Kayla Braud and Ryan IamurriA few of our teammates, Jordan Patterson and Cassie Reilly-Boccia, hit the books during our recent road trip.Alabama softball spends a lot of time on the road. You would think traveling with 20 girls may be difficult, but we make it work. Passing the time is never hard, and with Alabama softball, traveling is always an adventure.
The SEC changed its schedule last year, so we now play one game on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which means when we play away, we have a lot of time on our hands. If you ran into us on the road, you may find us shooting music videos, eating a lot, sleeping, doing homework (if we have to), playing foursquare in airport terminals, throwing a Frisbee around or just spending time with each other.
Judging by our previous traveling experience to Portland, Ore., Alabama softball was a little hesitant about flying to Arkansas this past weekend. Let us sum up the Oregon trip:
In Kentucky, our first flight was delayed three hours, causing us to miss our next flight from Houston to Oregon. We stayed at the airport until 2 a.m. and finally got into a hotel by 5 a.m. They rescheduled us on the 9:30 p.m. for the next night. When we got to the airport, we found out half of the team wasn't even booked and the airline somehow managed to get them on the 5:30 p.m. flight. We experienced the rudest flight attendant in the world, at least 10 of us came down with the stomach flu over the weekend, and our bus driver in Oregon thought he was Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
It should come as no surprise why everyone was a little worried about flying to Arkansas. Well, we are here to tell you our team did not run into one problem during our travels!
Through all the delays, bus rides, hotels and team dinners, we really bond as a team. It's at 4 a.m., when we're all exhausted, that you take a look around and realize there is no one you would rather be with than your teammates. The great memories we have created make all the travel worth it. It also doesn't hurt when Coach Murphy stops the bus for ice cream on a late Thursday night. That makes it all worth it, too.
