Diary

Kate
Thomas

Past Entries

March 29, 2005

The team just returned from an amazing weekend in California. The softball was great, the city was great, the weather was great, the families that came to support us were great, but the traveling was not so great -- on either end of the trip.

We left campus early Thursday morning and arrived just past Noon on California's watch. Thrilled to finally be off the plane and in LA, we loaded into the vans for our 50-mile journey to the hotel.

Then we discovered firsthand that reports claiming Los Angeles has the worst traffic in the country don't lie. Three hours later we made it to the hotel. But our spirits were lifted seeing the snow-capped mountains and some of our wonderful parents when we reached the hotel (and the amazing Italian meal we devoured didn't hurt either!)

On Friday, the games began. We came out strong, winning our first game against La Verne 9-0. Kat pitched an amazing game and Betsy hit her second home run of the season (maybe I'm her good luck charm, she hits one every time I write the journal entry). Unfortunately, the second game didn't go nearly as well. Despite Jen hitting a homerun that I swear cleared the fence by 30 feet, we ended up losing a 4-3 heart breaker in extra innings.

As hard as the loss was on Friday, it really fired the team up to prove how good we are in our games on Saturday. The pitching was great and the offense consistently produced. The "East Coast" met the "West Coast," and we came out on top! The first win of the day was No. 200 in Coach's career at Emory. We congratulated her with "200" signs after the games and she said she hopes for 200 more.

Easter morning it was time to leave. We were optimistic when we reached the airport early, encountering minimal traffic, but the luck didn't last.

Atlanta was under tornado watches all evening so we were delayed in the Dallas airport until the warnings were lifted. Many hours and delays later, the flight left at 1 a.m. Eastern time. After quite the adventure trying to land in Atlanta, we arrived back to campus at 5 a.m., just in time for Coach A to run to work.

Overall, the good softball experiences of the trip seriously outweighed the bad traveling experiences. I'm sure it's one of those times we will laugh about later, actually most of us are laughing about it now.

Kate Thomas is a sophomore from Murfreesboro, Tenn. She would love to answer e-mail questions from Emory recruits and fans.