Cedarville University Yellow Jackets

May 13, 2022

Annndddddd here’s to the season finale of Cedarville Softball….

We played a total of six final games.
Ashland was a split.
Walsh was a split.
Malone was a split.

It came down to the wire just like last year. In order to make the tournament we would have had to sweep Malone, and Tiffin would have had to lose to ODU twice.

Neither of those things happened, thus ending the 2022 season.

    
Inside Scoop:
 
Sophia fell into the toilet.
 
Mac loves Carmax, and I quote, “I love Carmax. If you accidentally eat it, it’s spicy.”
 
Oh, and Faith really enjoyed rooming with me and Casey over the weekend. She’s really good at making lion noises. I think it’s her spirit animal.
 
To summarize this season, I asked Zoe to come up with another great instagram caption and she has obliged.
 
Sophomore Year:
 
“Casey broke her foot. McKenna is a cat. Mariah became a catcher. Emily got mono. Carrie found a bathroom. Coach Jess had a duck tape incident. Coach Emma had to run. Kaley got a chain. Sami showed us up in her last game. Faith is dirty. Mac hit the ball a lot. Millie showed us style. Addie is our mom. Lauryn has a crush. Soph found a new man. I had another good hit to reminisce about all summer.”

The Breakdown?
 
Casey broke her foot/ankle/everything in that area playing intramural basketball. We thought she’d be out for the entire season, but God worked a miracle and got her back to us within a few months of the break.

Cats are my spirit animal. I AM Marie from the Aristocats.

Emily got sick during our last week of play. Big sad.

Carrie found a bathroom. Explanatory enough.

Coach Jess’s duck tape incident? I’m really not sure what happened here, but I think it probably has to deal with Florida. Things were being duck-taped all over the place. At least she didn’t end up with pool balls in her bed.
 
We’ll just skip the Coach Emma had to run one because it’s also self-explanatory.

Kaley got a gold chain for us to put on when we hit a homerun. We had fun with that this year.
 
Sami popped off in her last two games ever. She had four hits against Malone.

Faith has the dirtiest uniform. She won an award for it.

Mac did, in fact, get a lot of hits.

Millie has the best style on the team, period.

Addie takes care of all of us. She’s a PTA mom in the making.

Lauryn has a crush. I wish I could tell you who.
 
Soph found a new man, and he is on the baseball team. He’s a pretty good baseball player… and a good human being.

And yes, Master Zozo had another great hit. I remember it very in depthly. It went to the fence in Florida and she got a double.


Memories:
 
As most of us know, this was my final year at Cedarville. It has been an honor and a blessing to play here for the five years that I did. I would like to shout out Mark Womack and Jim Clark for always being supportive of our softball team. I’d like to thank Coach Kelsey, Coach Jess, and Coach Emma for being fabulous coaches this year. I would also like to thank our previous coach, Coach Rowe for teaching me discipline and how to strive for perfection.
 
I have loved every second of playing here, and I would like to share my top ten favorite memories of Cedarville softball.
 
10. Lip Sync Battles
Lip Sync is a softball team tradition and I have loved it every single year. I especially enjoyed the last two years, but that’s because my team got first.

9. Rooming with Casey & Faith
This was this past week. It was a lot of fun. We just spent the entire time talking and laughing. Highly recommend these two for roommates.

8. Playing Tic Tac Toe with Kentucky Wesleyan in 2021 during a rain delay
This was just iconic. We had actually traveled to KWC the week before, but those games were postponed due to rain, so they came to us…only to have a rain delay. We didn’t end our games until 9 pm at night, but during the delay we threw a softball back and forth and played Tic Tac Toe on the ball.
 
7. Line Dancing with Trevecca & getting notes back from them in 2021
At our home games we send the other teams supportive notes. When we went down to Trevecca last year, they decided to send notes back to us because they really enjoyed getting them and thought we deserved the same treatment. Then we attempted line dancing with them before the game. We sucked at line dancing, but it’s definitely a sweet memory.

