Hi everyone, I’m Augie. For those of you interested enough to tune in to me writing about myself over the course of these next three and a half months, I applaud you. The Green Tea Chronicles will follow my footsteps as I embark on my final season as a competitive athlete and act as a eulogy to my first love: the game of softball. I hope to capture the highs and lows of one of the most grueling seasons Division I athletics has to offer, the behind-the-scenes mental battle that happens to every athlete (but none of us like to talk about), and some nostalgic shout outs to the memories and the people that have gotten me to where I am today. What better way to make sense of the end than by establishing how my story began?
It all started in April of 2003. I was 5 years old and my father had had enough of the “foo-foo dance recitals”. The time was upon us to take a nosedive into the gritty world of sports. He signed me up for the county’s spring tee ball league and my love for the game began to grow. Team practice twice a week consisted of dandelion picking and butterfly chasing in the freshly cut grass of the outfield, swinging for the baseball on the tee and wiffing at it nine times out of ten. “Don’t give up, you got this”, my dad would tell me as he saw the look of defeat and frustration in his little girl’s eyes. Spending endless hours in the driveway learning how to play catch and not being allowed back into the house for dinner until I tossed up five perfect throws at Berto’s chest (Berto is what we will call my dad throughout the rest of my chronicles).
Fast forward to April 2007, the start of my first softball season for the Charles County Youth League. As practices began I quickly realized that JUST being a position player was not for me. I loved to be the center of attention and the best on the field. What better way to have all eyes on me than to become a pitcher? There was no other way, 7 year old me thought. Becoming the “it” pitcher is what I had to do. And at that moment the game of softball got stuck with me. My parents sent me to pitching lessons with my big sister, we watched the WWCS( Women’s College World Series) every June, and spent endless hours in the driveway with Berto helping me perfect my craft. “Superstars don’t take off days” he’d say. Family vacation at the beach didn’t get in the way. When the sun was setting and the sand cooled off Berto caught me as I put on a pitching show for my “fans” who passed us by on the beach.
Three All-Star Team invites in three recreational league seasons and my parents decided I needed a more challenging atmosphere. Somewhere around the age of 9 or 10 I tried out for a travel ball team in the county over named the “Bayside Blues”. At this point in time they were a pretty big deal for Southern Maryland. The only “A” level ball team within an hour drive and they were pretty darn good too. I tried out in August of 2011 and made the team. My time with the Bayside Blues brought my love and passion for the game to an unprecedented level.
It was during this time I realized that I actually had a shot at playing and being successful at the highest level. Unfortunately, the Bayside Blues did not have the travel schedule and college coach exposure that I needed in order to be recruited to the schools I dreamed of playing at. In fact, no Maryland club teams played a competitive enough schedule at that time. I had to say goodbye to the group of girls who had been my best friends for five years so I could chase my dream. It was emotionally devastating. I went from playing with a group of girls I saw every other day to being the guest player bouncing between several teams out of Chicago, Virginia, and New Jersey. It was not until fall of my sophomore year that I found a new home with the New Jersey Cheetahs softball organization. We traveled across the country to California, Colorado, and Florida. The amount of exposure to college coaches was breathtakingly exciting to me. My first tournament with the Cheetahs was in Orange County, California. I pitched a 7-inning game to the OC Batbusters (one of the top 3 softball clubs in the country). Every Pac-12 and SEC coach was behind my backstop, watching my game. It was an unreal experience. I soon learned this amount of exposure was an every weekend experience for these girls.
My recruitment process turned out to be ironic. For a year I was hell-bent on playing for Florida State University. I had weekly calls set up with coach A. She even flew up to watch me pitch in my high school rivalry game against O’Connell. As time went on and travel ball season hit I could feel her brewing up an offer. She was supposed to watch me pitch the opening game of the Team New Jersey showcase tournament against the South Carolina Elite (one of the best east coast organizations at the time). Can you guys guess what happened? If you guessed that she didn’t show, ding ding ding, you are correct. I pitched a one hitter to a lineup that had six girls going SEC. She ended up making it to the fifth game, and the fourth game I had pitched, that weekend. It was bracket play and we somehow got matched up with the South Carolina Elite… AGAIN. Needless to say after I made their lineup look silly two nights prior they were out for revenge. They mutilated me in the game coach A went to. 5 or 6 dingers in 4 innings. Their outs were at the warning tracks. I had never cried so hard in my life. I felt like the biggest disappointment to myself and to my dad. Everything happens for a reason though, right? It turns out that even though I had currently lost the eyes of my main school I had picked up the liking of many other schools I had never considered. One of those schools being Fordham University. Bridget (she hated being called coach) called me the following week to come visit. As soon as I stepped on Fordham University’s campus I forgot that Florida State existed. Fordham felt like the place I was meant to be. Not even two days later Bridget offered me, I committed to Fordham, and the rest is history. To this day, it is easily one of the best decisions I ever made.
Fast forward a little under seven years and here we are. I have three rings in three seasons and in one week I begin my conquest for my fourth. And, that my friends, is the all Augie tea we have for today. Until next time.
The Green Tea Chronicles 