Cedarville University Yellow Jackets

 
Your Cedarville University Lady Jackets are back on track! After a disappointing G-MAC Tournament, we rebounded and had a solid performance in our NCCAA Midwest Regional! We drove to Indiana last Monday and played our first game on Tuesday. It was pretty toasty in Indiana, but it was a nice change from the cold and rainy weather we were having in Ohio the weekend before. We played Oakland City University in our first game, and were back to our normal selves. Our scoring started with a home run by Elyssa Reyes, her career first, in the second inning! We scored two in the third, and then added five more in the fifth, to end the game early. It wasn’t all offense, however. Morgan Arbogast pitched a no-hitter, her career first, and had 10 strikeouts, a career high! It was good to come back strong and play some Cedarville softball! We celebrated by going to a good wings place for dinner and then going back to the hotel to chill.

The next day, we played Cincinnati Christian and had another solid team performance to advance us to the NCCAA National Tournament! In fact, I am currently writing this blog from our beautiful bus as we drive down to Roanoke, Virginia to play in the tournament! In the win against Cincinnati Christian, our bats were on fire! We scored four runs in the fourth inning, including a home run by Brianne O’Dell! With that home run, she tied Cedarville’s single-season RBI record, held by our wonderful Assistant Coach, Kelsey Chapman! After that inning was over, Coach Rowe pulled our team together and told us, jokingly, that he was going to pinch hit for Bri because he loves both Bri and Coach Kels and wanted them to share the record. The next inning, Bri hit a double to drive in two more runs and break the record! Coach Kels said that if anyone had to break it, she was glad that it was Bri! Ironically, they both wore the number 22. Many others contributed hits! Hallie Daughtry hit a bomb for her first career home run; Avary Humes had three hits; and Kaitlyn Woerner, Jess Steger, and Heather Lord each contributed two hits! We were also, surprisingly cheered on by the Oakland City team! Cincinnati Christian had knocked them out of the regional the day before, and they were eager to see us win. It was nice to have a team cheer for us for a change. Usually, if a team watches our game, they cheer against us. Oakland City even made a sign that said “Hit it to Me”, and Avary Humes did just that. She hit a double right to where they were standing! It was fun to play our kind of softball again, and we are looking forward to playing some more of it this week!

This morning, we had our team banquet/brunch. It was cool to get together as a team and celebrate our season with a picture slide-show Coach Ann made, some great breakfast from Panera, and team awards. Shout-out to Dr. Geist, Stephanie Zonars, Pete Reese, Ken Carlton, Jim Clark, and Becca Stokes for coming to our banquet! Thanks for coming! Then we hit and had individual meetings with Coach Rowe before we loaded the bus to head down to Virginia! Tuesday we will be helping out a local ministry or business and having an NCCAA banquet. Then the games begin on Wednesday! We are excited to play for our King and finish out our season strong for Him! Stay tuned to see if we bring back the NCCAA national title!
 
Until Next Time,

STING IT!


May 11, 2017
This week had a few unexpected twists. After finishing our finals, we were all elated to focus on the G-MAC Tournament without the distraction of assignments and tests! The forecast did not look good for Thursday, so our first game got moved to Wednesday night. We played Malone Wednesday night, and it was a tight game. We scored early, but then they came back later in the game and scored two runs. We then retaliated the next inning and tied it up. We went into extra innings and, Jess Steger scored on a walk off single by Hallie Daughtry in the bottom of the eighth! It was an exciting, and nerve-racking game!

On Thursday and Friday, the heavens broke open and the rain came down hard. On Thursday we woke up to an email saying that the games were cancelled for the day. So, most of us used that day to pack up our rooms and get ready to move into a different dorm for our post season. On Friday, it rained even harder. We woke up early and left campus at 7:15 a.m. to head to the fields at the Athletes in Action complex in Xenia. When we got to the fields, they decided to delay the games and try to get them in at 12:30 p.m. So, we went to Tim Horton’s for breakfast, and then went back to campus, where most of us took a nap. Then we loaded the vans again and went back to the fields. When we got to the complex, we waited in the vans while the coaches discussed whether to try and get the games in. It was still raining very hard and the dugouts were filled with water. So, they decided to postpone the games again until Saturday.

