Hello everyone. We are gearing up for our games this weekend. It's been a busy week, trying to fit in some personal time and sightseeing with our practice schedule, which is demanding.
I just got back from the stadium for set-up and practice. We normally use two fields other than our stadium for practice, so we had to be there really early today to set-up the stadium for the teams' official practices today. Four teams play at three sites every weekend, so this is our only weekend to host this year.
We are playing at Edogawa Baseball Stadium, so we set up fences and benches for the conversion to a softball field. Unfortunately the forecast is for rain tomorrow, so that may change our schedule. We are supposed to play one game at 1:00 on both Saturday and Sunday, but we may have to play Monday if we get rained out tomorrow. It seems like it's been a long time since our first game (almost two weeks), so I'm anxious to play & hoping it doesn't rain.
We haven't had much time for anything other than practice during the past two weeks, but we have had a little time off. I was able to go to a local pro baseball game with our interpreter Miyako, catcher Natalie, her friend Kylie and my boyfriend Sean. We were at Meiji Jingu Stadium to see the Yomiuri Giants play the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. It was a lot of fun, and interesting to see another sport played in Japan. Even though the Swallows were the home team, the Giants are located just across town, so both had many fans in attendance. Final Score: Swallows 6, Giants 2.
I also found time to make a trip to Asakusa, which is located on the other side of Tokyo from us. It is well known for a large temple called Senso-ji. There were many shops selling pottery, pictures, boxed sweets and snacks, fabrics and other souvenirs. I'm hoping to do some more sightseeing next week, since we may have a couple days off, depending on the weather this weekend. We have one more 2 week break between games, but after that we will have games every weekend.
Ok, well, it's time to run to dinner. I have to say that the food has been amazing since I've been here. Everything has been really good, and thankfully the portions are small. We practice to much that I really don't think it makes a difference anyway. I stay pretty active!
Thanks for reading. Will let you know how the weekend goes. Hope the rain stays away!
Angela
Friday, April 24, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Translated Stats and Weekend Schedule
It's been a busy week, so I'm just getting the translated stats from last week's game posted here. Sorry about that. These are official:
Innings: 4
Batters: 17
At-bats: 15
Hits: 3
Runs: 1
Earned runs: 1
Walks: 2
Strikeouts: 6
HR: 1
Pitches: 68
ERA: 1.75
Not a bad start, but I could live without the home run! Getting ready for a big weekend of softball. We play on Saturday at 1 p.m. local time (that's midnight Eastern time for those of you in Blacksburg) in Tokyo against Team Honda and then at 1 p.m. local time Sunday vs. Taiyo Yuden. Honda lost to Taiyo Yuden last week.
Innings: 4
Batters: 17
At-bats: 15
Hits: 3
Runs: 1
Earned runs: 1
Walks: 2
Strikeouts: 6
HR: 1
Pitches: 68
ERA: 1.75
Not a bad start, but I could live without the home run! Getting ready for a big weekend of softball. We play on Saturday at 1 p.m. local time (that's midnight Eastern time for those of you in Blacksburg) in Tokyo against Team Honda and then at 1 p.m. local time Sunday vs. Taiyo Yuden. Honda lost to Taiyo Yuden last week.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
LeoPalace21 14, Toda HP 1
Hi again...
I don't have all of the official stats translated from today's game yet, and since we have the day off tomorrow it might be Tuesday before I get them to you all, but here's a recap from what I can remember. It was all very exciting!
The atmosphere of these games is unlike anything I've experienced before. Each team has an official "cheerleader," who leads the cheering section and is accompanied by a band. They have certain rituals that they go through before the game, and will cheer for you specifically when you do something good. Most of them are male, and they yell very loud and have a large drum to accompany them.
The game started out a little rough...I think I was a little TOO excited. The first pitch was a strike, but on the second pitch I let a change-up go a little too quickly and it was immediately sent over the fence. After that, I settled in with three K's in a row. We answered with four runs in the bottom of the first. I pitched four total innings, allowing three hits (the other two were singles) and recorded somewhere between seven and nine strikeouts.
