Sunday Struggles

For as long as my niece has been playing at a higher level of softball with her new travel team, Sunday's have always been a bit of a struggle for them. Which is unfortunate, because if you know the sport, you know that Sunday is usually the day that matters most. You see, the way most softball tournaments are set up, they take place over a weekend. There are often bigger tournaments that span up to a week, but for the most part, the action takes place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Friday and Saturday are typically filled with pool play games. These games are simply a way for the organizers to evaluate and seed the participating teams so they can fill in the bracket. Bracket play starts on Sunday (sometimes Saturday night), and that is where the real heat of competition takes place.

That isn't to say that the pool play rounds aren't important.

It is typically the case that the better you do in pool play, the easier path you have in bracket play. You might get a couple first or second round byes, or, as the number 1 seed you might find yourself playing the lowest seed in the tournament which should give you pretty good odds.

Unfortunately, those Sundays of bracket play haven't been kind to my niece and her teammates as I mentioned above. I can only remember one time that they actually won a or came close to winning a tournament that they have participated in. Which honestly, isn't a bad thing.

Let me explain

You see, her coach had a choice several years ago when he started coaching this team. He could either put the ladies in tournaments where they would consistently win and dominate the competition, or he could put them in tournaments where they had a chance to win, but even more than that, they had a chance to play in front of university coaches in hopes of getting an offer to play at the next level.

I should also point out, that coaches aren't just looking at teams or players who win games. Sure, they like to see you hit and they want to see how well you field the ball, but they also want to see what your attitude is like when you strike out, or make that error on the field. Do you bounce back and keep trying? Do you pout about it? What kind of energy do you bring to the dugout? All of that is important when they are considering how you might fit into their team.

That isn't to say that the ladies haven't had a chance to win tournaments, they just haven't been able to convert. The coach even said that for whatever reason, Sundays have always been tough for this team.

To be fair, this past Sunday was no walk in the park. With a humidity level over 90% and temperatures in the 90 degree range, I can think of about a million other places I would want to be. I'll give you the full breakdown of how they did this weekend in my post tomorrow. I'm sure you can probably guess that it didn't end with a championship.

The good news is, I think at this point with most all of the ladies committed to play at the college level, they really don't care. They are just out there having fun and playing the sport they love. Win or loss, it's all about the love of the game.

Which honestly, is a pretty great head space to be in!