Jana's Journal
4/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 24, 2009
I should probably start out by introducing myself. My name is Jana Hainey and I'm a junior at Mizzou. I'm majoring in Strategic Communication at the Journalism school, which is basically a combination of public relations and advertising… and maybe part of the reason I was picked to do this whole thing. :) As far as softball goes, I'm a left handed pitcher for the Tigers, and I can honestly say that in my three years here, I have never felt more confident in the ability of my team than I do this season.
I remember the first time I realized just how much we were capable of this year. It was during the fall, and we were finally able to get some good weather and practice outside as a team. We hadn't really had that many opportunities to play altogether yet, so I wasn't too sure what to expect when Coach E had us do a drill he likes to call “Perfect 10.” (Long story short, we have to get 10 PERFECT outs in a row, without making one single mistake) We've done this drill in the past, and I can remember times where it took us almost an entire practice before we could move on to something else. But after the drill started, everything just immediately came together. We got through the drill in about ten minutes, and after Coach E counted the tenth out, the whole team came to the middle of the field smiling and cheering and high-fiving each other. It was a great feeling! And it's something that has definitely stuck with me throughout the year.
At the beginning of the season, we set a goal as a team to win a Big 12 Championship. So far, we've taken a lot of strides towards reaching that goal. Sweeping Texas A&M, Baylor, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech is definitely something to be proud of. But if I've learned anything from our midweek games this year, it's that we can only achieve our goal by playing one game at a time. We can't look ahead to the next series, we can't dwell on losses from the past and any team in this conference is good enough to win. While we may have suffered some unexpected losses, they have only made each one of us want to win that much more. Each time out, we're stepping onto that field with something to prove… To other teams. To our school. And most importantly, to ourselves. We want nothing less than a first-place finish in the Big 12. And we're working harder than ever to make that happen.
Two wins against Oklahoma this weekend would get us that much closer to winning a championship. We've had outstanding support from all of the fans this year, and we would absolutely love it if we filled the stands up even more this weekend! So, bring your friends, cheer loud, and come out and support MIZZOU Softball on Saturday and Sunday as we take on the Sooners!
Go Tigers!
