SM finals round 1

Today, we played in the first round of the SM Guld series (the national championship series) against Söder at Söder. Since we won the regular season play and advanced from the semifinals, we earned the home seed for the SM-Guld series. This morning was a rollercoaster of emotions for me. I hardly slept last night because I was getting so nervous. When I woke up this morning I was not well rested and anxious. I was a bit more on edge than usual. Thankfully my teammates were once again supportive and assured me that it would be great!

When we got to Söder, the emotions started really to hit me. This could be the last game I ever pitch. That's just such a weird feeling: to know that this could be the last time you take the field as a pitcher. At least this time I would be the one deciding it was the end and not some silly injury! haha :)

I pitched the first game of the day. In the SM finals, the American pitcher can only pitch the 1st and 4th games of the series. In the first game, I pitched alright. As the game went on, my pitches started working a bit better, and I was more affective at keeping the batters off balance. Söder started their second string pitcher so that their first string (a native Swede) would be fresh for the second game. We ended up winning the first game 11-4, I believe. It was a close game for the first few innings but then we started hitting the ball like we know how and the runs just kept coming.

The second game was a very different story. We were a little sloppy and unfortunately we paid the price. While it was an incredibly close game changing the lead nearly every inning, we lost the second game. It was a 1 run game the final score being 7-6... but I'm exactly sure of the score.

Losing the second game made everything a bit more real. We would have to pull it together and work hard to win this thing. I have no doubt that we are more than capable of doing so, we just need to show up and play like we know how. This week at practice is going to be crucial. But no worries, I know we can win this championship... we just have to play like a team.