Rain can't stop it!

Didn't think I forgot about you guys, did ya? It's been a crazy week around ECTB Stadium, and I'm here to let you know what's been up!

Last week was absolutely nuts. With the crazy rain that the northeast has been having, which in turn jumbled our playing schedule, to the several player appearances that overlapped leaving for Akron, it's been non-stop around here. (This picture is what the wind/rain did to one of our tents. Flipped it outside the fence= useless.)

Not ignoring the fact that we had game against Chicago, because if you don't already know you can find it on our Web site, I'm going to highlight my two favorite parts of everything that went on: the autograph session in York, and Sunday's kickball game.

The autograph session was neat. The game in York had been rained out, of course, but both teams agreed that they still had a responsibility to meet with the fans that had so patiently been waiting. The teams both loaded up, the Force in cars, the Bandits in the bus they have, and headed out to York... followed by the loyal interns, of course. Through the ridiculous downpour of rain, and two hours later, we arrived at the York complex. It wasn't long until the fans were wrapping around the building. (One of the best shirts I have ever seen. Worn by a proud little brother!)

There's never a dull moment in softball, and I really think that's because of the people who play. There were some crazy things that went on from me playing catch with a guy in line, to the craziest array of uniforms and socks, dozens and dozens of balls, but the best was the diaper. I immediately spotted a woman carrying a baby and thought, "I wonder if their going to get any of the players to kiss the baby like the president does?" Then I saw the diaper. Both teams had signed the baby's diaper resembling tattooed underwear, very similar to a "tattoo sleeve": it was awesome.

These girls never really slow down. Who would have thought I would get woken up at 2 p.m. (yes, like way after the sun has made its appearance) by a kickball game in the Cedar Crest yard. I kept wondering what all the laughing and cheering was, then I saw the game.

The yard was painted in red/black and yellow/purple. The best pieces were Birk's purple spandex, and both Sallinger and Brown's knee-high striped socks. I thought it was pretty precious too that someone on the red team had bought a few pairs of socks so the team could share; all wild and ridiculous mind you.

There was sliding, diving, throwing, and of course cackling, taunting, laughing and tackling. I came up a couple innings after the start and sat in what I considered the "grandstands" aka the parking lot and laughed hysterically. I think my favorite moments were:

• Hammond's forward dive to catch a ball that Peel tipped. There were two line drives back-to-back towards the left side, the first one fell just short of Hammond's reach, but she wasn't going to get beat by the second one.
• Burnum nailing Reagan in the stomach. During friendly banter as the teams were switching Burnum ran towards Reagan and kicked the ball a little harder than I think she meant to and NAILED Reagan in the stomach sending her to the ground.
• Lobpries avoiding Reagan's throw. In a sprint home it was a mano-a-mano match up between Lobpries and Reagan. If Reagan threw the ball and it hit Lobpries she was out and the run would not score. In perfect timing with the throw, Lobpries jumped up and just barely avoided a bullet from Reagan. The team was hysterical in their celebration.
• Peel's bomb. Hammond, Peel, Kiko (calling her Tamashir is just weird) and I all kicked around a soccer ball the other day, and apparently the practice paid off for Peel. She kicked a BOMB over all the purple team defenders and cleared the bases. Where did that come from?
• Newton proving herself as the MVP. She was everywhere! It was ridiculous. It seemed like if a ball was in the air, there she was. Crazy.

You all (or y'all as I normally say) really need to check out these pictures. I'm going to creep and steal them from Facebook; however, giving credit as it's due the pictures are from the skill of Alex Newton's dad. I promised as soon as I got the pictures of the signing I'd get those on here too, and thanks to Birk they're here! Thanks, Stacy!

It's going to be crazy to see what game comes next. Will the energy of this team ever run out? Or is Krave Energy drink (a small plug) doing the job? Hm.. until next time!