Meeting Jennie

After piano lessons tonight, we headed back to the World Cup of Softball to catch the end of the title game (USA vs Japan) and stayed for the autograph session. It took us an hour to get though it, and we were one of the very last ones to make the cut before they ended the session (actually, the DID try to end the session), but Darby did, in fact, get to briefly meet the role model and face of her sport, Jennie Finch.

We only saw the last half of the game (we got in for free because the ticket booth was closed), but what we saw was good, and Team USA wrapped up the Cup with a 5-1 win over Japan. Afterward there was an award ceremony, with several people saying nice things about Jennie and her legacy, now that she is retired from USA Softball.



The line for Jennie's autograph didn't SEEM that long, but it still took the hour to get through, and we were half-way through it, so a lot of people left disappointed.



Here's Darby and Jennie. I wanted to get a better picture of the two of them, but they were really rushing things along as they had announced the session was over but Jennie kept signing until they made her stop.

World Cup 5

Today Darby and I caught a World Cup of Softball game here in OKC, witnessing Team USA run-rule Japan. It was important that we catch at least one World Cup game, as this is Jennie Finch's last event as a member of Team USA, having recently retired from international play (she will still play professionally for the NPF league).



We actually caught part of an earlier game, but it was 99 degrees out, so we left for a bit. Turned out that was a good move, as some clouds moved in due to rain to the north, dropping the temperature fifteen degrees. With the cloud-cover overhead and a gentle breeze, it was a great night for softball.

Riverwalk Stadium

As some of you know, I am an aspiring connoisseur of ballparks. Fourteen MLB parks and 11 minor league parks now. I realize this is small potatoes compared to many, but I do what I can with the slow pace at which I must proceed. As work has taken me to Montgomery, Alabama several times of late, I was looking forward to finally catching a ball game and seeing the new stadium, built in 2004. Riverwalk Stadium, home of the Montgomery Biscuits, has a particularly unique property to it, that I've not seen to this point at other parks. While it is a "new" stadium, an old, existing structure was incorporated into it. And I LOVE reuse of old structures.

You can tell from below picture that the outside of the stadium is old. It is a former train station, where the ticket booths and gift shop, etc, are built into.



In this picture, you can see that the upper deck suites were incorporated into the inside of the train station as well.



The ball game experience was nice. Fun stuff going on between each inning, trains going by just outside the park, and fresh biscuits being thrown into the crowd. Even though the Biscuits lost, they did so in extra innings, culminating a long, hard-fought game.

If you'd like, you can see more Pictures of Riverwalk here.

Last Game

Tonight was Darby's last softball game of the season. We missed several games while on vacation, so it was a bit of an abrupt ending for us. Also, because she was gone, she got bumped to the bottom of the batting order, so she only got one plate appearance, which was a walk. Additionally, she only got to play half of the game in the field, splitting time with another girl. That was a little disappointing. I get why it was that way, but if you're playing to win, you put your best people in the field, and I feel Darby is one of the better fielders, even though her offense is inconsistent at times. In any regard, we lost by a wide margin to a team that only had a couple losses to begin with. Not exactly the way we hopped end the year. That said, I think Darby learned a lot this season, defensively and offensively, so hopefully she'll retain that improvement and be an all around better player next season.