6.  Rain Cancellation at Kentucky Wesleyan in 2021
I mentioned this before, but we did travel to KWC and had the games postponed. That trip resulted in some core memories. The night before the games we all went out for ice cream and that was a lot of fun. On the day of the games we went out and had a lil dance party on KW’s football field. They have a great football field btw.

5. Sami spilling coffee on herself after the G-MAC Tournament
LOL. Sami and I went through so much to get Tim Horton’s coffee before the road trip back to Cedarville after the G-MAC Tournament in 2021. Five minutes in, the bus shifts, throwing Sami off balance. She spilled the coffee all over the place. The floor. The seats. My book bag. Her face. She actually sat in a puddle of it.
 
4. Pranking Coach Rowe
Any and all pranks against Coach Rowe were iconic. I believe my favorite was this past fall. I would tell you what the prank was, but that would be exposing myself and others.
 
3. This past Florida trip
This trip was absolutely golden. I loved every second of it whether it was playing softball. jamming out to music, grabbing Starbucks, or playing pool with the girls. The best highlight was Emily turning into a lobster though.
 
2. Cedarville softball becoming friends with Hillsdale
This is a core memory for me. It’s just so wonderful to see friendship and good sportsmanship in the G-MAC. During the 2019 G-MAC Tournament Hillsdale supported Cedarville softball throughout the whole thing until the Ship, which was against us. They came to all our games and cheered us on. They played signs with us in the hotel. They pranked us. We pranked back. We even planned a Bible study for our teams. They even stayed up to celebrate with us the night that we played Tiffin for ten innings. I have remained good friends with these girls throughout the years, and appreciate them.
 
1. The 2019 GMAC Tournament
Nothing will ever beat this memory. Every second of that tournament was insane. We lost to KW in the first round in extra innings, only to make it all the way back to the championship against Hillsdale. We beat ODU, Malone, and Tiffin to get there. Every teammate I had that year gave everything they had in that tournament. The fighting spirit was unbelievable, and God worked so hard for us to get where we did. We got second, losing to Hillsdale in the Championship, but I’m thankful for every moment of that tournament. God brought my love for the sport back to me during that tournament. All thanksgiving goes to Him.


Devotional:

Romans 5:3-4 & James 1:2-3

The basic summary of these passages is that God allows trials in our life. He allows them because they create perseverance. These trials help build our hope and our faith. They create our character.

I believe that God uses softball to shape people into who they are. Softball is, sadly, a game of failure. People fail more than they succeed. Every time you step on the field you are tested. Besides actually playing, there’s the mental side, there’s injuries, etc. There are so many trials that come with softball.
 
Don’t give up. Don’t back down. Push through. That’s the message, because in the end, if you persevere and trust God with your hard work it’ll pay off.        

XOXO

-McKenna


April 27, 2022

On last week’s episode of Cedarville Softball…
 

    We played a total of six games and went three and three.
    We split with Lake Erie.
    We got swept by Trevecca.
    We swept Kentucky Wesleyan.

    And I am very glad we swept Kentucky Wesleyan as it was SENIOR DAY.
 
If you didn’t know, I am a senior, so that day was especially important to me. Everyone made that day absolutely wonderful. My teammates decorated our dugout, which had never been done before. They also sprayed all of us seniors (Carrie Jespersen, Sami Buettell, and myself) with silly string upon our arrival.

Jim Clark and Mark Womack allowed my father the privilege of giving the invocation. This touched my soul as I love my father very much. Over the past few years, Cedarville softball has fully embraced my family and I, and I cannot thank everyone enough for it.

In between games, the seniors walked the bases and were given presents by their teammates. We were escorted by our parents, and I would like to give a huge shout out to Mr. and Mrs. Miller (Alumni, Brooke Miller’s parents) who came out to walk Carrie around the bases. Carrie is from Canada, in case you missed that, so her parents were unable to be here for this very special day. Over the years, the Miller’s have sort of adopted Carrie as their fifth daughter. It means a lot that they came out to be her adoptive parents for the day.
 

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO MADE SENIOR DAY SO AMAZING.
 

