Each Monday throughout the season, one of our 2024 seniors will give fans a view through their eyes as they recap the previous week. On tap this week is shortstop Marley Sims.

Hi everyone, my name is Marley Sims and I will be doing the journal for this weekend as we head to Florida to play in the NFCA Leadoff Classic. This weekend was a very interesting weekend filled with excitement, hard work, some wins, and fun.

Tuesday – Wednesday
On Tuesday, we prepared for our big weekend ahead. We had one last team practice at our home field before heading out to Clearwater, Fla. After practice, we switched over to weights to ensure that our bodies were ready as well. 

Wednesday was our travel day. We left the softball parking lot at 9:00 a.m. to hit the road. We spent about 8 hours on the bus, from Mobile to Clearwater. On the way, we stopped at a Newk's Eatery in Tallahassee, Fla/. for some lunch, then headed south. The entire bus ride was filled with naps, games, and schoolwork. Once we arrived in Clearwater at about 7:30 Eastern time, we stopped at the local Chipotle for dinner and then headed to the hotel. 

Thursday
Today was our practice day. We woke up, had breakfast at the hotel and then departed for practice at the fields. We had a short session in the cages and then finished up with some defensive work. After practice, we headed to the PDQ for some lunch, then went to a CrossFit Gym for our final workout before opening day. Once our workout was finished, we went back to the hotel to get ready for a big dinner at Bahama Breeze and then back to the hotel to rest up for our day ahead. 

Friday
Game day is finally here. Today, we start off our season with North Carolina Central. We woke up, had breakfast (I had fruit loops) and then departed the hotel for the field at 7:30 a.m. (ET), to go warm up and get ready for our first game of the season. We were all very excited for this game, and we started off very strong against this team. Freshman pitcher, Ryley Harrison, started the game and was lights out. We were able to get a big win, and moved on to prepare for our second game of the day and season against Notre Dame. 

In between games, we had Chick-Fil-A lunch brought to us to keep us fueled, as well as snacks we had brought with us. After the first win, we are all fired up for our next game. Notre Dame got the pick over us in the Regional Selection for the 2023 postseason, so we had a chip on our shoulder all preseason wanting to prove we were worthy of making it to the postseason. Olivia Lackie got the win as we all worked to dominate this team. After starting off opening day 2-0, we head back to the hotel for recovery groups, dinner, then rest to continue a great weekend. 

Saturday
Saturday games are my favorite because we are able to have a nice morning with no rush to get to the field. We started our morning with recovery and treatment groups, then headed to Panera Bread for lunch before our game against St. John's. St. John's was also a big game for us because it showed that we weren't backing off against two big wins – so we kept pushing. This game was a little bit closer than the last two, but we took the win, and prepared for Missouri. 

Starting off 3-0 in our season, we get our minds right for this next game. With Missouri being in the SEC, we know we have something to prove. Our freshman third baseman, Olivia Branstetter, is from Missouri, so this game was personal for her since she knows a lot of girls on their team. Going into Branstetter's first at bat, we were still tied 0-0. She rallied with a long at-bat and finally timed up one good pitch, and sent it over the left field fence to put us on the board first with a 1-0 lead; her first collegiate home run! We ended up extending the lead 3-0, but Missouri battled back towards the end of the game for the win. However, this was still a huge game for us, and even though we lost, we were still in a really good place. We headed back to the hotel and had Outback Steakhouse delivered to us, then rested up for our last game of the weekend. 

Sunday
Sunday mornings are also pretty easy mornings. We pack up our bags, eat breakfast (I had fruit loops for the 4th morning straight), load the bus, and prepare for our last game of the weekend. We departed the hotel at 10:30 am for the cages to warm up and hit, then we headed to the fields for our game against Central Arkansas. I know I keep saying these are all really big games for us, because they are, but this game was also big for us because it determined how we were going to finish our weekend – 3-2 or 4-1. We started this game with the same mentality and excitement as the rest of them. We put ourselves up first 2-0, then Central Arkansas came back to tie it at 2-2. We did not let that stop us, as we pushed for our third run to put us up 3-2 to win the game. After finishing our opening weekend with a really good 4-1 starting record, we changed, then got ready for the bus ride back home. 

On our bus ride back home, we were able to finish up our last bit of Sunday night school work before the new week started. We stopped at the Busy Bee in Live Oak, Fla., for snacks, drinks, and Burger King, then loaded back up on the bus to head home. On the way home, we were able to stream the Super Bowl on the bus' tv's. We had a lot of fun watching this game, especially Usher's halftime show. We made it home around 11:00 pm and unloaded the bus so we could head to our beds and rest up for the new week ahead of us.

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