Five seniors are listed among the 2023 South Alabama softball roster, and each Monday throughout the season, one will give fans a view through their eyes as they recap the previous week. On tap this week is outfielder Victoria Ortiz.

Hey Jag Nation! Victoria Ortiz here! I am so excited to share the inside scoop on our very BUSY week that we had last week! I hope everyone who reads this gets a sense of what it is like to be a part of Jaguar softball during the spring season. 

Monday – (Travel/Practice Day) 
Today, we traveled to Lake Charles, La., for our midweek contest against McNeese State. Usually for midweeks, we leave the day of the game, but it was a nice change getting there a day early. On the way there I watched Sing 2 with Emma Kropp, and it was so good! I highly recommend it. We went straight to McNeese State's field (beautiful facility by the way) and we had a good practice. We focused mainly on defense because they have a turf field, which we are not used to. After practice we went to dinner at Walk-Ons! I had the Pasta Alfredeaux and enjoyed the company of Olivia Lackie, Sasha Willems, Hannah Ogea and Sophia Mendoza. It was a great day overall!

Tuesday – (Game Day / Fat Tuesday)
I love game days! There is something about waking up and knowing you get to play that is so much fun. The hotel made us one of the best breakfasts ever! After breakfast we had some down time, so I did my usual game day hair and makeup routine. Then we went to McAlister's for lunch. The service was amazing and they even wanted a picture with us afterwards! A few of us made a Starbucks run across the street to get our caffeine fix before the game. After we ate, we headed to the field. I loved this game because we were so ready. McNeese had just upset Washington the day before, so that added a little more fuel to the fire. We came out and scored right away in the first inning and that's all we needed. Olivia threw so well and made our job on defense easy. McNeese was kind enough to give us King Cake and Mardi Gras beads for Fat Tuesday, which was so nice. The sweetest part was being able to bring the 'W' back to the founder of Mardi Gras, Mobile, Ala.!!

Wednesday – (Recovery Day) 
Today, I slept in and tried to recover from all the traveling and playing. My body was very fatigued so I went to the field to do some recovery stretching/movement with our strength coach. Then I did some shoulder treatment and an ice bath to help with soreness. Afterwards, I went home, did some schoolwork and relaxed. 

Thursday – (Game Day vs. Tulsa) 
Today we opened up the South Alabama Invitational versus Tulsa. The last time we played Tulsa was my freshman year, so I was excited to play them again. However, things didn't go as planned, and we unfortunately lost. I have not confessed to my teammates yet, but I forgot my lucky game day hoop earrings I always wear. So if any of my teammates read this, I am sorry and it will NEVER happen again!! 

Friday – (Game Day vs. Furman & Mississippi State) 
This morning when I woke up, I was very ready to play. We needed a reset after the Tulsa game and I could not wait to do it. I got to the field early to get ready and hit off the tee a little bit. We ended up winning our first game against Furman, 3-2. It was closer than we wanted, but we needed to get back in the win column. We ended up losing our next game against Mississippi State, but it was a very competitive game. The score may not reflect that, but we learned a lot from that game and got better from it. 

Saturday – (Game Day vs. Tulsa) 
I had a hard time remembering what all took place this day because it ended up being a very long day, but it was a great day to say the least. Our game time was set for 5:30 p.m. and we did not play until 8:00 p.m. The game before us ended up being a 12-inning thriller. By the time our game started, I realized it had been four hours since I hit! I did not feel like I had a good warm up four hours prior, but I was able to forget it after all that time passed by. Once we started playing I was in game mode and tried to help my team the best I could. This game is probably one of my favorites of the year so far. I was so proud because so many different people stepped up to help us get the WIN! Madison Lage, KK Hughes and Jenna Hardy combined to throw a great game against a tough Tulsa lineup. Sasha Willems and Abby Allen hit their first home runs of the season that put us ahead 5-3! Of course, I cannot forget Bailey Welch robbing a home run ball in the bottom of the seventh (amazing)!!!! Altogether, it was a great TEAM win.

Sunday – (Game Day vs LA Tech)
Game six of the week! Like Tulsa, we have not played Louisiana Tech since my freshman year so I was very excited to play them! I have a few friends from summer ball on their team as well so I was definitely ready to compete. Olivia threw a great game with 14 strikeouts, and Abby Allen hit ANOTHER home run to give us the cushion we needed to win. I was so proud of our team because this was a good quality win over a quality team. We had a huge crowd at this game and signed so many autographs! So much fun!  For dinner, my dad grilled some hamburgers, and I pretty much relaxed the rest of the night. 

If you have read this whole recap, thank you for your interest in our program. We truly have some of the best fans! It was a great week of softball. I loved this week because we learned several lessons and came together on many different occasions. I am always thankful to live the life of a Jaguar. I hope to see everyone for our first conference series versus Georgia State on March 17th!

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