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Inside Scoop:  

We had Golden Jackets this week, which is the Cedarville Athletic Awards ceremony for all senior student athletes. It was quite funny. Softball got made fun of for our cheers, and I quote, “Thank you for keeping your softball field far enough away that we can’t hear your cheers.”

Cute.
 

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Addie’s pool noodle made an appearance at the Trevecca games. Many people got smacked with the pool noodle. Some people had water splashed on them via the pool noodle. (see photos)

Extra Cute.  
 

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And Coach Kelsey found out her one baby turkey has a bad leg. She made the turkey a cast and is trying to help the poor thing heal.

Extra Extra Cute.
 

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Devotional:

Right now, our team is on the fence regarding the G-MAC Tournament. Pretty much, we need other teams to lose and we need to win. That is a hard thing to accept because we are not in control of what the other teams do. We are only in control of ourselves, and even then sometimes we don’t end up on the winning side. Ultimately, our focus over the past few weeks has been on winning. That wasn’t working, so we changed it to simply having fun and being content with our own performances. Ultimately, God gave us the gift and ability to play softball. While winning is fun, we cannot continue to place so much of an emphasis on it that it takes away our joy of playing the sport whenever we lose. We placed too much pressure on ourselves to win that we forgot that this is not about us. It’s about God. We play for Him. We love the sport because of Him. It is all about Him. Therefore, we are changing our focus and placing it on Him.

XOXO
 
-McKenna


April 21, 2022

On last week’s episode of Cedarville softball…
 
We played ODU and lost.

Inside Scoop:
 
It was our dearest Kaley Clark’s birthday. We thoroughly enjoyed celebrating her life as she is one of the most caring people on our team. She is a bright light in our world.
 
Lexi decided she wants to play every position except for the one she actually plays.
    
Coach Kelsey bought some turkeys.
    
Emily Blake was asked if she pitches with her helmet on. To clarify for our non-softball knowing fans, pitchers generally wear a face mask and hitters wear helmets when they bat. Also, the pitcher’s mound is where the pitcher pitches from, and home plate is where she pitches to.

Glad we cleared that up.

P.S. If anyone can understand what the following quote means regarding sports, please let us know. We’ve been trying to figure it out to no avail. “The bigger they are, the bigger they are.”

Devotional:
 
Most people growing up hear the saying, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Biblically, this probably stems from Ephesians 4:29, which states, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

Words are powerful, and that can be an easy thing to forget. This past week was a huge reminder of just how powerful words can be. As Christians, we have a duty to mind what we say. Just as we are taught to take every thought captive, we must do the same with our words. There are times to speak, and other times when it is wise to not speak. We must use discernment to tell the difference.

XOXO

-McKenna


April 13, 2022

On last week’s episode of Cedarville softball…

The weather was not on our side.

We were originally supposed to play Ashland, Findlay, and Lake Erie, but Ashland was canceled due to rain, and Lake Erie to snow.

So, we played Findlay…and we lost, which was unfortunate to say the least.

On the bright side, the Findlay players were very sweet and complimented our field. They thought it was one of the most beautiful in the G-MAC, so a shout out to our grounds crew.
 
Our games against Ashland and Lake Erie have been rescheduled for next Monday and Tuesday (4/18 & 4/19). Up next we have ODU, which is always a fun time.

Inside Scoop:

To be honest, not much happened last week. I mean, we did find out that Addie keeps a pool noodle in the locker room. She got very upset with us for throwing it out into the main locker room when we didn’t know it was hers.
 
We also found out that Emma carries a bag of chalk around with her wherever she goes. I think it must be some track thing.
 
Sami had a dream about sharks which rivaled my killer whale dream. In her dream Kaley was a savage fisherman and chopped the head off of an attacking shark. We love to see it.
 
Mmmm, we also, as a team, discussed the idea of hairless cats. How does one feel about hairless cats? The majority of our team was not for them, and after some thought I feel the rest of us may switch to that side as well. Nothing against God’s creation, hairless cats are wonderful, but imagine waking up at 2 a.m. to go get some water, you walk into the kitchen and find a hairless cat waiting there. I don’t know about you, but that would certainly creep me out.
    
