As is in most cases when your team loses, there are many reasons for it. In Bama's case last night, there were many reasons for it as well. Florida won the game because they were better prepared and their player performance exceeded anything that Bama had to offer. When you say player performance you also have to include coaching performance too. I am by no means slamming anyone with my opinion of the game but just noting that Bama should learn a lot about why they lost the championship when they watch the videos after they get home. I have to give the Florida head coach credit, and this hurts, but he really did a good job of improving his team during the course of the season. Their teams stats were very impressive, pitching, hitting and fielding. Their defense did not play as well last night as in the previous games, but their bats made up that difference.

Jackie Traina was the starting pitcher last night and a lot of people will question that move by CPM, but Traina has been a winner her whole career and I can't blame CPM for starting her. I might question the timing of taking her out of the game. It's a proven fact that if the umpire isn't giving her the corners on her pitches, she is in trouble and that was what happened last night. It has been pretty much proven anymore that pitching finesse will beat pitching speed. These hitters, baseball or softball, can hit the ball at any speed but they struggle with the breaking or offspeed pitches. I wish that CPM had taken Traina out in the 2nd inning because in softball they have the reentry rule which is a big advantage for a coach.

The BIG difference though was the ability of the Florida hitters to drive the ball. They were well prepared in using the short swing to catch up with Traina's pitch speed and you can give their coaches the credit for this preparation. You also have to give their pitchers credit for a job well done. Hannah Rogers was not the same pitcher that we all had seen before, she had worked with her coaches and really improved her game.

It was tough not winning the championship but Bama has a young team who I think learned a lot about playing at a high level of softball this past week. Their freshmen and sophomore players had an outstanding season.  When their season started this year, they were no where near the quality of a team as what they were when they finished their season last night. I remember their trip to Arizona early in the season and they were beaten soundly out there which put a huge shadow on what their success would be this year. These players never quit and a new pitching sensation, Sydney Littlejohn was born. There will be 4 new freshmen coming in next season and if they have as much impact on the team as the four freshmen did this year, there's no doubt Bama will be back in Oklahoma City next year trying to finish what they didn't do this year.

Congrats ladies and goodbye to four seniors that will be remembered and missed in the years ahead, especially Jackie Traina and Kayla Hunt. Thanks for all of the wonderful memories. Roll Tide.

Sometimes she slaps.

On Sunday, Haylie McCleney was swinging and her solo shot to right gave Alabama all it needed to advance to the Women's College World Series championship series. Her homer and Kaila Hunt's physics-defying tag avoidance in the fifth sent Alabama to the 2-0 win over No. 1 Oregon.

Oh, and Jaclyn Traina.

The Crimson Tide ace shut down the nation's third-best hitting team to send Alabama back to the series. It'll face a familiar face in Florida when the best-of-three series starts at 7 p.m. Monday. The Gators beat Baylor 6-3 on Sunday to create the all-SEC final.

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Bama beats Oklahome State 4 matches to 1. Great job fellas YOU ARE THE BEST.

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We had our final REC meeting of the 2013 season last night and Coach Napier, WR coach, spoke to us as well as a representative from the Compliance Department.

Coach Napier gave us the history of his coaching career and was quick to say that his job at Alabama has no comparisons. He gave us a rundown of his players for the upcoming season and he put some emphasis on Christian Jones needing to step up and become more of a leader for the team. He said that Jones has a lot of respect from the players. He also broke down the abilities of Cooper, White, and Black. Cooper has the best pass routes, White is the most physical blocking down field, and Black is very versatile in what is asked of him. He was also excited about the four new incomers. The players reported in yesterday for their eight weeks of summer camp and he emphasized this was a rigorous 8  weeks for them, very demanding.

The compliance rep had some interesting things to say but he first told us to ask before helping any player or recruit. He reemphasized that if anyone wanted to help a high school player that to just notify the coaches of the player and let them do the rest. The new food rule by the NCAA has opened some doors for the schools to help the players that should free up some good assistance for them from the coaches. The coaches can now do some entertainment and socializing with the players that was not permitted before. Some of the entertainment examples he used would be during the 4th quarter training period and the 8 weeks of the summer before fall practice begins.

He also touched on something that rang a bell for me. He said the University has an account, $350,000, for assistance to the players. He used examples of car maintenance, cell phones, unexpected travel expenses for family issues, etc. as reasons to provide any cash assistance for the players. This rang a bell with me as I remember an assistant coach getting fired for providing a loan to a player about a year or two ago for so called emergency reasons. I'm not sure the account was there for the players at that time but I could only wonder why a coach would do such a thing on the up and up if the money was available then.

It was another good year for the REC as we donated a record amount of scholarship money this past year. It was also announced that our membership had reached a max and there is now a waiting list to become a member of the Tuscaloosa chapter.  

This time with the Super Bowl Championship Seahawks.


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Wow, for those of you that didn't stay up for the conclusion of the game last night, you missed a classic. The game reminded me of two heavyweight fighters, Ali and Frazier, going at it, toe to toe, for twelve rounds. Each team had their chances to win the game after Bama tied it up on a Merissa Runyan home run in the bottom of the seventh inning but squandered away numerous chances to take the win until Grantham ended it with a long home run over the left center field fence.

When you look look back at the game and realize how Bama pulled this win off, you will find the least likely answer to this. It was the freshmen who did it. The home run ended the game but there were other plays by the freshmen in the previous innings that permitted Grantham the chance to win the game. Littlejohn, Runyan, Grantham, and Dare all played a veterans role last night in the win and this could be the key that unlocks the door for this team if they are to win another National Championship. It's only one game but last night has to light a fire under this team.

Post season play is when coaches hope the unexpected good things start to happen for their team and I would have to say, all of what happened last night had to be a little unexpected for Coach Pat Murphy. Was it possible to happen, yes, but was it probable to happen, no. Good luck to the ladies, I think they can now have a better vision of what they can accomplish with this years's team.

The sad part about tonight's game is that I can't be there, my granddaughter has a graduation in Collierville, Tennessee at 6 p.m. and I have to wonder how in the world her school could schedule their graduation on a night when Bama is playing softball. Just kidding though, Roll Tide ladies and I'll find some way to keep track of the game.