The reason we're all here.

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Hey Everyone! (this was supposed to be posted last night – lack of Internet, sorry!)

When I woke up this morning, I thought to myself “there’s no way we’re playing today…”  I looked out my window at 9:00AM and it looked as though there had been a flash flood.  And let’s be honest, it wouldn’t be an international softball tournament without a rain delay! Anyways, we arrived at the field and it was in surprisingly good shape! With tarps covering the field all night long and the field crew in the outfield with sponges collecting the excess water, the field looked more than playable.  After a delay of only forty-five minutes, we were sent to the practice field for a quick warm up before our first pitch against the Czech Republic.  We ended up run-ruling the Czech in four innings, 11-1…finishing up pool play with a 6-1 record and snagging second place.  This tournament’s playoff round is very different in that four of the eight qualifying teams play double elimination while the other four have only a single life.  Our pool is 1. USA, 2. Canada, 3. New Zealand, 4. China.  The other pool is 1. Japan, 2. Australia, 3. Chinese Taipei, 4. Brazil.  Tomorrow, with back-to-back games beginning at 12:30, New Zealand vs. Brazil, China vs. Chinese Taipei, USA vs. Australia and last but certainly not least, our 7:30PM game against Japan. 

Our team spent the remainder of the afternoon sightseeing.  Our bus driver drove us along the beautiful coast of South Africa, on a street called Victoria Road (how fitting!), until we finally arrived at Hout Bay.  We were able to get off of the bus, take some pictures and watch a few seals getting fed literally feet away from us….
Hout Bay

The Daddy Seal!

The beautiful coast of South Africa
Larisa and I on top of a mountain, overlooking the entire city and coast!
The reason we’re here in South Africa is to compete for a medal and win a World Championship…and it all begins tomorrow, against the Japanese.  It will be a good test for our team and I am excited to see how our team responses to such a challenge.

GO CANADA!

Victoria

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