Devotional:

Two things; I Corinthians 9:24-25 & Galatians 6:4.

Our team has hit a slight rough patch. It’s mostly frustration, which is understandable considering we have such a long season. Every team hits a little bump in the road and we seem to be at ours. I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but I Corinthians 9:24-25 speaks about running the race to win it. Competing to win. While this can be applied to athletics, the bigger picture is running the race for the eternal prize. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that we play this sport for Christ. Sometimes we step on the field trying to win the games for ourselves, or trying to be the best we can to impress others. The reality is that the only person we should be trying to impress is Christ. We step on the field and we need to give our best. Sometimes our best still fails, but we have to get back up and try again because we play for Him.

Secondly, Galatians 6:4 speaks about being content with our own performance and not comparing ourselves to others. This was our team verse last year, and it’s making a comeback this time around. This late into the season, and when frustrations begin to rise, it can be hard to not compare each other. However, there truly is no comparison between our teammates. Each person on our team brings something different to the table. It's what makes us who we are, and we cannot waste time comparing ourselves to each other when there is no comparison.
 
All that to say, this is what our team talked about this week. After Findlay last week we recognized a problem and we are determined to fix it. So, these two scriptures have been our focus.
 
XOXO

-McKenna


April 5, 2022

On last week’s episode of Cedarville softball…
 
We continued to play in arctic temperatures. This time we had much more success. We swept Tiffin (yay us), and then split with Hillsdale. Honestly, we should have taken two there as well… BUT we know that and we can improve on it.

So, now we are 3-3 in the G-MAC. Up next we have Findlay and Lake Erie. Four games and the goal is four wins.
 

Inside Scoop:
 
Arica found out that she cannot make monkey noises lying down. (Also, Elaine Townley on Hillsdale’s softball team believes Arica makes the best monkey noises she’s ever heard from a human).
 
We wore pajamas under our uniforms this weekend to help with the cold.
 
Our team sat in the SSC and made weird noises every few minutes for kicks and giggles. No one noticed that it was us.
 
Sophia and Arica brought back the Renegade dance.
 
& I had a wonderful dream about killer whales… again. Our team really enjoys hearing about my killer whale dreams at this point.

Devotion:
 
This week I would like to share a story. Teresa Clark, who is our academic liaison here at Cedarville, shared this story with our team a few years back and I would like to re-share it. Apparently, Mrs. Clark met one of the girls from a G-MAC softball team and they started a conversation about faith. The girl told Mrs. Clark how she was really struggling at her school regarding softball, academics, and life. However, a thought she kept coming back to was Christ.

She didn’t know much about the Christian life, or much about the Gospel, but she did know that Cedarville was supposed to be a Christian school. So, the girl watched our team. She wondered if there was a difference in the way we play, and she told Mrs. Clark that after watching us, she saw a difference. It made her take an interest in Christ and she joined a fellowship program at her school.
 
That girl went on to bring many of her teammates to Christ over the years that she was there. Nowadays, there are many girls on that softball team that are Christians and play for Him. I have been privileged to get to know many of these girls over the years and have created great friendships with them. It is a beautiful thing to share a field and a faith with many of those girls.
 
All that to say that everything matters. Many people question how we can use softball, or sports in general, as a platform to share Christ with others. The reality is that we play softball for Christ. He gave us the gift of athleticism and a passion for an amazing sport. Every time we step on a field we are representing Christ in our actions. We never know who may be watching, but in everything we do we should show the love of Christ in us.

XOXO

-McKenna

P.S. Enjoy these pictures from the week


March 30, 2022

On last week’s episode of Cedarville Softball…
    
We played Saginaw Valley and Ursuline. We were supposed to play Findlay on Saturday, but the games got canceled due to snow. Why it is snowing in March, only God knows.
 
We’re looking forward to this upcoming week.

