WHEW!

WHEW! That's a huge sigh of relief you are hearing from me following yesterday's season opener. The results were a 9-1 loss in game one and an 8-1 win in game two.

As I've had time to digest yesterdays events I'm extremely happy with the results. Although there were disappointments in game one there were also numerous positives. I was mostly disappointed with our defense. We just didn't make the plays that I know we are capable of making and will make as the year goes. Perhaps it was nerves. Regardless, the miscues had a huge impact in the result as six of the nine runs were unearned. While Kayla Jenkins didn't have her best stuff I still feel she pitched well enough to keep us in the game. I was satisfied with our offensive performance with the exception of scoring runs. We had runners on in five of the six innings, hit some line drives right at people and were doubled up three times. I felt our approach at the plate was great. We are asking our players to be more aggressive and I think we got that from them.

As forgettable as game one was, game two was equally memorable. It all began with Jen Falk striking out the side in the top of the first in dominant fashion and it grew from there. Defensively, we were solid and offensively we made our ten hits go a long way.

I was equally happy with our veteran players as well as our first years. Chelsey Weiss scored first inning runs in both games, had two stolen bases and threw out runners from center at home and third. As a group they were 10 for 34 (.294) with 5 runs and 3 RBI's. The first years didn't show any signs of nerves as they went 7 for 20 with 5 RBI's.

It's always nice to get the first games out of the way. Now as we head into next weeks practice I anticipate the players being more focused on the little things.