The Next Step...

We finished up the 2010 fall season this weekend with games at UB and home against UPB. The fall is a time of learning and a time when the freshmen become familiar with their new team and surroundings. It is not always an easy time but I am very happy with this year's freshmen class.

Division I is so different from high school and summer ball that it sometimes takes players by surprise. Gone are the days of hitting .500 and striking out 12-17 batters every game. The new reality is that players are now playing against their equals on a daily basis for the first times in their lives. The goal now is to move to the top of the list again. It takes time and patience and most of all confidence and determination. If players think they can just keep doing what they did in high school or summer ball, they are in for a tough transition.

Our freshmen group has shined. They have listened and worked on what needs to be done to get better. Make no mistake, there were some tough times and there is much more to learn but I think we learned some valuable lessons and will be better for it.

St. Bonaventure Softball has always been so much more than just softball. It's about education and friendship. It's about preparing yourself for the future while playing the sport that you love. Make no mistake...we are here to win games but in the end, if a player can look back on her career and say that she made lifetime friendships, earned a college degree that prepared her for the rest of her life and can look back and honestly say that she put 100% effort and commitment into her four years, then the wealth of her college experience can not be measured in wins and losses.

"When you lose enough times, it makes you realize how difficult it is to win. If you can react the same way to winning and losing, that's a big accomplishment...quality is important because it stays with you the rest of your life, and there's going to be a life after your sport that is a lot longer than your sporting life." - Chris Evert Lloyd

"Winning has always meant much to me, but winning friends has meant the most."

-Babe Didrikson Zaharias

"The finish line is sometimes merely a symbol of victory. All sorts of personal triumphs take place before that point, and the outcome of the race may actually be decided long before the end." - Lance Malone