Ready to go in Columbia
The team arrived in Columbia, Mo., late Wednesday night after a pretty smooth bus ride from Bloomington across the Midwest via I-70. While it was late, the excitement of being in the NCAA Tournament was definitely in the air now that the team was in the city where it was going to play in postseason for the first time since 2006.
As the team woke up Thursday, the skies were a little overcast but the team trekked over to University Field on the campus of the University of Missouri (the host) to get their practice time on the field. The Hoosiers are the only one of the four teams that have not played on the field here. Obviously it is the home field for Missouri, Illinois State played here earlier this season and this is the third consecutive year that the DePaul Blue Demons have been sent to Columbia, so they are very familiar with the surroundings. As the team began to stretch and warmup, a light rain began to fall and quickly turned to a more steady rain, causing the grounds crew to quickly put the tarp on the field and put an end to team practices for the day.
Just as they have all season, the Hoosiers took it in stride. Following lunch, the team returned to the hotel for more quality time. I’m sure the anxiety only gets higher and higher when all you can do is sit in a hotel room and think about things (let’s be honest, what is really on TV on a Thursdasy at 2:00 p.m.?).
Friday brought the excitement of the first game of the Tournamnent for all but two (Morgan Melloh and Kelsey Stander) players. But before they could get to that, the team was going to have the chance to get on the dirt at University Field and practice for about one hour. The rain held off and temperatures rose to the mid-70s. It was easy to see that the Hoosiers enjoyed these 60 minutes out of the hotel – but little did they know what the day had in store.
The game against DePaul was scheduled for 4:00 p.m. CT, but the rain had started falling shortly after Noon CT and had not let up as the time for the team to depart the hotel for the game arrived. Coach Gardner received a call from the tournament officials and the game had been pushed back to 6:00 p.m. CT. That meant two more hours for the players to familiarize themselves with their already familiar hotel room. After two hours passed, the team once again packed up and was prepared to leave. But another call came through and the game was delayed two more hours. All of these delays were obvious to anyone that looked out their hotel window – the rain never stopped all afternoon. And with as much rain that came down, it was not likely that the field was going to be in playing condition. So, as expected, the games were eventually postponed for the day.
As a result of that, it meant the team was able to spend time with their friends/family that had made the trip over for the original 4:00 p.m. CT game. The team had a great time watching softball on ESPN as a large group in the restaurant attached to the hotel. And when it was all over, the players dispersed to their rooms because they had an early wakeup call on Saturday morning before a 10:00 a.m. CT first pitch against DePaul.
If you asked many of the players and staff, they will tell you that it felt like all they did was sit in the hotel and eat meals. And that’s basically what they did as a result of the rain. But it was very important for the players to get out on the field and get their sight lines down and get a feel for the infield at least while getting comfortable.
As a reminder, fans can listen and watch all games at the Columbia Regional by going to the NCAA Tournament Central page on IUHoosiers.com (Link: http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/ind-2011-tourney-central.html)