Inside Scoop:
 
This week was a whirlwind, quite literally. We got hit with a tornado warning early in the week. During which I found out that Coach Jess enjoys watching golf for kicks and giggles.

Other than that, the highlight teammate of the week was Casey Bertke. Oh, where should we start…

One, Casey apparently makes herself tea in Tupperware. As in, she brews it, pours it, and drinks it from Tupperware. I know you all wanted to know this wonderful detail.
 
Then there was THE DREAM. Emily Blake had a wonderful dream about Casey Bertke this past week. In said dream, Casey was going up to bat in a really intense moment. The crowd  was cheering, the pressure was on… and then she vomited. All over the place. End dream.

Then Casey forgot to wear socks to practice. I might add that on this day it was 40 degrees with 20 mph winds. Zoe Pressnall supported this and also did not wear socks. They’re going to wear socks to practice from now on.

Finally, Casey wrapped up the week by deciding it was a good idea to heat her hand warmer by placing it on an electrical heater in the dugout. Needless to say, the hand warmer burned, leaving a smoky smell in our dugout for some of the Ursuline games. We are choosing to believe she had no idea her hand warmer was flammable.

Casey Bertke, everyone, the human highlight reel.
 

Devotional:

This week did not go as any of us expected. We, unfortunately, cannot change the outcome of the past few games. However, we can change the outcomes of our games this week. Galatians 6:9 says, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” We know that success is not always measured in wins and losses. No matter the way the game goes, hard work yields benefits, so we choose to work hard. We choose to play the game the right way by controlling our attitude and our effort. In the end, God rewards the right attitudes and the hard work that glorifies Him whether it be on this Earth or in Heaven.

P.S. Enjoy this picture of Mac


March 21, 2022

On last week’s episode of Cedarville Softball…

We returned home safely from Florida. Then we had a restful week of no games until this past Saturday (3/19). We were scheduled to play against Davenport up in Grand Rapids, MI, but were unsure if it would happen due to weather. It did happen, and we split the games, winning the first one and losing the second. Overall, they were good games, but we wanted to win both. Winning both games of our doubleheaders is one of our goals this year, as last year we had a problem with continuously splitting doubleheaders. (Legitimately, we broke the school record with how many splits we had.)

A few shout outs on the week…
 
We came out of Florida ranked 1st in the G-MAC.
We got ranked 1st in the NCCAA.
Casey Bertke was named the NCCAA Athlete of the Week.
… And speaking of Casey Bertke, she learned how to flip a ball to first base from the pitcher’s mound this week. We are incredibly proud of her.

Inside Scoop:
 
This week Faith Bergner created a highlight reel for herself on and off the field. She made a great all-star catch in the outfield, but this was extremely overshadowed by her breaking Davenport’s dugout. In case you didn’t know, Faith has a bit of an issue with breaking dugouts. Last year she was warming up to bat and accidentally flung her bat into the gutter of our dugout. It will be forever dented (until it’s replaced). I believe when I mentioned it in the blog last year I compared it to sounding like a plane crashing into the dugout. It scared 90% of our team. This time around, she was in the middle of an at bat against Davenport when she hit a foul ball. She hit the ball so hard that it landed on top of Davenport’s visitor’s dugout and broke a light… As in, the light was hanging from the ceiling and broke off of its metal holding. Addie Ziehmer watched this happen and was frightened as she thought the light might collapse on her.
Good job, Faith.
Oh, and Faith also sat on Coach Jess’ cheeseburger on the bus.
Again, good job Faith.

Devotional:

I believe that what we learned this week as a team is that the work never stops. We have to continue to get better each and every day. We cannot pause and rely on how well we’ve done. I Corinthians 9:24 says, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.”

At the end of G-MAC play we want to be first. At the end of the G-MAC Tournament, we want to be the champions. Therefore, we have to outwork our opponents. We work hard to glorify God in our achievements. We cannot settle. We must continue forward.

Up Next:

We play Saginaw Valley (3/21). This is bound to be an exciting doubleheader. The theme for the game is beach theme, so that’ll be fun. Then we’ll play Ursuline (3/25) and Findlay (3/26). We have a few friends on those teams, so it’ll be good to reconnect with them. All of these games are home games, so be sure to come out and support if you can!