We had an awesome day offensively, with home runs by Natalie Titcume and Kageyama. Our new players hit very well, which was important and should build our confidence as a team. I think we finished with 14 runs on 15 hits.
Yamane pitched the fifth and sixth innings, and one out into the seventh. Matsumura got the last two outs in the seventh to end the game.
I'll get the official game re-cap to you soon, talk to you then..
Angela
I don't have all of the official stats translated from today's game yet, and since we have the day off tomorrow it might be Tuesday before I get them to you all, but here's a recap from what I can remember. It was all very exciting!
The atmosphere of these games is unlike anything I've experienced before. Each team has an official "cheerleader," who leads the cheering section and is accompanied by a band. They have certain rituals that they go through before the game, and will cheer for you specifically when you do something good. Most of them are male, and they yell very loud and have a large drum to accompany them.
The game started out a little rough...I think I was a little TOO excited. The first pitch was a strike, but on the second pitch I let a change-up go a little too quickly and it was immediately sent over the fence. After that, I settled in with three K's in a row. We answered with four runs in the bottom of the first. I pitched four total innings, allowing three hits (the other two were singles) and recorded somewhere between seven and nine strikeouts.
We had an awesome day offensively, with home runs by Natalie Titcume and Kageyama. Our new players hit very well, which was important and should build our confidence as a team. I think we finished with 14 runs on 15 hits.
Yamane pitched the fifth and sixth innings, and one out into the seventh. Matsumura got the last two outs in the seventh to end the game.
I'll get the official game re-cap to you soon, talk to you then..
Angela
Happy Easter! First game a success...
Hey everyone. Although it's almost tomorrow here in Tokyo, I'd like to wish everyone in the States a very happy and relaxing Easter. We had our first regular-season game earlier today, and I'd have to say it was a huge success. Final score: LeoPalace21 14, Toda HP 1. More to come soon! In the meantime, check out the Cherry Blossom photos from the Imperial Palace on my Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2355214&id=6212426.
Just was messing around on the web and found our team site...check this out. It's all of my teammates' photos and biographical information. Good thing I know everything about myself...can anyone translate for me!!!! http://www.leopalace21.co.jp/softball/member.html
Talk to you soon!
Just was messing around on the web and found our team site...check this out. It's all of my teammates' photos and biographical information. Good thing I know everything about myself...can anyone translate for me!!!! http://www.leopalace21.co.jp/softball/member.html
Talk to you soon!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Greetings from Japan
Hello from Japan. It’s been a pretty hectic five weeks since I arrived here in Tokyo. I’ve been wanting to keep in touch with everyone in the States and keep you all updated as to how I am doing, but it has just been so crazy. This past weekend was no different, but I’m pretty settled in now and wanted to take a bit of time to post my first blog.
It was a long weekend of softball in Toyota City, which is about four hours away from where I am staying in Tokyo. Toyota City, as the name implies, really is Toyota’s city. It’s where all of the Toyota facilities are located. They also have an athletic compound there. Toyota sponsors several sports teams in Japan; they have softball, baseball and some others. The company that sponsors my team, LeoPalace 21, is a real estate company that only sponsors a softball team.
We were in Toyota City to play in the Toyota Cup, which included maybe 15 teams – some from our division and some others from Division 2. It was a weekend of playing and practice that had us on the field as many as 10 or 11 hours on some days. We were there Thursday through Sunday and played two games each day, except Sunday, when we only played once. On a typical day we would practice in the morning from 9 until 11 and then have lunch before warming up for our first game of the day. Then we would play at 12:30 and 2:30 or 3:00. On one of the days we didn’t play so well and our coach made us practice for a while after the second game.
I pitched a complete game, and we won, the first day. Many of the coaches held their foreign pitchers back, so I guess that mine decided to do the same, because I only pitched two innings the second day, one the next and three the last day. I really did a lot more practicing than game pitching. When I’m not pitching and the team is practicing, since I don’t hit, there’s not much for me to do. Once I’ve taken some ground balls and pitched I might try to take a walk or keep busy doing something so my coach doesn’t get upset with me.