On Saturday, we played Davis & Elkins at 9 a.m. It was a fairly chilly day, but the fields looked surprisingly good considering how much water was on them the day before. Our bats did not come out for that game, and we ended up losing 3-0. It was a surprising loss. We then moved fields and played Trevecca Nazarene at 10:30 a.m. Our bats didn’t come out again, which isn’t like our team. It’s odd, but all teams have days when they don’t hit like they usually do. Sadly, that day was during our conference tournament. We ended up losing to Trevecca and were eliminated from the tournament. It was a tough loss, especially when we expected to make it pretty far. Honestly, we were all hoping to make our first NCAA DII Regional, but we will have to wait until next year to have another shot at it. It was disappointing, but we know that God has a reason for it.

Sometimes disappointments cause us to put things in perspective. So, although we would have loved to make an NCAA Regional, we know that there are more important things in life than making the tournament. The loss stung for a little while, but God is still God, He is still good, and there is still way more to life than softball. The good news, however, is that the G-MAC Tournament wasn’t the end of our season. We are currently in Indiana playing in the NCCAA Midwest Regional! We are hoping to make the NCCAA National Tournament and finish out our season strong! Whatever happens we want to play our best and represent our King well!

Stay tuned for some more Cedarville softball!

Until Next Time,

STING IT!


May 1, 2017   It’s the final stretch! Of school, that is. We still have a lot of softball left to play! This week is finals week, and although most of us are a little stressed right now, we are so ready to have a long break from school work. We can’t wait to just focus on softball and have fun spending time as a team! Our G-MAC tournament is this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and we are excited!! We’ll be done with finals on Wednesday and then go to the G-MAC banquet that night. Then the games will begin on Thursday!

As for last week, we played Ursuline on Tuesday and Wednesday, and won three out of the four games. We played well and secured the G-MAC regular season title! That puts us in good standing going into the tournament. On the bus ride home, we found out that Brianne O’Dell was voted the NFCA National Player of the Week! Congrats Bri! She definitely deserves it because she has been on fire lately!

 We

got back to campus around 1 a.m. Thursday morning, and were back at the field at 10 a.m. to attempt to take the tarp off. Shout out to the baseball team for putting on the tarp for us while we were away playing Ursuline! Thank you so much!! We all lined up on one side of the tarp and started dragging it to the grass, when a huge gust of wind came and almost blew it out of our hands! We were all laying on the ground and using all of our strength to try and keep it from blowing away. We almost lost some players! For a second, I thought I was going to be like Elijah and get taken up to heaven in a whirlwind! We managed to keep it on the ground and decided to keep it on for the night, and try again the next day. However, the wind kept coming as we were trying to put it back on. At one point more than half the tarp flew up and was caught by the visitors’ dugout. Danielle and Elyssa were in the dugout at that time, and were trapped for a little while. We finally managed to get the trap back on the field, and were able to successfully take it off the next morning.

On Friday, we played one and a half games against Davis & Elkins. We got through the entire first game, and ended up winning 3-0. Morgan Arbogast threw a really good game, and we were able to pull out some runs late in the game to secure the victory. We went down early in the second game, and were in the middle of a come back, when the lightning struck. We then waited 30 minutes in our cars, and came back to the field to resume play. Right as we were about to begin, however, an even bigger lightning bolt struck, and the game was postponed to the next day. We then put the tarp on in record time (probably broke a world record), and as soon as we finished, the heavens broke open and the rain came on strong. It was definitely a blessing from the Lord, because the timing was perfect! It rained all night, and the rest of the games got cancelled for the next day. We did have to take the tarp off of the field the next day however, and it was pretty muddy. Hopefully that’s the last time taking the tarp off! We’ve said that the last three times though, so I guess we’ll just have to see. For now, we are focused on the G-MAC tournament and ready to dominate in the name of Jesus!

Until Next Time,

STING IT!


April 26, 2017
This past week was a full one for your Lady Jackets! After coming back from Trevecca, we enjoyed celebrating our Risen Savior on Easter Sunday! Some of us went home and some of us celebrated with friends in the Cedarville area.

On Monday, we had a refreshing day off form classes and softball, which most of us used to work on school work. On Tuesday, we were back on the bus at 8:30 a.m. to leave for Ohio Valley. After about a three hour ride, we stopped for lunch then went to the fields to warm up.

We pulled ahead first in both games and ended up winning both 7-2! Brianne O’Dell went 7-for-7 that day, getting three hits in the first game and four in the second. Morgan Arbogast and Danielle Wolgamot both had solid performances in the circle, and Lucia Eroshevich came in clutch and closed both games. It was a good day, and we surprisingly had more fans than the home team. Hannah and Heather live close to Ohio Valley, and actually played high school baseball in the same complex. The stands were filled with their friends and family, along with a few other people’s parents. It was cool to have that much support on the road. After the games, we went to Moe’s for dinner and then made the three hour trek home. Shout out to our wonderful bus driver Norris, who drove our huge bus a total of six hours that day!

