played my last game. I'm pretty sure all that I could do was try my best to fight back tears. Yesterday Cortland was the better team, and that happens sometimes. They were genuinely a class act, from their coaches and players to their fans and tournament staff. It's hard to be mad when you get beat by a team like that. We came to play, but it just wasn't enough that day. That doesn't take away from the effort and commitment that I saw from every one of my teammates. Even though we lost, I will always remember that we left it all on the field that day. As Coach Kesler says, all you can do is give a great effort. I hope Cortland shows out at the world series.

Beej and I thought we were okay once we left the field, but it was still hard to hold it together. Her dad missed his first game ever yesterday, and I know that talking to her parents was tough. My dad and I had a tradition when I played travel ball. After a hard day at the field we would stop and get a Snicker bar and a Coke on the way home. He had them both waiting for me in the parking lot as we left the field, and I couldn't help but cry. I have so many memories on the softball field. Not many people can say they put 17 years of work into anything. The reality of being finished won't really set in until next year's season starts and I'm not on the field. But you can believe I will be there as a fan! I am so thankful for the opportunity to play with such amazing teammates along the way, and I wouldn't trade my experience for anything in the world. It's not "goodbye", it's just "see you later!"

Loud and proud, L-Squared for Sheezy! Woop Woop!

Monday, May 16th, 2011
We all got up this morning ready to finish the 2 innings against Moravian, but it wasn't much of a surprise to see that it is still raining. The forecast doesn't look promising as of right now. We are waiting around as patiently as we can to see what is going to happen. Hopefully the rain will hold up or we will be able to move to a dryer location. Cortland's field doesn't have lights, so that's another problem. Everything seems to be going against us right now. Winning the Regional championship game is the only thing that will make all this waiting around worth it.

Sunday, May 15th, 2011
Well Mother Nature slowed us down for the first time today after all the weather reports coming up had talked about rain up here in New York.  In our game against Moravian, we were leading 6-1 after five innings, but the rain kept coming down after it had started a few innings into the game.  The decision was made to delay the game to see if the weather was going to let up a little bit, but when the tarp rolled out, I think everyone knew the rain wasn't going to stop.  We waited around for a little bit in the vans and under some tents at the field, but then we heard the news that we were done for the day and would try to pick back up where we left off.  So we went to dinner at a place in dowtown Cortland and headed home.  We'll see if we can't get this game finished up in the morning for a chance to play for the Regional Championship!

Saturday, May 14th
Today was a long day. We knew we would be playing Moravian at 12 but didn't know much about the schedule after that game. We played hard for 7 innings and definitely played well enough to win, but Moravian pulled out one extra run that we couldn't match. It's always scary playing the next game after a loss. One bad bounce or close play could be the difference between winning or going home. When Kings College scored the first run, it was a wake-up call. We managed to get pumped up again and pulled out a big win. It feels good to be in the top 3, but we aren't satisfied with third place. We were looking forward to getting some rest tonight. Well, we were looking forward to it until we found out that the games for tomorrow got moved up. Leaving the hotel at 7:45 in the morning is going to be tough. We have to win 2 tomorrow to make it to the championship game. A trip to the world series is so close. We will be playing Moravian again at 10, and this time we are going to come out on top!

Friday, May 13th, 2011
We got our first big region win today! We are so proud of the team for going into the game focused and confident and pulling through in the 7th inning. We all thought Becky had a grand slam for sure! Hopefully tomorrow we will score early so that we can avoid some of the stress that comes with playing in a 0-0 ballgame.

After our win we went to dinner in Ithaca. We are still getting lots of questions about where we are from because of our accents and what we are doing so far from home. We've gotten the chance to talk to lots of people just because of how we sound. I'm also pretty positive that everyone on the team will be drinking sweet tea for a week straight when we get back since we can't get any of that up here.

