I just got home from my first big road trip as a college coach, and I am 100% exhausted. As I sit at my desk this morning it dawned on me how much better care of myself I took on road trips when I was pitching versus when I am coaching. Taking care of myself was something that was instilled in me by my parents from the very first travel ball tournament I attended at 9 years old. Pitchers don’t just take care of themselves right off the bat. “Taking care of yourself” is a broad term and means something different to each individual person. What worked for me, may not work for you.
 
With becoming a great pitcher, comes great responsibility. You cannot have one without the other. If a third baseman or right fielder comes to the game unprepared and does not play well, the team still has a decent chance of winning said game. If a pitcher comes to the game unprepared, it impacts the game in a much bigger way (no offense meant to the third baseman or right fielder!). By choosing to pitch, you CHOOSE to take on more responsibility.
 
What do you need to be mentally, physically, and emotionally prepared each time you step on the field? It’s different for everyone and I didn’t figure out what I needed on my own. Growing up my parents played a huge role in helping me learn to prepare myself for each day I would step in the circle. My travel ball weekend preparation was slightly different than what I did in college as we played more weekday games, but most of it stayed relatively the same. My preparation always started on Thursday. Yes, Thursday - not Friday night or Saturday morning before the game.
 
Thursday:
- Working out in the morning, usually cardio and light weights.
- Start drinking crazy amounts of water. Literally CRAZY amounts. By game time I was beyond sick of water. (It helps if you use the little flavor packs as well instead of just boring water!) - Throwing a normal bullpen at practice that evening - working mechanics and throwing a little bit of each pitch, finishing the bullpen throwing 2 innings of batters.
 
Friday:
- Workout in the morning, something super light - usually just running.
- Making sure that I ate breakfast, and continue to drink water all day.
- Lay out each uniform to double check that I had everything I needed as I packed it. Little odds and ends like a rosin bag, gorilla grip, new skin/super glue, band aids, and tape all made their way into a bag. When it was hot I used rosin, if it was cold gorilla grip. New skin/super glue for blisters and calluses on my fingers. Band aids and tape for the blisters and calluses on my feet. As a pitcher, any “distraction” that you can eliminate is beneficial and allows you to 100% focus on each pitch, rather than the blister that hurts or if your hands are sweaty.
- Generally, we were driving to tournaments on Friday so each time we stopped I would try to get out of the car and walk around a bit since I get stiff when I stay in the car too long.
- As far as dinner we did the best we could to find something healthy and filling, but of course we ended up at fast food joint on the road sometimes.
- Friday night I was in bed by 10…. super lame, I know…but I also know that I can’t function pitching 2-4 games a day when I’m tired.
 
Saturday:
- Getting up in time to eat a good breakfast. Ask anyone who spends time with me…it’s not pretty when I get hangry! I always had snacks in my bag too.
- Stretching really well before pitching and in between innings.
- At the end of the day I always put ice on my shoulder (as I got older it became shoulder, elbow, and wrist too.)
- Again in bed by 10pm at the latest.
 
Sunday:
- Sundays look a lot like Saturdays. The only real difference between Saturdays and Sundays was a modified warm up in between games. With the amount of games we generally played on Sundays the less “wasted pitches” the better.
- To finish the day off there was always more ice.
 
My routine took a few years to get down to an exact science with a lot of help from parents, coaches, and even my catchers. Finding what works for you as an individual not only helps you perform better, but is also your responsibility to figure it out. When parents help players at a young age find a routine it’s great, but as you get older you need to focus on what you need to be successful. At the end of the day, when you choose to pitch you choose to take on more responsibility. Being mentally, physically, and emotionally prepared to step on the field each time is a HUGE part of your success in the circle.

Today we should have won, but we didn’t. It may have come down to one play, or maybe we just had a really bad game or day overall, but we should have won - we were the better team. On paper, everything said we would win…we were stronger, faster, more athletic, just better softball players than they were. We should have won.
 
This feeling is one of the worst, knowing that you should have won and walking home empty handed instead. BUT I can almost guarantee that there are days that you and your team have walked away with a win against a stronger, faster, more athletic, and just overall better team than yours. This is the beauty of softball - it is anyone’s game on any given day. It is nothing like football or lacrosse where players go up one on one to try to out run, out tackle, or out score each other. Softball is not only about how well you gel as a team, but also how well you execute. Sometimes, a missed steal sign or a wild pitch can decide a game. Those who execute at the right time win, it’s that simple. Average teams beat great teams when the great teams fail to execute and do the little things. Throughout your career you will be on both sides of this scenario, walking away from some games wondering how in the world you just lost and others wondering who had the four leaf clover in their cleat. Success is seen as earning a hit 3 out of 10 at bats. In a game where you can fail 7 times out of 10 and are still considered successful you are guaranteed to have bad days. Sometimes you’ll hit the most perfect line drive right at the center fielder, and then next at bat you’ll hit a ridiculous pop fly that ends up in no man’s land behind first base for a single. Sometimes it really is about timing and luck.

It was 2007. We were in North Carolina playing for an NSA National Title with 128 teams. With 8 teams left we were knocked into the loser’s bracket and fought back to the championship game, needing to win two games to win against an undefeated Alabama team. Going into the 7th inning of game one we were behind 1-0. A slap up the middle, a bunt, and a perfectly placed single tied the game. We then went into extra innings to win the first game, ultimately winning the tournament in game two. In the span of one half inning the entire course of the game had changed due to a perfectly timed execution. It was to no fault of the other team, they made the out to get the player who had bunted, and they fielded both the slap and the single in the outfield cleanly. We executed, and on that day things went our way.
 
It was 2010. We were in Maryland playing for an ASA National Title with 85 teams. In the 5th inning we were tied with a team from South Carolina. I gave up a single to left field with runners on first and second, our left fielder decided to dive for the ball instead of getting in front of it and the ball ended up rolling to the fence. We ended up losing the game by one run. That play decided our fate and sent us home in 5th place that year.

In softball, it is anyone’s game on any given day. Some days we walk away winning when we probably shouldn’t have, and others we walk away losing when we did everything right. Yet day after day we still find ourselves out on the field working towards perfection.