We practiced for the next two days and then faced Kentucky Wesleyan on Friday and Saturday. We had a nice win in the first game. We pulled out ahead in the first inning and ended up winning 5-1. Sarah Parsons hit her seventh home run of the season! We went down early in the second game, but rallied back yet again in the sixth and seventh innings. We scored three runs in the sixth to bring the score to 11 to 5 and five in the seventh to make it 11 to 10. Sadly, we couldn’t scratch out one more run to tie it, and ended up losing 11-10 in the bottom of the seventh. It was tough to lose that one, but we played a good game overall, and walked away with our heads high. We ended the evening by putting the tarp on our field because there was rain in the forecast.

We then got up early on Saturday to take the tarp off of the field at 9 a.m. It was a bit chilly on Saturday, so we bundled up after taking the tarp off and got ready for our games. In the first game, we went back and forth with Kentucky Wesleyan, but rallied back yet again to win it 12-11. Brianne O’Dell went four for four, again! She’s been on fire lately! In the second game, however, it was KWC that had the hot bats and we ended up losing 9-1.

This week is a busy one for us! We are currently in Pepper Pike, Ohio playing two double headers against Ursuline, and we face D&E at home on Friday and Saturday. These are our last regular season games, and we are excited to finish them strong before our G-MAC Tournament next week!

Until next time,

STING IT!


April 18, 2017
This past week has been a full one for your Lady Jacket softball team! After coming back from Alderson Broaddus, a lot of us had a heavy academic load in the two days we were actually on campus. After one full day back, we had to pack our bags again for Tennessee! We hit with Coach in the cages, headed to Chuck’s (our dining hall) for a team dinner, and then loaded the bus. We made good time on the way down and arrived around 11p.m. (CST). We were all pretty tired that night, and it was nice to get to sleep in that next morning.

On Good Friday, we played our first two games against Trevecca Nazarene. Before Friday, Cedarville hadn’t beaten Travecca in a few years, so we were hungry for a win. The first game, we came out strong and scored five runs in the third inning! Hannah Lord, Brianne O’Dell, and Kara Eiginger each had base hits with 1-2 counts to set the table for Sarah Parsons. Sarah then wiped the table clean with a grand slam! We ended up holding Trevecca to two runs and winning the first game 6-2.

The second game was much closer, and was played well by both teams. We scored early, but TNU ended up scoring two late in the game to win it 2-1. Morgan Arbogast pitched in the first game and Danielle Wolgamot pitched in the second. Both pitched outstanding games and did not give up an earned run! We then went to Cracker Barrel for dinner, where we were joined by many players’ parents and Kelly, one of our supporters! After dinner, Kelly came back to our hotel and shared a devotional with us about not just being hearers of God’s Word, but being doers as well. She encouraged us to obey God and what He reveals to us in His Word because to not obey is like looking at yourself in a mirror and then immediately forgetting what you look like. It was very encouraging, and it was cool to get to meet her!

Saturday was another good day! The first game got off to a slow start for us offensively. Trevecca scored two early, but then we retaliated in the sixth inning and scored four. We ended up winning 4-3! The second game was one of the craziest softball games I’ve ever played in my life! We had a few errors that put us in a hole for a while. We were close to getting run-ruled in the fourth and fifth innings. In the fifth inning, we finally scraped together two runs, but then Trevecca came back and scored two more in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 9 to 2. We were again nervous about getting run ruled. However, the sixth inning was our inning. The fight that we have as a team continues to amaze me! We came back and scored seven runs in the sixth inning to tie the game 9 to 9. It was crazy!

Some say hitting is contagious, and I agree. It seemed as if the ball was flying off of everyone’s bats! We had good at bat after good at bat, and the dugout was going wild! It was the loudest we have been in the cage since I’ve played at Cedarville, and it was so much fun! We may not have voices for the rest of the weekend, but we do have another win in our pockets! We went into extra innings, and ended up winning it in the ninth by scoring four more runs! The final score was 13 to 9.

