First Hofstra Baseball game experience

I'd like to start off by saying it was a little weird to me to see that Hofstra has a better softball field then it does for baseball. When I arrived at the baseball game this afternoon i was a little thrown off to see that the fan accomodations were a little less than expected. It was worse then attending one of my younger brother's little league games back in the day. There was one set of bleachers that sat behind home plate and the rest of the crowd had to park themselves on the hill beside third base. I even caught a girl from the basketball team walking by the field saying "isnt baseball the worst team on campus." I mean maybe this is why the team isnt as great as the rest of the teams on campus, because have a lack of what the other teams get to make use of. There were moments when the skipping cd of country music caught my attention more than the game did. The overpowering sounds of the championship softball game across the street even caught my attention more than this afternoons baseball game. It actually wasn't too bad of a game to catch being as though it was my first one, but at the same time I would definitely have to say i dont think i would ever attend another one if i didn't have to. A few mothers and fathers of the players seemed to be a bit enthused but other than that everyone else on the low cut grassy hill behind third base talked amongst themselves about their day and what they would be doing once the game finally ended. I had even questioned leaving the game to go over to the "happening" softball game just a few steps away.

My first ever game story

Being as though I know almost absolutely nothing about softball I guess you can say i was not too thrilled to wake up semi early on a sunday morning to go cover the Hofstra softball game. I also did not want to go sit outside in what seemed to be a lousy day for the weather, little to my surprise the day turned out to be gorgeous and the game wasn't as bad nor as boring as i had imagined it to be. The Hofstra softball team is actually very good and George Mason seemed as far as in my opinion seemed to be a little off that sunday afternoon. All in all my first game story experience was not the nightmare I had dreamt it to be the night before, it actually was not a nightmare at all. I dont consider myself to be the best writer out there especially as far as sports goes, but I will say writing the game story was pretty interesting and not so bad at all.

Lotti concludes the season with a no hitter as Hofstra prepares for the CAA Tournament

Hempstead-NY

Junior Kayleigh Lotti threw a five-inning no hitter game against George Mason Sunday Afternoon at the Hofstra Softball Stadium as the Pride captured a 8-0 win over the Patriots. With the win, the Pride improves to 39-10 and 18-3 in the CAA, including 14 straight wins and 22 wins in its last 23 games.
Becky Anderson was pitching for George Mason which gave the Pride a good challenge. Head Coach Bill Edwards for the Pride is happy they were able to play the game against Anderson because he feels she is a quality pitcher.
“She really prepared us well for the Conference Championships and for us to get all those runs off her is really good,” says Edwards.
The game was scoreless for three innings until Hofstra scored one run in the bottom of the 4th inning. Sophomore Sara Michalowski hit a double to bring in Carolann Lubach for an RBI to put Hofstra on the board.
Then the pride came out firing in the bottom of the fifth with seven runs. Juniors Casey Fee and Erika Bernstein both had back to back base hits. Fee was able to steal second base for her 19th stolen base of the year out of 19 attempts. Senior Courtney Oliver was walked to make the bases loaded with Sophomore Michele DePasquale up to bat, who hit a ground out for an RBI.
The Pride hit four consecutive RBIs to put the game out of reach. After Kris Root struck out, the game ended by virtue of the mercy rule. Kayleigh Lotti had 12 strikeouts and ended the regular season with 699 career strike outs.
“She is right where we want her to be, actually our whole pitching staff is right where we want them to be at this moment,” says Edwards.
Seniors Courtney Oliver, Pam Dreslinski, and Genevieve Haney became the most successful class in school history with their 160th win in four seasons, this makes them the first class in Hofstra history to average 40 wins a season.
The Pride will begin their march to a Conference title in the CAA tournament when they host Towson on Thursday.
“We are looking pretty good right now but as we all know nothing is guaranteed,” says Edwards.

14 inning wild game win for the Mets

So once again, as stated in an earlier blog I am far from a Met fan...BUT,lately I have been watching many of the games on T.V. because i intern for SNY and like to see how the show runs. Watching a baseball game on T.V. now for me is a whole new thing. Instead of paying close attention to outs, strikes, and home runs I find myself timing certain production and directing aspects that i observe when I am working in the production truck. For example, last night's game against the Nationals had me laughing a little bit, feeling bad as well, only because I know the long hours the production crew puts in and a 14 inning game can get a little tiresome. For the most part they all have to be at the games 5 hour prior to game time, and then obviously during the game they are not allowed to leave the truck.I caught a few as i would say "tid bits" of the game here and there. I saw Nelson Figueroa's lucky catch that had me stunned for a moment, when he caught the ball from behind his back after the pitch he threw to who, i can't recall. Figueroa pitched seven innings, allowing two walks and just two hits other than the home run, while striking out seven.The young pitcher has been having a pretty good season so far from what i have seen. John Lannon, who coincidently is from a high school only 15-20 minutes from Hofstra also played a pretty good game, he struck out 11 and walked none in six innings. All in all it was a good game, and i am sure when i go into the SNY office today there will be alot of tired employees!

