Bucknell University Athletics
Sam Rollandi, Bucknell Softball Spend Spring Break Making Memories
4/2/2009 8:00:00 AM | Softball
April 2, 2009
Bucknell softball student-athletes will be checking in throughout the season as the team begins its drive for a Patriot League Championship. Here is the next installment of the student-athletes' journals from sophomore outfielder and management major, Sam Rollandi.
More Student-Athlete Journals:
Friday, March 6, 2009
At approximately 6:30 our bus departed from the KLARC Athletic center. Only 18 hours until we made it to Florida! In trying to keep the mood light, I began to sing “One million bottles of beer on the wall” and got a mixture of laughs and groans from my teammates because in reality, we would probably be reaching our hotel at about the same time the song finally ended. Despite the long ride ahead of us, I couldn't think of any other group of people I would rather be spending my spring break with. We passed the time by watching a few movies, playing an intense game of Catchphrase, chatting about the week ahead of us and attempting to find comfortable sleeping positions.
Before falling asleep, my mind raced. I wondered how we would play, what the weather would be like, what our hotel would look like, what uniforms we would be wearing and whose parents were coming. Finally I dozed off amid thoughts of winning close games and laying in the sun.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
About half way through the trip, we switched bus drivers and picked up our favorite fan, Doug. When we woke up, we had crossed state lines and entered into beautiful weather! Cracker Barrel served as a rest stop for us weary travelers to stretch our legs, grab a bite to eat and sit on the rocking chairs in the sun outside of the restaurant, a huge smile spread across my face as a looked around at my teammates. How lucky I am to have a team comprised of such great friends.
We loaded on the bus for the final leg of our journey. After about 18 hours of driving, we pulled into our hotel parking lot. We made it! Our rooms weren't immediately ready, but no one cared. We weren't restricted to our seats on the bus and it was beautiful outside! We quickly grabbed our sunglasses and enjoyed the warmth of the sun that we had not felt in quite some time. When our rooms were ready, we lugged our bags up to the fourth floor and unloaded our belongings into our new home away from home. At our team meeting later in room 414, we went over the scouting report and discussed our week ahead of us. It was so exciting that we were finally going to play tomorrow!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Today began our first day of play. A feeling of nostalgia swept over me as we walked into the field complex. A couple of years ago, my summer team played at the same fields we were about to step onto. Sometimes it is hard as a collegiate athlete to balance academic and athletic pressures, but when you are able to return to the basics – why you play the sport – those pressures dissolve and you are left with just the pure love for the game. Being back on a familiar field helped calm my nerves and reminded me of the fun and excitement that supersedes all anxiety and stress that at times accompany the sport. At 9:00 a.m. we took on the Butler Bulldogs. The game was an exciting start to our week, although we got off to a rocky start, we came back in the sixth inning to tie it up and take it into extra innings. Although we lost 8-7, I don't think Butler was ready for us to come back from such a large deficit. In our next game at 1:00 p.m., we beat U Penn 4-3. Having that first win under our belt was a great feeling.
Monday, March 9-Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The next two days were a little rougher. Although we pulled out a win against IPFW, we dropped three games against Yale, Sacred Heart and Buffalo. It seemed like we just couldn't get hot at the same time. Despite our losses, we were doing good things. We were hitting the ball hard, making good plays and keeping a positive outlook; we just needed to come up the timely hit and/or play when we really needed it.
We got a little bit of a pick me up after our team dinner on Tuesday. On our team, it is tradition for the freshmen to perform “freshman skits” during the spring break time. This is a highly anticipated event during which the freshmen get to perform a mini-roast of their upperclassmen and coaches. After our skits last year, expectations were high. The girls were hilarious and it was so different being on the receiving end in the audience. We were all in need of the skits to alleviate the disappointment of our games thus far.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The day off was a nice time to take some time off from the field and relax for a bit. While some people went to amusement parks, others went shopping or hung by the pool. Kara (Sullivan), Elyse (Colmenero) and I went with (Ashley) Beans and her parents to beautiful Cocoa Beach! The sun, sand and surf were such a great feeling after being in the cold of Lewisburg for the past couple of months. The three of us had a great time frolicking in the ocean, playing volleyball and basking in the sun. In retrospect, I wish I had applied more sun block, but I had a great time regardless! Mr. and Mrs. Beans treated us to some ice cream before we headed back to the hotel, sleeping the entire drive. Once again, the whole team met in 414 and studied the scouting report for the games ahead of us. A good night's sleep following a day of relaxation would hopefully set us on the right track for wins!
Thursday, March 12- Friday, March 13, 2009
Unfortunately, we concluded the Rebel Spring Games with four more loses. We fought hard, losing three out of the four games by just one run! It was hard not to get frustrated by the close games. We all know that we have the ability to pull out these wins! As a nice surprise, the baseball coaches and a couple of the baseball players took some time away from playing to catch one of our games. The positive support from other Bucknell athletic teams is always so encouraging, especially seeing more familiar faces in Florida! We concluded our showing in Florida with a 2-8 overall record. Although we did not come away with as many wins as we would have liked, getting the experience from the games we played has shown us what we need to work on in order to be prepared for our Patriot League games. We need to come together in order to consistently perform to the best of our ability.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
After a long week of playing softball, battling sunburns and attempting to keep our rooms clean, it was time to drive back to Lewisburg. We loaded the bus at around 9:30 a.m. and mentally prepared ourselves for the journey ahead of us. I began “one million bottles of beer on the wall” and this time I got more groans than laughs because it served as a reminder of the 18-hour trip we faced. I wish I could describe our trip, but I was asleep for the majority of the drive. The excitement and exhaustion of Spring Break had finally caught up with me. We watched non-stop movies and discussed “things that we've never talked about before” (a difficult game when we spend the majority of our time with each other). Seeing the lights of Bucknell as we turned off Route 15 was a HUGE relief. We were finally back from a long week in the hot sun, slightly unready or unwilling to return to reality.
