Team China
Last Wednesday night we had a press conference and dinner with team China. Cedar Crest hosted it in one of their buildings on campus and in attendance were both teams and coaches, as well as some of the Cedar Crest staff. The press conference was short; Team China was welcomed and introduced by position and then we headed into dinner. I sat at a table with only one of my teammates, Ashley Smith, her dad, and then some Cedar Crest employees including the softball coach. Once we finished eating dinner, someone suggested that some of the players from the Force and Team China switch seats so we could talk to each other. I moved to a table that a few of the China girls were sitting at as well as their two American coaches, Michael Bastian and Howard (I forgot his last name). I talked to Michael about softball and asked him questions about his team. He told me about how different softball is for them and how for most of them its merely a job and not something they love. (here is an article about the event)
This is his second year with Team China and he said if it weren't for the girls on the team he wouldn't be coaching them any longer. He said Communism is often reflected in the Chinese coaches actions and decisions. Up until he got there, practicing for 10 hours a day was the standard, and even now they're still practicing about 6 hours a day. The head coach is known to slap her players when they do not perform to her expectations. Just a few weeks ago, when they played a series against the Washington Glory, she made them run home from the field because they lost.
Hearing these things shocked me because this team was filled with the kindest group of girls I have ever met. They are selfless and it wasn't until our last game of the series that I saw any fight in them at all. I was pitching and my ball control wasn't great, resulting in my hitting three different batters. After I nailed the third one, I was walking towards the plate to get the ball and I heard someone yell from their dugout, ''that's three times!'' I looked up and the batter took a few steps toward me with this ::I want to hurt you:: look on her face. She backed off and ran to first base, but it was nice to actually see some aggression. After the game she and the team's interpreter approached me, and she apologized. She said that she could not control herself. I laughed and told her that I was not mad, but that I was glad she got angry and showed it. The interpreter told me that he told their pitcher to hit me in my next at bat, but she chickened out and couldn't do it. It was funny though, because they did call time out when I came up to bat, so I thought I was going to get nailed for sure.
Playing against Team China was a great experience, my favorite so far this summer. It was really interesting to learn a little about their culture as well as softball in their country. They stayed in our dorms, and other than the stench of their dirty uniforms + milk they left in the hallways, it was really cool. I made a friend on the team with one of the girls that spoke English. Her name is Xuah Yi, pronounced Joe Yee, and she said to call her Joe. After our dinner with them the first night, I was asking her what kind of music she listens to and she got all excited and told me to follow her. She showed me her computer and played some songs, most of them were actually in English. So she saved them to her camera and I loaded them on my computer and then replaced them with some of my music.
For the rest of the week we played a six game series against them, with only four of the games counting towards our record. We won 5 out of 6, losing one of the exhibition games. The results were as follows:
Game 1 - W - recap
Game 2 - W 6-5 - recap
Game 3 - W 5-3 - recap
Game 4 - W 7-0 - recap
Game 5 - L 0-4 - recap
Game 6 - W 5-4 - recap
(my scores are guesses... the recaps are horrible, they don't even put the score)
Other than playing, we also visited Philadelphia to meet the mayor and to see the Liberty Bell. And we attended a minor league baseball game, the Reading Phillies vs. some other team. But because the Chinese coach is so strict, only the non-starters were allowed to attend the events with our team, and all the starters had to stay back and practice before the games. I thought that was crazy... who practices for three hours on a game day?! Nooo thank you!
Tuesday was our last night with Team China and a bunch of us traded Force shirts for China shirts. I made chocolate chip cookies and made them try some... most of them had never had one! Not cool. From them, I learned that I would not survive in China. No cookies and getting slapped in the face by my coach would not go down with me. Great girls though, it was quite an experience.
Right now were in Lowell, Massachusetts playing a series against the New England Riptide. So far we're 0-2. Two more to go though, hopefully well go .500 with em. More on this series later...
Stacy Birk #10+1