This team is something special both on and off of the field! God has blessed us tremendously! We are so blessed to have teammates and coaches that support each other, pick each other up when we’re down, and encourage us to follow Jesus with all that we have! On trips like this, we have a lot of opportunities to bond as a team. It is not rare to just get into a conversation about God on the bus or at the hotel. Many times on this trip to Tennessee I walked away from various conversations encouraged and edified. Believers have such a unique bond in Christ, and it is such a blessing to get to experience how a true Christian team operates! All of the glory goes to God for this because He is the one working in our hearts and He is the One who bonds us together in this way.

Coach Rowe reminded us after the games on Saturday that the only reason we can enjoy anything in life at all is because Jesus has already paid for our sins. He died the death that we deserve so that we can have a relationship with Him! Now that we have a relationship with Him and peace with God because of Jesus Christ, we can enjoy the things that He’s given us in their proper places. Nothing is sweeter than a relationship with Jesus Christ and the life that He gives. He gives life to the full! Romans 5:1 says, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," It is because of this peace with God that we can now enjoy life. Thank You Jesus for dying for us and rising again so that we can have peace with God! There is nothing sweeter than a relationship with Him!


April 12, 2017
We’re on the road! I am currently writing this blog while we are on our way back to campus in our beautiful new bus! We started off our Monday morning by leaving campus at 7 a.m. to drive down to West Virginia. It was about a four-hour bus ride and a lot of us got in a good nap or did homework for the majority of the trip. We stopped for a solid lunch at Panera, went to the hotel to change, and then headed to the field. On the way we had a team jam session and sung at the top of our lungs to "Ain’t no Mountain High Enough", "Amazing Grace", and "You Raise Me Up", a favorite among the freshmen. It got us pretty hype for the games. When we got to the field, we discovered that we were wearing the same color uniforms as the home team. So Logan, Allyssa, and Norris, our fantastic bus driver, went back to the hotel to get our blue uniforms. Once we were no longer matching with Alderson Broaddus (AB), we were ready to play some ball. We played a good game, and ended up winning 7-2, with a solid performance by Morgan Arbogast in the circle. Four of those runs we scored with two outs in the sixth inning.

The second game was a nail biter. We were tied going into the top of the 7th. Elyssa Reyes started off the inning by drawing a walk. Heather Lord then hit a single up the middle. Avary Humes drew a walk to advance the lead runner to third and Kaitlyn Woerner drew another walk and the winning run came in. Going into the bottom of the 7th, we only needed three outs to secure the victory. Avary Humes started off by making an outstanding catch in left field on a line drive that was dying as it came to her. The dug out went wild! We then made the last two outs to secure the win.

When we hopped on the bus we had a spontaneous team worship session on the way to the restaurant. It was such a sweet time! We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner to celebrate the win and an early birthday for Avary Humes! It was delicious, and we got to see our friend Ray! We ate at the same Texas Roadhouse last year when we came to West Virginia, and Ray was our waiter. Coach Rowe got talking to him, and discovered that he is a Christ follower! Ray then shared his testimony with Coach and invited us to his church the next morning. It was cool to see how God allowed us to meet him and directed us back to the same Texas Roadhouse this year so we could see him again!

On Tuesday, we played AB again in another double header, and ended the series with a sweep! To God be the glory! We won the first game 11-1! The second game was a little close for our comfort. They were ahead 2-0 for several innings, but we came back in the 5th inning to tie the game. We pulled ahead in the 6th with a home run by Brianne O’Dell and another one by Sarah Parsons! Avary Humes sealed the deal in the seventh with another home run. It was a good day for Avs because she turned twenty and hit her first career home run. She gave herself a good birthday present!

We also celebrated three other birthdays this week. The twins, Hannah and Heather Lord turned 19 and Rachel Furman turned 20! After practice on Tuesday we went to Tropical Smoothie to surprise Hannah and Heather for their birthday. We also played Ohio Valley this past week and won both games. Stay tuned for more Cedarville softball as we head to Nashville to play Trevecca Nazarene this weekend!

Until next time,

STING IT!


April 4, 2017
Are you ready for some softball? Because this past week, we were! After having many games rescheduled due to rain, we got to play two double headers! We split with Ashland on Monday, losing a close first game in nine innings and solidly winning the second. In the first game, we battled with Ashland the entire game. We tied it up in the seventh to go into an international tiebreaker in the eighth. They scored in the top of the inning, but we matched them in the bottom of the inning to take the game to the ninth. Sadly, in the ninth, they scored and we were not able to come up with the runs to retaliate. It was an exciting and well-played game by both teams, and we were proud of the fight we showed. We came back and won the second game with an outstanding performance in the circle by Lucia Eroshevich and two home runs by Sarah Parsons! Both are freshmen, by the way. Sarah is the third person in Cedarville softball history to hit two home runs in a single game, and she blasted both of them out of our long park. During warm ups before the game, the ball was jumping off of her bat and several of us looked at each other and said, "Sarah’s gonna hit one out today." She exceeded our expectations.

