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SOFTBALL: USA Softball Back in action after touring Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse |
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by Julie Bartel - USA Softball (405-425-3463)
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USA Softball Back in action after touring Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse
SPRINGFIELD, MO. --- After a couple days of site seeing from Oregon to South Dakota, the USA Softball Women’s National team (54-1) is back in action tonight in Springfield, Missouri against theAll Stars in their 56th game of the KFC Bound 4 Beijing tour. The 41st city on the tour, the U.S. will take the field at 7:30 p.m. as the final stretch of the tour comes to a close.
It’s not just softball as the three-time Olympic Gold Medal winning team had the opportunity to experience some of the remarkable U.S. countryside during their time in the Northwest last week.
A trip through Yellowstone Park started the site seeing before a welcome in Rapid City, South Dakota with Blackhawks and a tour of Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse made for some team bonding and great photos (see attached.)
Below is a blog from outfield Jessica Mendoza ( Camarillo, Calif.) of the team’s adventure during the last week.
July 13, 2008
This tour has been crazy with all of the places we have been and all of the traveling we have been doing. But one of the coolest parts about the tour has been the opportunity for all of us, these 16women that representthis beautifulcountry, to see what makes up the letters U-S-A that we wear across our chest every day. We have traveled from Louisiana to Missouri, from Ohio to Texas, Florida to New Mexico, just to name a few of the many states we have traveled across. But most recently we made the trek from Portland, Oregon to Spokane, Washington and then headed to beautiful Yellowstone National Park this last Friday. Most of us have never been, and what a beautiful, pristine,take-your-breath-awaykind ofbeauty. Yes, most of our travels contain softball fields and a variety of hotels, but in this case, we stayed in small little cabins at the edge of 2.2 million (yes it is huge!) acres of some of the most beautiful land our country has tooffer.
Wegot up early and spent our entire Saturday touring the beautiful landscape. We saw everything from Old Faithful to Lower Falls to the enormous Yellowstone Lake.The animals we saw ranged from ababy black bear to elk and even a giant buffalo (see photo). Coach Candrea wanted to see a big black bear, but from the stories we heard, it is probably better that we only saw the baby bear, not the mamma.
I love to travel the world, but it is amazing how extraordinary our own country is ... and what better time to appreciate than those who will be representing it in less than a month (I know, so soon!) away? It has been a perfect intermission between all the training and preparation we are doing for the Olympics right now. We then traveled to Cody, Wyoming where we saw even more breathtaking landscapes, and Alicia, Bustos and I even caught ourselves a real rodeo at the rodeo capital of the world in Cody. Quite a different show then what we see out on the softball fields, but very fun and entertaining nonetheless!
Tomorrow it is back to the practice fields here in Rapid City, South Dakota and then we get to spend the afternoon getting a helicopter tour of Mt. Rushmore -- more stories andphotos to come!!
July 17, 2008
Well, if we thought seeing Yellowstone National Park was a nice taste of the beauty of our country, we hit a whole new level this last Monday in South Dakota. We made the trip from Cody, Wyoming to Rapid City, South Dakota the day before … seeing breathtaking views of the landscape along the way. Then after a long practice and a good weight workout (we are in training after all) we headed out to see one of our nation’s beautiful creations: Mt. Rushmore. But of course we could not see it any normal way; we were able to visit the men and women at the US Air Force Base and the National Guard gave us a special tour of Mt. Rushmore – by Blackhawk helicopter!
If you can try and imagine all 16 of us split into two Blackhawk helicopters, flying through the skies of South Dakota … just the power and beauty of the helicopters took our breath away, let alone what was right out the window as we looked and snapped photos of Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse! Then the pilots decided to have some fun with us (I may or may not have asked our pilot to have some fun with us…) and we quickly made sharp accelerations up and then immediate drops that sent all of us out of our seats (we had very heavy-duty seat belts on that kept us from flying to the ceiling). It was hilarious to see the reactions and facial expressions of my teammates as we dropped and turned, riding an imaginary roller coaster like nothing you will see at an amusement park. From Lauren Lappin, Caitlin Lowe and Stacey Nuveman who were cheering and hollering, to Natasha Watley who was screaming for her life, it was an exciting and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to say the least! We then landed at Mt. Rushmore to a good deal of onlookers and spent some time taking funny photos in front of the heads of four of our greatest Presidents.
One would think this would be enough for one day … but no, not for USA softball! Next we were off to Crazy Horse: another amazing still-in-the-making creation of the famous American Indian who defeated Colonel Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn, pointing ahead with his finger on his horse. To give you an idea of the massiveness of this sculpture that is being dynamited and sculpted into the middle of one the mountains not too far from Rushmore: the head alone of Crazy Horse is the size of all four presidents that make up Mt. Rushmore. When we arrived, we were allowed to go up the mountain (which we were told was a rare opportunity) and stand right under the enormous head of Crazy Horse. It was amazing and we were so grateful to have the chance to stand so close to such a remarkable monument and see some unique history in-the-making. We joked about having a 50-year softball reunion there to see its completion… who knows! After a beautiful dinner overlooking the sunset at Crazy Horse we finally headed back to our hotel, and back to reality.
We only have five more games on tour and 17 days until we leave for Beijing -- I am SO EXCITED! We are so blessed to be around not only the beautiful sites of our country, but the beautiful people who have gone above and beyond to make this tour so special … a special thank you to all those we have met at every tour site who have made these last five months an experience we will take with us to Beijing! We love you all!
Jessica Mendoza #2
About USA Softball
USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won eight World Championship titles including the last six consecutive as well as claimed two World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com/.
About KFC Bound 4 Beijing Tour
The KFC Bound 4 Beijing tour is a 45-city nationwide pre-Olympic tour for the USA Softball Women's National team as they prepare to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Beginning in February, the tour reaches every corner of the country including 23 states while Team USA prepares with 62 total games. The tour consists of five consecutive weekly national televised games on ESPN2 in April and May along with two other bonus games plus four games slated for July that rounds out over 22 hours of original USA Softball branded programming on the ESPN family of networks. Along with the title sponsor, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), other national tour sponsors include Dermabond and Lumber Liquidators.
About DERMABOND Adhesive
DERMABOND Adhesive is a topical skin adhesive used by doctors in the O.R. and E.R. to close incisions from surgeries or wounds from injuries. DERMABOND Adhesive may not be right for all types of wounds such as those that are infected or wounds on the eyes, mouth, scalp or joints. Tell your doctor about any skin sensitivities. Your doctor will know if DERMABOND Adhesive is right for you. For more information go to DERMABOND.com. |
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Author: |
Julie Bartel |
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Organization: |
USA Softball |
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Phone: |
405-425-3463 |
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