| I have watched the WCWS off and on for the last couple of years, fitting it in around my practice schedules etc. THIS year I HAD to watch it!! I had two friends playing in it! Megan Bush (Florida) and Mandy Urfer (ASU) are just freshman and yet they not only were on the two best teams in the nation but they were starters!!! How awesome is that? I met these two girls and a team full of girls just like them last summer when I was a pick up player for the SoCal Explosion, coached by Joe Widdle and Mike Gerritse. It was the most amazing experience of my life! Not only did these girls welcome me, but they treated me as one of their own. Even though I was with them for only one week, I came back a changed player. I saw what it was like to play with like-minded players. Their practices were the best I had ever had and the things I picked up working with Coach Widdle, I carry with me to this day. I came back from Colorado a changed person, for the better. Now two of the girls played in the college world series! What an amazing year for them! I am so proud to be able to say that I played on the same team with these two players but what's even more amazing is that there is an entire team of girls just like them. The SoCal Explosion team that I played on had some of the best pitching I had caught for up to now. Jodi Valdivia (Notre Dame) Alex Holmes (UC Davis) and Shelly Tait (UoP) and a terrific catcher Heather Gerritse (Wichita State) that I helped out that week. I can't say enough about how talented these girls were or how nice they were to me. My mom and I talk a lot about karma and how if you do right by others good things come your way. I don't know why karma, fate etc. has been so kind to me but I feel blessed to have played with these girls. I still talk to Joe Widdle and with his encouragement and endorsement of me as a player I now play for the St. Louis Chaos team. I live in Omaha, Nebraska, so for a kid from the middle of the country to have had the opportunities I have and am still getting, I feel truly blessed. I head down to St. Louis on Tuesday where I will practice with my new team for a few days before our first qualifier in Blue Springs, Mo. I am very excited to meet my new teammates! I know we will be a strong team and I believe we will meet all our goals for the summer, not the least of which is a bid and appearance at the Gold National tournament in OKC. I believe with every ounce of my being that not only will we do well in OKC but we could win and as much as I know this to be true, I know that this will not be my last trip to OKC!! Thanks for reading my blog, I hope that you are having as much fun with softball as I am. Take care and God Bless. Katie | 