After moving our games around a bit due to weather, we practiced for the remainder of the weekdays and played Salem International in a doubleheader on Saturday. We came out strong in the first game and won 9-0 in five innings. Sarah hit yet another home run, and Rachel Furman had a solid pitching performance. The second game was well played by both teams, but your Lady Jackets came out on top again!

We started off our Saturday by removing buckets of water from the infield and taking the tarp off of our field. Shout out to our coaches who filled the buckets with water, so all we had to do was carry them off and dump them out. Aside from helping us elevate our game, our coaches do so much behind the scenes work and we appreciate them so much! We ended the afternoon with doughnuts from Lucia’s parents (thank you soo much!!) and putting the tarp back on the field because it is supposed to rain this week yet again. We are becoming experts on getting that tarp on and off the field. If there were a class for tarping a field, we’d all get A’s. Also, a big thanks to our grounds crew, who have been working really hard to make it possible for us to play, despite all of the rain.

This week, we are scheduled to play three conference double headers! We are excited to continue to play for our King, and rely on His strength to help us through a busy week. I am continually blessed by my teammates, who constantly remind me to use the game of softball as an act of worship to my amazing God. In the grand scheme of life, this is a very unimportant game, but God loves us and cares about our hearts. He cares about how we play the game and Whom we play for. Colossians 3:23 says, "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men." That is exactly what we are striving to do, knowing that God can use anything and anyone to bring glory to Himself. He is certainly using this game to conform us more to His image. Thank You, Father, for an opportunity to play this sport!

Stay tuned as we are scheduled to host Ohio Valley on Wednesday (3 PM) and play at Alderson Broaddus on Friday and Saturday!

Until next time,

STING IT!
 

March 27, 2017 We were finally back in action this past week! After having another double header canceled on Tuesday due to weather, we were able to play our first G-MAC series on Friday and Saturday. We were all super excited to play again! So much so, it was hard to sit through class during the day on Friday. We couldn’t have asked for better weather, and it was sweet to play our home opener under the warm sunshine!

After ending our Florida trip with a nice win, we wanted to keep the momentum going. We did just that. It seemed as if the ball was flying off our bats all weekend! In our tee work the past two weeks, we focused on staying level through the zone and keeping our hands above the ball, and it seems to be paying off. It was good to be out on our field again and to start our conference play with a bang!

We had solid performances from our pitchers, and seven of our players hit over .400 for the weekend. In the third game of the series, Sarah Parsons hit her first career home run to give us an early lead. It was an exciting and fun weekend of softball, and we are excited to see what this week will hold! We want to keep the momentum going and keep playing to glorify our King!

Stay tuned as we take on Ashland (today at home) and at Ursuline this weekend!

Unit next time,

STING IT!


March 20, 2017 After playing our first 16 games in beautiful 80 degree weather, we stepped off the plane last week to return to a chilly Ohio March. It was a bit of a shock, and we all wished we were back in Florida wearing our shorts and flip-flops. Regardless of our wishes, however, we knew we had to get back to Cedarville and jump into classes again that Monday.

After taking Sunday and Monday to recover, we went back to work with a team meeting on Tuesday to discuss Florida and go over some hitting videos. We were scheduled to play Findlay on Wednesday and Salem on Thursday, but those games ended up getting postponed due to snow and freezing weather. Instead, we practiced indoors and got to work on conditioning and hitting, primarily.

We did not come out of Florida with the record we were hoping for, but we are still encouraged because we played a lot of really good games. It was good to have this week to work on some things we needed to work on, and we are ready to face Urbana (non-conference) on Tuesday (Ed. Note: Games PPD) and Malone, our first G-MAC competition, this Friday and Saturday!

The weather is looking a lot better this week, so stay tuned to see your Lady Jackets Softball team play for Christ’s glory! We’re ready to be back in action and get some victories!

Until Next Time,

STING IT!