XOXO

- McKenna


March 16, 2022

On last week’s episode of Cedarville Softball…

* I fell.
Flat on my face.
And took away my first HR at Cedarville ever.
* Don’t fret though, Casey Bertke hit a few to pick me up alongside Kaley Clark, Faith Bergner, Mariah Wallace, Adaline Ziehmer, Lexi Parsons, and Carrie Jespersen.
* Casey Bertke was named G-MAC Player of the Week. Well earned, as always.
In the end, we were 12-2 in Florida. There seems to be complete buy in with the team.
* A few highlights of the week… Mac Russell hit .395 in the sunshine state, Emily Blake’s ERA remained at a solid 0.00, Lauryn Leslie threw out her first runner from behind the plate, and Faith Bergner’s hits started finding the grass instead of people.

 

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Inside Scoop:
 

Emily Blake turned into a lobster.
Casey’s mom carries chicken around in her purse apparently. You know, to appease Casey’s huge appetite while they’re shopping.
We’ve decided Soph should join the basketball team. One night at dinner she threw a piece of ice from one end of the table to the other aiming at Addie’s glass of Coke. The ice landed in the soda perfectly.
Faith compared me to a baby bird.
We found out Mac once got pooped on by a bird… on her face.
… and Mark Womack became Mariah Wallace’s source for dating advice.
    

Devotional:
     
Florida was a long trip. It always is. One thing that has always been a struggle in Florida is living in the present. It’s hard to focus on every pitch of every at bat, especially when it’s so easy to say “we’re here for an entire week”, or “one bad day won’t hurt me”, or even “tomorrow we have an off day.”

Matthew 6:4 tells us “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” We cannot live in the past. We cannot skip to the future. Every time we step on a field we have to be present. Our team did a really good job of staying focused on the task at hand. We didn’t give in or let up. We didn’t let any games go and say “we can win tomorrow”, we stayed in each and every game. We plan to take each game one step at a time in the future as well. We feel this is the best way to accomplish our goals because at the end of the season we want to be the ones in the G-MAC Championship. We want to be the ones to win it.
 

To close out this week’s blog I would like to thank everyone who participated in making our Florida trip so wonderful. I’d like to thank the many parents who helped provide us with meals, but who also made the trip down south to support us. I’d like to thank Erin Ackerson, our beloved trainer, who put up with all of us and took great care of us. I’d also like to thank Mark Womack who did a wonderful job scoring our games, driving us around, and providing us with great dating advice. It was a great Florida trip indeed.
    
XOXO

- McKenna



March 9, 2022

On last week’s episode of Cedarville Softball….

 

On Wednesday, we flew down to the Sunshine State to play some ball. Mackenzie Russell and Addie Ziehmer experienced their first plane ride. I would say it was a success as we landed and all. We have another full week of softball to go, but so far we are 5-1, which is more of the start we planned on having.

Casey Bertke, Mariah Wallace, and Kaley Clark have all decided to collect home runs. I am still hitting singles.

I do have to give a shout out to Lexi Parsons. The girl is on fire with the bat. She’s hit a HR, a few doubles…in fact, on one of her doubles she was gonna go for a triple when the umpire called the play dead because the ball bounced over the fence. Lexi attempted to stop quickly and fell flat on her face. The ump said dead ball, Lex, not play dead.

We also found out the key to making Kaley Clark hit home runs. Apparently, she just needs her bestie, Arica Flaugher, to foul a ball off the top of her head before her next AB.