My first Mets game......as part of "the press"

So as an intern for SNY part of the gig is going to Mets games to help out in the production truck. I've never been to Shea Stadium before let alone any Mets games so I was a little excited to see what all the hype was about. I attended last night's game against the Phillies which was the last opening night game for the stadium. I was told to be at the stadium at 2:30 even though the game wasnt until 7:10. Getting through security wasnt as much of a hassle as i thought it was going to be, part of it was probably because I am a girl, which obviously has its positives. I had my credential hanging around my neck and I was ready to rock. My first assignment was to follow one of the camera guys around to get shots for the opening. That was pretty neat to be a part of because I was able to see whats important in getting a good shot. The only downside was I had to haul a tripod all the way over to the shady part of the street where it looks like the canal street for auto parts. So, anyways after that was said and done with I waited patiently for the game to start as I ran a few errands here and there for the production crew, which was basically running to get nathans hot dogs for the producer and director. Mainly what goes on in the production truck is alot of yelling and screaming and the producer and director going back and forth during commercials with the announcers. The cameras were placed all over the place, one mainly focusing on Erin Andrews from ESPN and what she was wearing that evening. All in all I would have to say that I realized there's alot that goes into putting a game on the air, its not just taking a video camera and filming the game. Everytime I watch a game on t.v now I'm probably going to point out things to my friends on how something got there or why they are shooting a certain shot, and I'm sure I will probably get on their nerves. Being part of the "press" is funny....its harder to get into the dinning room then it is to get onto the field.

Walsh is the Don of the new day for New York

Donnie Walsh was introduced as the new president of the New York Knicks wednesday, and yet Isiah Thomas is still hanging around. You would think that once Walsh gives his press conference the first thing on the agenda would be to fire Thomas, or at least thats what the people of New York would have hoped for. I loved Espn's Steven A. Smith's comment on the whole ordeal saying they shouldn't just fire Thomas, they should get rid of the whole team...the waterboy....the cheerleaders...the whole staff!Walsh hopes to get Madison Sqaure Garden back to the way it used to be, he obviously wants to coach a winning team, i mean who wouldn't. Before any changes are made Walsh said in his press conference that he wants to sit down with Thomas, Eddy Curry, Stephon Marbury and many more to discuss the their future with the team. I respect Walsh for his decisions and believe that he is a classy guy. Hopefully whatever he decides to do will be good for the team, as for now New York will just sit back and hope for the best.

A-Roid?

Just when we thought the whole steroids talk was slowly coming to an end Jose Conseco had to come out and shed a light on the subject once again. In his new book Conseco says that he introduced Alex Rodriguez to a steroids distributor and that A-Rod pursued Canseco's wife, according to the Web site of freelance writer Joe Lavin. These comments left A-Rod speechless on Tuesday when the rumors started flying.It's a comment not too surprising but at the same time A-Rod was never mentioned on the Mitchell report. Canseco must have it out really bad for Rodriguez for him to make all these claims....I turned on a early morning news channel the other day and they had a quote from Canseco about A-Rod saying "I hate his f*****g guts." For all Yankee fans out there A-Rod is one of the greatest, so this could be a huge let down. As for the Met fans they could care less if A-Rod was on steroids or even sleeping with prostitutes like Spitzer.

Billy Crystal in pinstripes

Did u ever have a lifelong dream to play for your favorite major league baseball team who you have watched your entire life? Well Billy Crystal did, and now hes playing for them. Crystal signed a one-day contract to play with the Yankees before playing in a 2008 Grapfruit League game against the Pirates.Crystal was the third person in the clubhouse to be wearing the number 60 jersey. The number also belongs to special pitching instructor Rich Monteleone and young infielder Cody Ransom, who will switch to number 67 for the pirates game. Crystal says he does not want to step on anyones toes, but i mean it's still a bit strange when you think about it. You have an actor/comedian stepping in and giving baseball a shot for one of the most popular baseball teams out there. For all we know this could be a midlife crisis issue..instead of buying a new porsche or ferrari, Crystal decides he wants to get a hug from jason giambi and brush up on his baseball skills. Crystal is going on 60 and actually doesn't look half bad out there. The whole thought of it is still a little strange to me, I mean next thing you know jay leno may wake up tommorow and decide he wants to shoot hoops for the New York Knicks, anything is possible in today's society right?