I ran into Monica Abbott and Natasha Whatley several times and was able to talk to them. They play for Toyota and were practicing and playing at the same complex as us most of the time. One of my teammates, Natalie Titcume, is a catcher from Australia, so we take every opportunity we can to be able to speak in English to the other foreign players. I also saw Katie Burkhart briefly as well as Kristen Butler and Megan Gibson, who I know pretty well. Kristen is a teammate of mine on the Akron Racers of the NPF, and I did a photo shoot for Nokona with Megan last year. It was great to see all of them and catch up – even if only for a short time.
I was really tired Sunday night, but Monday was a bit more relaxing as we were able to play tourist for a day and go the area surrounding the Tokyo Imperial Palace where the world-famous cherry blossoms are in bloom. Thousands of people from all over Japan flock to the parks to take in the sights and enjoy the festivals that offer food, souvenirs and other interesting stuff.
Our season gets underway next weekend when we play Toda H.P. at the Seibu Dome in Saitama on Sunday. I’m starting to get comfortable here. I’m able to sleep until 6 a.m. most days now after waking up at 4 or 4:30 many mornings. I tried to catch up on my sleep a little bit today and managed to “sleep in” until almost 7:30. I guess my body is just used to getting up early now, but that’s not such a bad thing.
Thanks for reading this. Check back here often. I’ll do my best to keep you updated about my progress and adventures here in Japan!
It was a long weekend of softball in Toyota City, which is about four hours away from where I am staying in Tokyo. Toyota City, as the name implies, really is Toyota’s city. It’s where all of the Toyota facilities are located. They also have an athletic compound there. Toyota sponsors several sports teams in Japan; they have softball, baseball and some others. The company that sponsors my team, LeoPalace 21, is a real estate company that only sponsors a softball team.
We were in Toyota City to play in the Toyota Cup, which included maybe 15 teams – some from our division and some others from Division 2. It was a weekend of playing and practice that had us on the field as many as 10 or 11 hours on some days. We were there Thursday through Sunday and played two games each day, except Sunday, when we only played once. On a typical day we would practice in the morning from 9 until 11 and then have lunch before warming up for our first game of the day. Then we would play at 12:30 and 2:30 or 3:00. On one of the days we didn’t play so well and our coach made us practice for a while after the second game.
I pitched a complete game, and we won, the first day. Many of the coaches held their foreign pitchers back, so I guess that mine decided to do the same, because I only pitched two innings the second day, one the next and three the last day. I really did a lot more practicing than game pitching. When I’m not pitching and the team is practicing, since I don’t hit, there’s not much for me to do. Once I’ve taken some ground balls and pitched I might try to take a walk or keep busy doing something so my coach doesn’t get upset with me.
I ran into Monica Abbott and Natasha Whatley several times and was able to talk to them. They play for Toyota and were practicing and playing at the same complex as us most of the time. One of my teammates, Natalie Titcume, is a catcher from Australia, so we take every opportunity we can to be able to speak in English to the other foreign players. I also saw Katie Burkhart briefly as well as Kristen Butler and Megan Gibson, who I know pretty well. Kristen is a teammate of mine on the Akron Racers of the NPF, and I did a photo shoot for Nokona with Megan last year. It was great to see all of them and catch up – even if only for a short time.
I was really tired Sunday night, but Monday was a bit more relaxing as we were able to play tourist for a day and go the area surrounding the Tokyo Imperial Palace where the world-famous cherry blossoms are in bloom. Thousands of people from all over Japan flock to the parks to take in the sights and enjoy the festivals that offer food, souvenirs and other interesting stuff.
Our season gets underway next weekend when we play Toda H.P. at the Seibu Dome in Saitama on Sunday. I’m starting to get comfortable here. I’m able to sleep until 6 a.m. most days now after waking up at 4 or 4:30 many mornings. I tried to catch up on my sleep a little bit today and managed to “sleep in” until almost 7:30. I guess my body is just used to getting up early now, but that’s not such a bad thing.
Thanks for reading this. Check back here often. I’ll do my best to keep you updated about my progress and adventures here in Japan!
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