Inside Scoop:
 

FIRST, I made a mistake last week. Arica Flaugher did not eat an entire tub of ham. I needed to rectify this statement.
Sophia Hevel is now known as Dora. I’m sure you can imagine why. I mean, if she just cut her hair and got some bangs they’d be identical.
Coach Emma has decided to be the entertainment for the trip. On night one she dressed up like a unicorn for bed. She also went to bed with a bunch of pool balls. They mysteriously ended up mixed into her sheets. We can only guess who’s to blame (Zoe? Casey? Carrie? Faith?). Anywho, that kept Coach Emma up throughout the night as she kept finding more whenever she would roll over or simply move. P.S. Erin thought it was quite funny.
Zoe has taken up duck taping things to people’s walls. ex.) phones, air pods, etc.
Mac (MacKenzie Russell) swam in the pool by herself for two hours.
We found out that Emma Bailey and Emily Blake both thought that a half court shot in basketball was worth more than three points. Don’t worry, we corrected them.
 
Oh, and then there’s Affection. Affection is our new way of showing love for our teammates. Basically, you touch someone with your pointer finger on their arm or hand, you keep your finger pressed there until they acknowledge you, and then you say Affection. Affection is my new favorite thing this team has adopted.

Devotional:

On Saturday, our team did a Bible study on spiritual gifts. We each took the spiritual gifts tests and then discussed our results. For instance, one of Mariah’s was Leadership, Casey’s was discernment, Carrie’s was faith, and mine was administration. It was very interesting to see the results of all our teammates. God created all of us uniquely, and we all have different gifts that we can cultivate and use on this team. Information about spiritual gifts can be found in numerous places throughout the Bible, but especially in I Corinthians.

XOXO

-McKenna


March 3, 2022

On this week’s episode of Cedarville Softball…

We traveled to the great state of Kentucky last week for the Blue Bridge Battle. We were 1-2 on the weekend. It was definitely not our best performance, but we got stronger as the tournament went on.

A few shout outs….Casey Bertke pitched a shutout with one hit in the final game, Kaley Clark had four hits on Saturday, Carrie Jespersen was an absolute wall at third base, and Coach Kelsey got her first win as the head coach at Cedarville.

Next up we have Florida. The majority of our team has never been on the Florida trip due to COVID-19, so this is bound to be an exciting week and a half. Wish us luck, and pray for our safety and strength over the next couple weeks.

In honor of Florida, I’ll share a few core memories…
 

- In 2018, Coach Rowe ended up tossing Hannah Lord (former OF) into the pool for kicks and giggles…Reason being she and Heather Lord (former 2B) beat him in a game of tag.
- In 2020, Sarah Parsons (former SS) had the brilliant idea to get a suitcase cover with Coach Rowe’s face on it (whilst wearing his infamous Russian fox hat). She put it on Coach Kelsey’s suitcase and Coach Kelsey wheeled it through the airport.

Inside Scoop:

Today we will first address Lauryn Leslie’s overwhelming love of Pedialyte. Freshman year, this girl drank a Pedialyte every morning and every evening. It apparently made her crave salt all the time. Just thought we’d share.
Kaley Clark wakes up to the sound of ducks. That was a delightful way to wake up on Saturday morning.
Faith Bergner is currently planning a road trip that she is not going on.
Sami Buettell and Arica Flaugher have decided on the nicknames Lil Disease and DJ Crusty for each other because of a TikTok trend.
I hit my head on the bus eleven times.
Arica Flaugher ate a whole tub of ham on the way back to Cedarville from Kentucky.
… and the team song of the weekend was “2 Choir Boys Sing the Meow Song”. Great vocalists right there.
Thank you for the introduction to this group @Carrie Jespersen.
 

Devotional:

Something our team feels very strongly about is animal cruelty. On our way home, we happened to witness a very unfortunate event. A car on the opposite side of the highway pulled onto the side, opened their door, and released a dog into the middle of the highway. They then drove off while the dog chased them for some while. Our team was very distraught over the situation and called Kentucky’s Animal Cruelty Center to report the incident.

Our team does not stand for animal cruelty for many reasons, but biblically our stance is this: God gave us dominion over the animals of the world in Genesis 1:26. However, this does not mean we are to treat animals with no worth. Proverbs 12:10 says, “A righteous man has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked are cruel.” God cares about all of His creation as stated in Matthew 10:29. He has made us stewards of His creation and we should care about everything He created. We should not treat animals as worthless because He does not. He sees their value even if we do not.

