March 22, 2006
All season long, freshman outfielder Mollie Schrank has kept a journal during the Flyers' road trips. Here's her entry from the Flyers' Spring Break trip to the Orlando Rebel Games
Saturday, March 11
Spring break is finally here! I feel like I've been on a bus for two days...oh wait, I have! We left campus at 3:30 Friday afternoon and didn't get to Atlanta until 3:00 a.m. We made a pit stop at Meijers for snacks, and then later stopped at McDonalds for dinner. We watched Rent, Walk the Line, Wedding Crashers, and The Simple Life compliments of [Christina] Vetter. We had to stop in Atlanta so the bus driver could sleep. I hope our bus driver gets paid really well because I can't imagine having to sit there for 12 straight hours and not be able to move. My butt would go numb after an hour! Anyways, we left Atlanta at 10 this morning and it is 4:30 now and I'm still on the bus. When you're stuck on a bus you eat and sleep a lot! It'll be worth it though when we get off the bus and it is 80 degrees and sunny! I think we're getting close....
We pulled up to the hotel around 5:30. We were suppose to practice tonight but didn't since we got in later than expected. Everyone was glad to finally be here and the weather forecast is absolutely gorgeous: 80s and sunny. We are staying in a Day's Inn. Luckily our rooms are right by the pool. Chrissy [Schnieder] and I decided to go for a run before dinner, as did some of the other girls, and some went swimming. We loaded back onto our Dayton Dragon's bus for dinner at 7, which by the way says a "Professional Men's Baseball Team" on the side, so people probably think we are pretty important. We ate at an Italian buffet and then came back to the hotel. Curfew was 11 but we were allowed to do whatever until then. Our hotel is at a nice location, it is right on this main strip with a lot to do. Sheena [Rothwell], Erin [LaFayette] and I walked through this carnival area and saw part of a car show/ parade. I'm not sure where the other girls ended up. They were debating riding some rides the last time I saw them. Coach headed straight for the Harley Davidson store! We were back by 10:00 p.m. and despite all my sleep on the bus I feel pretty tired. Games start tomorrow. Go Dayton!
Sunday, March 12
This morning I got up at 8:00 and went running with Chrissy. We then went to the breakfast buffet at our hotel which was really good. After that I laid out for a few minutes along with pretty much the whole team. Getting at least some sun is pretty important to everyone! We left at 10:30 for our games, but stopped at Subway on the way for lunch and then found some fields to hit at. Finally we went to the ballpark. Our game was supposed to start at 2:20 but didn't start until after 3. We played Colgate and then Tennessee Martin. Unfortunately we lost both of them and I'm getting really tired of saying that. Chelsea [Grozenski] pitched awesome though. After the game everyone went with their parents except Shay [Shalyn Adams], Alisha [Burnstein], T [Tamsyn Kellough], and I. So us four, coach, Katie [Foucht] trainer, and Joe our bus driver all went to Outback. It was delicious and of a course a good time. We came back to the hotel after that and finally showered. It was nice to remember what it feels like to sweat while playing softball! Tomorrow we play early so I just stayed in and watched Grey's Anatomy (best show ever!) with Tami [Roudebush] and Maggie [Stopka] and then went to bed.
Monday, March 13
Early wake-up call at 6:15! We had breakfast at 7:00 and left by 7:15. I thought for sure this game we would be golden. Since we practice and lift earlier than that time but we still came out flat and didn't really wakeup until about the fifth inning. We lost 6-2 to Fairfield. We sat a game and ate lunch brought by the Eggers family. Then we played Lafayette. Finally, the Dayton team we all know and love showed up and we won 8-5. We got back around 3:45 and made a beeline for the pool. It was nice, we had a cannonball contest and I'm going to unofficially say Katie Jordan won. Most of the girls went with their parents to Pleasure Island afterwards but since I'm an orphan [on the trip], I just stayed with Coach. It was only Sheena, T, Coach, and I. We went to Steve & Barry's, the Nike Clearance store, and then Ruby Tuesdays where T ate probably a 2 pound hamburger. Yes, I witnessed it. We were planning on going to Downtown Disney but didn't get done with dinner until 10 so we just came back. Sheena, T, and I walked over to Old Towne again though and Sheena and I decided to be rebels and get tattoos! Ha ha, ok, they're fake, but it was fun! I'm really tired now though so I'm going to get my sleep on. Tomorrow is our day off, I'm going to the beach with Erin and I'm real excited!
