May 26, 2010
Tuscaloosa, Ala.

We finally made it across the country to Alabama. The weather is nice and hot, which is good because that is what we are used to playing ball in.

We arrived late last night in Birmingham and drove to Tuscaloosa. Once we got to the hotel we grabbed dinner and headed for bed.

This morning we woke up and ate breakfast at the hotel and had practice at Alabama's softball field. Their stadium is huge and very nice, possibly one of the nicest stadiums I have ever played in.

One thing that most people from Hawai'i may not know much about is the SEC, but since I grew up in Florida I know all about it. Some thing about the SEC is that they have a lot of money, so I expected their stadium to look that nice.

There is the big Alabama "A" every time you turn your head and everything is in red. Along the entire outfield fence is a banner that has pictures of their team in red and white.

Another thing about the SEC and their fans is they can be very "outspoken" and as for Hawai'i, we don't really talk about what we are going to do, we just do it.

One way to describe it all is intimidating, but when we had our team huddle after practice today I reminded the team to remember who we are and who we play for, and not let all of this Crimson Tide get in our heads.

One of the best parts about making it this far is all of the press and media we receive for all of our accomplishments. It is all very exciting. Tomorrow ESPN is coming in to watch our practice and then have a press conference with various members of the team.

The most exciting thing is that our games will be televised on ESPN this weekend. In my opinion it is one of the most honorable things that has happened in my career. On the other hand, all of the press can be very distracting and take away from our game. We need to make sure we stay strong and don't get star struck by everything.

Once game time comes it will be important that we stay focused and eliminate all of the distractions, everything from the opposing fans to the television cameras. This is it, there is no more tomorrow, either we win or we go home.

After practice today we had the rest of the day to ourselves. No parents are here yet so the girls just spent time together. We grabbed some lunch and hung out by the pool. Tonight we just need to lay low because starting tomorrow, it all begins.