March 9, 2017 We started off our Florida trip strong with two wins our first day! We were all ready to play and it showed with how much energy we had in the dugout. The scoring got started in the first game when Morgan Arbogast blasted a grand slam into some palm trees in the outfield in the third inning! We won the second game in extra innings with a clutch hit by Morgan Arbogast to knock in a run to tie the game and another clutch hit by Avary Humes to drive in the winning run. Our second day, we lost by one to West Virginia Wesleyan, who is ranked 15th in the nation for NCAA Division II, and then lost the other game as well to another top twenty ranked team. We came back the next day and won both games. Our bats certainly came alive the first three days!

We lost two close games on our fourth day, and lost two again on our fifth day. We split the sixth day, losing the first game and winning the second. Overall, we’ve been playing solid softball. We didn’t expect to be losing this much, but most of our losses are by just one or two runs and could have gone either way. Although losing is never ideal, we are encouraged by how we’ve been playing and know that those close games will go our way eventually. We are hopeful for the rest of the season, and ready to finish out our time in Florida strong!

We’ve had some solid performances by both veterans and freshmen. Brianne O’Dell has been on fire at the plate, with four homeruns and sixteen RBI’s so far! Jess Steger has also been on a hitting streak lately and it seems as if the ball has been flying off of her bat! Kaitlyn Woerner has been playing solid defensively behind the plate, and Sarah Parsons has been playing an outstanding shortstop! Danae Fields has also been a reliable leadoff for us and our pitchers have been throwing very well!

Aside from softball, it’s been good to spend time bonding with our teammates and families. Many of us have family members that have come down to watch our games, and it has been good to spend time with them when we’re not playing. Also, a shout-out to the Cedarville men’s tennis team, who came to watch one of our games yesterday! We’ve also been able to spend some good time together as a team. Whether it’s been jam sessions during the van rides or just spending time with each other at the hotel, it’s been good to be with each other! Last night, we got together as a team and prayed, lifting up the rest of our time in Florida and various other requests. I am so thankful for this team and the friendships I am continuing to build. It’s so sweet to be able to seek our Father together as a team! I’m looking forward to the rest of Florida and the rest of the season together!

Until Next Time,

STING IT!


February 27, 2017

"Ready to Fly"

There’s only a few days left before we step foot on a plane bound for beautiful Clermont, Florida! We’re ready to fly. Even though most of us haven’t even started thinking about packing yet and many of us have a few exams to overcome before we leave, our minds have been on Florida for quite some time. We’ve had a countdown going on our locker room white board since January, and the phrase, "I can’t wait for Florida" has been a regular part of our vocabulary. Sure, there are some nerves mixed in with the excitement, but that’s part of the beauty of the start to a season.

We’ve been working hard since January to elevate our play by sprinting, running stairs, throwing, fielding, hitting, lifting, scrimmaging, and working on different mental aspects of the game. We’re ready to fly. With ten freshmen and nine upperclassmen on our team, we have high expectations for this season. Our freshman class is strong and our upperclassmen are experienced. We certainly have a young team, but we also have a talented one, and when talent is mixed with hard work, good things happen. We were also blessed with beautiful weather the past two weeks and had the opportunity to get on our field and play outside! It was so good to see the ball in the sunlight and be able to take ground balls in the dirt and fly balls in the open air! Getting outside just fueled our excitement even further.

Last Thursday night, exactly one week before take off, we met in the locker room to set team goals and lift the Florida trip and the season up in prayer. It was so good to discuss our goals for this season and how we want to accomplish them, and it was sweet to bring them before our Father, ask Him for His help, and acknowledge that we can do nothing of value without Him. I’ve had so many conversations with various teammates about how much we love this team. It’s been such a blessing to get to know my teammates better and build friendships with them. We have some great girls on our team, and I’m excited to bond as a team throughout the highs and lows of the season!

Our theme for this season is "Act of Worship". We want to use this sport as a means to worship God and bring glory to our Savior, Jesus Christ! We’re ready to fly. Romans 12:1-2 says, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable, and perfect." We know that softball is not the most important thing in life, but we also know that it can be used to glorify God if we approach it with the right heart and mind set. We want to play our best and compete hard so that others will see Christ in us on the field. We want to be unified so that Christ is glorified. We want to be selfless because Jesus is selfless. We want to honor our King with what He has given us to do, and at the moment that is to play softball. All these things, we know we cannot do without His help and guidance throughout the entire season.

In a few short days, we’ll step onto that Florida field and see what happens. We’re prepared, excited, and hungry for some victories both on and off the field. This season, we are ready to fly!

Until next time,

STING IT!

Kelsey Caldwell is a sophomore second baseman/outfielder from Richboro, Pa. She is in her second season with the Lady Jackets and is a Dean's List student as an athletic training major.