Hopefully Crandall will be here tomorrow to watch us play. It will be nice to see her after such a long time. We even joked about bringing her old uniform and letting her dress out with us! Everyone will be going to bed early tonight to get ready for the games tomorrow. Chances are we will have to play 2 games, but we are only focused on the first one right now. Moravian will be a tough game, but we have all the confidence in the world that we will be starting tomorrow off with another big win. We also just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to all the great parents, family, and friends who have supported us this season. Many even made the trip all the way up here to watch us play, and there is nothing better than seeing Piedmont fans in the bleachers while we are on the field. We couldn't do it without y'all!

Thursday, May 12th, 2011
Last night we went grocery shopping for breakfast foods and snacks, so this morning I got up and cooked my roommates pancakes. They actually turned out pretty tasty since pancakes is one of the few foods I can actually make. Around 11:15 we all packed up and headed to the fields for practice. It was a hard, focused 2 hour practice because everything is timed to the last minute. We then headed to a local deli that had been suggested to us by some locals. The food turned out to be as good as they said it was. When we got back to the hotel a few of us went fishing. Coach set up a competition to see who could catch the biggest fish and most fish. The lake was really pretty, but there were swarms and swarms of bugs everywhere. They would follow you when you walked past them, and the only way to escape was to outrun them. The twins and BJ probably ran a mile trying to get away from the bugs. Our goal for the trip was to help the twins catch a fish, and we succeeded! They were squealing like crazy when they reeled the fish in. When I left the lake, Emily and I were tied at 8 fish apiece. She's probably still out there trying to out-fish me :) Those who didn't go to fish went to see a movie in Ithaca. All that is left to do tonight is relax and get ready for the big game tomorrow. I can't speak for anybody else, but I'm so excited/nervous that I don't know if I will be able to sleep tonight. I'm looking forward to getting a big win and being one step closer to Nationals!

Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
2:30 came super early this morning, but surprisingly everyone was on time. The trip to the Atlanta airport was easy. We made it through check in and security without any problems. Even Emily managed to make it through without getting searched like she usually does. We had time to eat and relax for a little while before boarding the plane. We got lots of questions about what sport we played and where we were going. One woman even asked if we were a team of skateboarders. The flight went by really fast, and most people were passed out the whole time. When we got to Philadelphia, we had a short layover. That meant another snack and some souvenir shopping. Emily recognized Jason McElwain from an ESPN special, and a few of us had the opportunity to talk with him and have our picture taken. We were all ready to get on the plane for Ithaca until we saw how small it was! We had to walk outside and board the plane using the steps, and there were all of 50 seats. The take-off and landing were rough! It was nice to finally be back on the ground. Cortland is definitely not what many of us were expecting. It looks a lot like north Georgia. The hotel is AMAZING. Right now we are trying to figure out what kind of activities we want to do on our day off. At the top of the list is the indoor waterpark. Tomorrow we will start getting ready for our big game on Friday!

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
Getting up early the second morning in a row was even harder than yesterday! Even still, morning hitting practice went well. We found out that we might be staying in a really nice hotel with an indoor waterpark. Since we will be getting to New York on Wednesday, we will have 2 days to get settled and have a little fun before we play on Friday. The nerves are starting to set in since this will be the first flight for some team members. Everyone is ready to go play after all our hard work. We still have to make it through one more afternoon practice though. The biggest decision of the day: to sleep tonight, or not to sleep??

Monday, May 9th, 2011
Waking up early on the first day of "summer break" wasn't easy, but we knew we needed to get some good practices in this week to get ready for Regionals. We started off the morning with two rounds of hitting before going to watch the selection show. Coach Kesler listed all the possible locations, and we took turns guessing where we thought we would play. Many of us hoped we would be playing in Maryland or New York so that our former teammate (and wolfpack member) Michelle Crandall could come watch us play. Texas was also a popular choice. It was nerve wracking listening to all the other teams' records while waiting to hear where we would play. Everyone was excited when we heard we would be sent to Cortland, New York. BJ, Emily, and I texted Crandall to tell her we would be coming to see her as soon as we found out. After the selection show, we ate lunch before coming back to afternoon practice. It was a pretty relaxed practice where we scrimmaged. The best part of practice was the end when we found out all of our flight information. We were excited to find out that were leaving school at 2:30 on Wednesday, until coach said that it would be 2:30 in the MORNING. We will see how good the moods are when we get on the bus ...