Tuesday, March 14
Erin "adopted" me for the day since my parents aren't here and her mom and dad took us to Cocoa Beach. I'm fascinated by the ocean, so I loved it. We definitely got a little sun and didn't let the not-so-warm ocean scare us. It was awesome and I'm pretty sure a fish ran into my butt and later Erin's foot. At least I hope that is what it was; my first instinct was to look for shark fins. We left the beach, got some lunch, and went to rent jet skis. Apparently in the state of Florida you have to be 22 to drive them though, so that didn't work out so well! We then thought it would be fun to go parasailing but they won't have that at Cocoa Beach until next month. Go figure! It was still a day well spent though; all I need is a beach. We came back to Orlando and Erin, Erin's mom and I went in search of the outlet stores. We missed the exit for the good ones, went to some not so good ones, were going to stop at the good ones on the way back but were too impatient to wait in the traffic. So we just came back! Mission failed! It was actually pretty humorous though. We ate at Bennigan's for dinner and that was pretty much the day!
Wednesday, March 15
Today started off well with a 1-0 win over Rider. Blair [Crabtree] scored the one run on a shot down the first base line plus an overthrow allowing her to score, so kind of an inside-the-park home run. Chelsea pitched awesome and everyone played really well, it was the Dayton team we know and love. The second game went down hill, we fell apart and lost 7-1. I think we all know we shouldn't be losing like we have been, but can't figure it out. We had a pretty intense conversation after the game and are trying to piece things together. Confidence is essential for success. Tonight was our nice team dinner. We went to a Japanese steakhouse. I've never been to one and I liked it a lot! They cook it all right in front of you, it was pretty neat. After dinner we had some team bonding and then walked across the street for ice cream. I gave up chocolate and ice cream for Lent because I knew it would be really hard, and it is. Luckily Erin is doing it with me though so we can be each other's support system. We got donuts instead of ice cream. I'm back in the room now though and I think it's about time for lights out...
Thursday, March 16
This morning I got up and went for an easy run with Chrissy. We couldn't have lucked out any better with this weather. It is amazing and I'm not looking forward to returning to Ohio weather. After running, we ate breakfast and I did a little bit of homework. We left at 11:30 for our games and stopped at Subway on the way. We played Army and won, then lost to Iona. Poor Katie Jordan got into a fight with the fence during warm-ups and the fence won, giving Katie a broken leg! We love you KJ! Hopefully tomorrow we can pull off two wins. We really need to, we've been struggling but hopefully we can start piecing it together. After the game we stopped at Boston Market, then took quick showers and went putt-putting! It was a lot of fun but I'm not so good. Apparently my practice last summer didn't help. Tami was the best on our team, Maggie, Erin, Sheena and I all gave her a hard time for it though! After putt-putt Coach got a call from George Washington's coach saying we left some equipment at the field and they picked it up for us. We are real lucky they found it but leaving equipment is very, very bad! Finally I just want to say thank you to the LaFayette's for buying me a table to use on the bus. It is awesome and will definitely be put to good use! Two final games tomorrow...
Friday, March 17
Apparently today is St. Patrick's Day. I managed to get through pretty much the whole day without knowing this until about an hour ago when Alisha pinched me and I asked her why she did that! Anyways, today is our last day here and final two games. Unfortunately, we lost both. The trip overall wasn't as successful as we'd hoped. Everything is there we just need to put it together. We will keep working hard and things will click. I know it! After our games, the players without parents - now eight of us - went to Ruby Tuesdays. Yesterday, Chrissy was going around grabbing the skin under everyone's chin and yelling I got your waddle! We paid her to do it to Coach...it was hilarious. But as AB [assistant coach Ali Brian] would say, karma will get you. While we were walking into Ruby Tuesday's, AB came up behind Chrissy and got her waddle real good! It was classic. Dinner was really fun though; these girls always keep me laughing. After dinner we came back and just hung out. I did a little studying, talked to my mom for awhile, then went running with Chrissy to enjoy one last day of this beautiful weather before cold Ohio. We leave tomorrow at 5:00 a.m. It's going to be a long bus ride. Oh yeah, I'm not sure I ever gave a shout out to my roomies. The lucky ones this week would be Maggie, Muffin, and Tami!
Saturday, March 18
16 hours and minus 40 degrees later. We arrived back in Dayton around 10 p.m. Home opener this week!
