A Tucson airport tag team post

Tuesday, March 21st, 2017 | No Comments

We rocked the Tucson Invitational Games with a 13-3 record!

Hello CCSB fans! This is Kendra Sexton coming to you from the Tucson International Airport. The team started the morning off by loading the vans with all of the luggage and equipment at 8:30 a.m. This might sound early but it was actually considered sleeping in after all of our early mornings of kicking butt on the field. We also all made it through security with no problems. Annie DeVries was able to keep track of her laptop and I.D. this time. Lucky her. Some professors don’t really understand the concept of the term “spring break.” Those are the professors that like to assign homework over break (Coach Jones). So we players are here doing our best to complete the homework that we didn’t do in the week that we were gone. We deceivingly look like really good students!

Hi CCSB fans, this is Annie DeVries, Kendra’s roommate for the week! The team had extra time to finish some homework today, as our flight was running a little late out of Tucson. Our flight back was full of naps, homework, and some coloring. All of these things kept us busy and we quickly arrived in Des Moines after a short stop in Las Vegas. All of our baggage was accounted for and we were able to get back to Pella just before 7 PM. The Dutch are now resting up and working to prepare for a weekend of games on our home field! It may not be as warm as Tucson, but nothing beats playing in Pelladise! Thanks for following our trip and the soon-to-be 2017 National Champions!

See you soon Dutch fans,

Annie DeVries #23
Kendra Sexton #20

Last day in Arizona ’til 2018

Tuesday, March 21st, 2017 | No Comments

It was our last day playing in the heat of Arizona and I

We rocked Tucson!

couldn’t decide whether to be happy or sad that we would be leaving the next day. On one hand, I have loved spending time with my teammates, laughing so hard as we lay in bed, talking in British accents. On the other hand, I am ready to sleep in my own bed. (Sorry Fe. You have been a great bed buddy, truly, but I like my own bed!) As for games, we played Wisconsin-La Crosse again at 9. Even though we lost 3-2 in 8 innings, I am proud of the growth we had made from the previous day. From that game, all of us learned what we individually need to work on in order for us to collectively improve for the rest of the season. Next, we had a game break before we played Hamline, which we all decided made the day feel sooooooo long. As for Hamline, we bounced back from the Wisconsin-La Crosse game and finished Hamline 11-2 in 5 innings.

The final event of the day was our dinner at Olive Garden. After saying goodbye to parents and driving back to the hotel, we frantically showered and put our “pretty” faces on. It was fun seeing everyone dressed up, and I was extremely excited to eat pasta. The rest of the night was filled with a lot of laughter as we ate and just relaxed. By the end, I was all exhausted, but not too exhausted to enjoy Coach OB getting sung Happy Birthday to by our servers. (P.S. It wasn’t Coach OB’s birthday) Once we returned back to the hotel, we took one final picture with our blow-up instruments that we received earlier in the week before we started packing for the journey home.

Sara Tallman #7
Freshman

Saturday, March 18th, 2017 | No Comments

This was such a fun day! We started it off by run-ruling Dickinson College 15-0 then turning around and beating Eastern Connecticut State 7-2. I thought our team showed a lot of passion and heart on this day. It is easy to get complacent while playing in games like that. One thing we have been trying to focus on lately is playing against the game and not against the opponent…I think today was the epitome of that. We made every play the most important play and I think that showed in our outcome completely.

It was a great day for our team because right after those wins we got to enjoy a night at the parents house! They fixed lasagna with breadsticks for dinner…and chocolate cake for dessert, of course 🙂 There was a lot of bonding that went on this night. The parents seemed to connect instantly. My favorite part was playing games with everyone and really getting to know the different families that I hadn’t met yet. This is my first year with the Central family and I can honestly say that I have never felt more welcomed by each person. It’s amazing to see how each parent treats the players like we were their own.
Emily Wilson

Love this team!

Saturday, March 18th, 2017 | No Comments

Several parents got a condo together and we paid them a visit–while they washed our uniforms!

Greetings from Sunny Tucson Arizona, Tanner Rathjens here giving y’all an update on your favorite softball team. Today, the Dutch played the Eagles from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and the Pipers from Hamline University. In the first game, we got off to an uncharacteristic rocky start and dug ourselves into a hole. At the end of the second inning we were down 7-0 but we fought back and we weren’t going down without a fight, we ended up losing the game 10-4 but we showed that collectively we won’t give up. We will learn from this loss and come back better and stronger tomorrow and the remainder of the season. In the second game against Hamline, we came back ready to play and won that game 6-2. Although today was not our best showing, we all believe in this team and what we can do as a whole, we need everyone and their specific roles to be successful.

Our van is the coolest. Love this team!

Sad to say the final games of the spring trip 2017 are tomorrow (final spring trip for the 7 of us seniors L) We have made some great memories on this 11 day trip from sitting around the pool, “Groutfit” Thursday (we literally wore a gray undershirt, jerseys, pants and socks…. Not sure how Coach OB felt about that combo), the countless laughing attacks in the Cool Van, listening to “world’s greatest” and “juicy wiggle” EVERY DAY before we get to the field, the fans AMAZING dance moves during the “are you ready” cheer, throwing Sigulas in the pool with her uniform on and just being able to play the game we love with the people who mean the world to us. There’s no experience like this and we are so excited for the remainder of the season and getting to play on our home field in about a week!!! 🙂 But more importantly we are pumped to go out tomorrow and show everyone what we are really all about, tomorrow is another opportunity for two more wins and we are ready to compete! We love you Dutch Nation! See you soon!

GO BIG RED!!!!

#32 Tanner Rathjens 🙂

A team pic in the desert after a couple more wins!

We won twice Thursday in ALL gray!