XOXO

-McKenna Smith

P.S. Enjoy these pics from prior Florida trips :)


February 23, 2022

Last season on Cedarville Softball….

Casey Bertke became a freshman All-American…& Freshman of the Year in the G-MAC.
Faith Bergner and Addie Ziehmer were placed on the G-MAC All-Conference Third team.
Zoe Pressnall had a nice hit.
Carrie Jespersen “unofficially” had the most stolen bases in the G-MAC. (She beat me and McKray Odom of Trevecca by one, but we played the whole season and she did that in only half.)
Lexi Parsons got hit in the face multiple times.
Mariah Wallace forgot to wear deodorant a few times.
…. And our season tragically ended after squeaking into the G-MAC Tournament in the eight spot, beating Trevecca (the number one seed), losing to Tiffin at like midnight (deja vu @ the 2019 G-MAC Tournament), and allowing Hillsdale to mercy us the next morning.
Then Sami Buettell spilled her coffee on the bus ride home, forever staining my Under Armour book bag.

Here’s what you missed…

Our team downsized from twenty-five players to seventeen.
Sami Buettell got engaged.
We got a new Coach. Coach Kelsey decided to come back to us after taking a semester off. We adore her.
Addie Ziehmer got engaged.
We got two new freshmen, Emma Bailey and Mackenzie Russell. Emma also happens to be on the Track & Field Team. Already as a freshman she broke the school record for Women’s shot put.
Casey Bertke decided on a boyfriend. They’re getting engaged this summer.
P.S. We all found out what truly happened to Ashley Bortlein’s fish last spring (but that’s a secret we’ll never tell).
P.S. 2. In case you missed it, our former teammate, Ashley Bortlein’s, fish mysteriously went missing during G-MAC week. The body was never found….

Inside Scoop:

Oh, yes, the annual lip sync battle commenced. The placings ended as such.
4. Carrie’s Team (Carrie Jespersen, Faith Bergner, Lauryn Leslie, & Emma Bailey)
3. Sami’s Team (Sami Buettell, Kaley Clark, Casey Bertke, & Zoe Pressnall)
2. Emily’s Team (Emily Blake, Mariah Wallace, Millie German, Mackenzie Russell, & Addie Ziehmer)
1. My Team (McKenna @ me, Arica Flaugher, Sophia Hevel, & Lexi Parsons)
Thus making Arica Flaugher a three-time Lip Sync Champ. Soph and I got in there for our second wins, and Lexi got on the board with her first lip sync win.

We would like to give a shout out to Dan Sewak, Joseph Melchior, and Micah Stewart on the baseball team for pre-judging our routines. The speechless reaction was exactly what we were going for.

If you would like to see some highlights I highly recommend following our girl Kaley Clark on TikTok (@ kclark413). You can find all the best Lip Sync highlights there, but I’ll give some praise here as well.
Millie German and Mariah Wallace did not disappoint. Choreography: A+, Creativity: A+, Effort: A+.
Carrie’s team…left us speechless. If I had to describe their dances I would have to say it was a mix of “deep in the wilderness” and “mommy and me” classes.
Sami’s team gave great effort. Kaley Clark really stood out in the first song by pulling some of the moves she did (check the highlights if you wanna see).
Oh, and I also have to give a shout out to Emily Blake on her effort. That was what really made the night.

Devotional:

This year our team has selected two Bible Verses. Isaiah 40:31 and Hebrews 12:1.
These scriptures will be our theme for the year. Last year, we learned a lot and we grew. This year we want to succeed where we fell short before. The season is long, and our hope is that God will help us throughout the season. We want to stay strong, supportive, encouraging, and a little bit obnoxious (in a good way). We want to use softball as our form of worship for Christ.

Well, that’s it for this post. Pray for us as we head to Owensboro, KY this weekend to begin our season.

XOXO

-McKenna


McKenna Smith is a utility player and graduate student from Clinton, Pa. She is in her fifth season with the Lady Jackets and has been a Dean's List student as an accounting major.