Wearing Central’s Red and White–and Green?

Saturday, March 18th, 2017 | No Comments

The Dutch were showing their Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Today began with our usual breakfast at the hotel and then we headed to the fields to begin our warm-up for our first game against Hamline. On our drive to the fields, we all applied our St.-Patrick’s-Day-themed tattoos and stickers as to be festive and wear our green. We won our first game against Hamline 8-0 in only 5 innings. We play them again on Saturday and Sunday so it should be interesting to compare the different match-ups with them. Our second game was against Trinity, which ended with a closer score of 5-4. Our team really powered through this game to come out as the winners after Trinity made a come back in the fourth inning. Lauren Bagby also made her debut this game (for half an inning) for the first time since she hurt herself in mat-ball.

After the games we headed back to the hotel to clean up and go to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. We were all hungry and fully enjoyed our meal. We also were able to continue our St. Patrick’s Day festivities by wearing St. Patricks Day socks to dinner! Thank you to the wonderful parents that purchased these socks (and the stickers and tattoos) for us!

As we near the end of our week here in Arizona, we hope to continue racking up the W’s and to continue growing as a team and as players.

Mikayla Heath #13

An epic comeback

Friday, March 17th, 2017 | No Comments

Today was day 3 of our spring trip in Arizona, and day 2 of games. We played Stevens Institute of Technology the first game and Minnesota-Crookston the second game.  The first game we got down 11-5 and had a lot of catching up to do. Even though we were down, I had a lot of confidence that we could come back and win it. We did just that and ended up winning 13 to 12.  We battled through, and I think that shows a lot about the type of team we’re going to be this season.

Our team has great chemistry both on and off the field.  We went to a Mexican restaurant that night for dinner and had a lot of fun. The mariachi band came to our table and played a couple songs for us and we sang along to the ones we knew.  Two of our players, Tabitha and Annie, got up and started dancing to the music.  We all mesh really well and I think that’s an important part in winning games.

I can’t wait to see what the rest of this trip has in store for the team, and I hope we continue to have the same drive and confidence as we did finishing the game against Stevens!

#26 Amanda Sigulas
Freshman 3B/C
Morton, Ill.

Playing the game we love in the sunshine–and French toast sticks!

Wednesday, March 15th, 2017 | No Comments

Hello everybody!

Today was not only our first full day in Arizona, but it was practice day! We started our day with a nice, tasty breakfast at the hotel (I highly recommend the French toast sticks). We then headed to the field for practice. We left a little early just in case we encountered construction, and to our surprise there wasn’t any between the hotel and the field!

Even though we have been blessed with great weather back in Iowa, it felt fantastic to play the game we love in the Arizona sun. We had a solid practice starting with some hitting drills, moving into infield and outfield work while the pitchers prepared for our first games tomorrow.

After practice we headed over to Schlotzky’s for a delicious lunch. When we were all done eating we headed back to the hotel for some relaxation by the pool. It was great team bonding time filled with cannon ball contests and beach ball volleyball.

I bet you can guess where we went for dinner. Wendy’s! We were able to watch some of the Central wrestlers compete at nationals while we were eating too! Our night closed with a team meeting and dreams of what our season holds. I can’t wait for the games tomorrow and the rest of the week!

Until next time!

Tabitha Taylor #6

A 12-3 win and Chik-Fil-A–how much better can it get?

Saturday, March 11th, 2017 | No Comments

It is Saturday March 11 and today was GAME DAY!! We had two games this morning at 9 and 11, the first game against Suffolk and Wisconsin-Platteville. Unfortunately, we lost the first game 3-2. Losing in such a close game was tough to swallow but we had a great response in the second game, winning 12-3!

Though I am out with an injury from mat-ball (extreme kick-ball), Kendra Sexton and I have started a (fake) dugout podcast in which we recap what has happened after each inning and we interview players as they come into the dugout. Our podcast is called the K & Lo show and we use plastic microphones to do our work. We have had numerous guests such as pitcher Annie DeVries, outfielder Taylor Sohn and even our Athletic Trainer Frank Neu. The best podcasts/radio shows get multiple opinions and perspectives and that is exactly what we do 🙂

Once our games were over, the discussion was had about where we were going to go for lunch and dinner. Lunch was Subway, pretty normal for us on our trips. BUT, the best part of the day, in my opinion, was the fact that we got Chik-Fil-A instead of Wendy’s!!!!!! Coach Wares and Coach O’Brien are both aware of how much I dislike Wendy’s although it is one of Coach Wares’ favorites. I was so extremely pleased that we were getting Chik-Fil-A because that is one of my favorites!

A sort-of smooth flight to Arizona!

Thursday, March 9th, 2017 | No Comments

Today we left for sunny Arizona!! After a majority of us frantically packed the night before, the ride to the airport was full of excitement. We figured out that Sara Tallman (#7) has never been on a plane. For a first-time flyer she did pretty good!

As we arrived at the airport there was the usual holding your breath to make sure your checked bag is under 50 pounds and then the fun of going through security. Of course, there is always a hold-up at security and this time it was Annie DeVries losing her laptop that caused a bit of a panic. At the end of security Annie went to grab her laptop only to find it wasn’t there… The next 30 minutes were spent frantically searching through all the things trying to find out where it ended up. After asking security multiple times if they got left in the bins, and getting the same answer of they checked, someone going through security turned in a laptop they found in one of the bins.

When we finally landed in Arizona as we waited patiently for the vans to pick us up, we were pleasantly surprised by a magician who was also waiting for his ride. After watching him turn dollar bills into million dollar bills, keep us guessing at cards, and jumping ladybugs, we ended the night with pizza by the pool.

That’s a wrap on travel day!

Abbie Voas #27