By Junior Hannah Dewey 

When I think about all that has happened in the last 4 weeks, I can't help but feel like time has gone by faster than I ever thought possible. As a team, we've flown over 9,300 miles, traveled to 5 different states, and played over 165 innings. And the season isn't even halfway over yet. I look back and reflect on all that goes into a preseason, and I'm baffled by what we've accomplished in such a short amount of time. The constant “on the go” atmosphere constantly reminds me how lucky I am to be able to travel the country and play the sport I love against some of the best teams in the nation.

Being “in-season” is unlike anything most people will ever experience. The hundreds of hours of practice, conditioning, and refining your skills all lead up to the moment you've spent your entire life working towards. I can remember being a little girl watching the college players on TV and thinking they were the superstars that ruled the world of softball. They were the best of the best, and I was just one of thousands watching them make the unthinkable plays. Every year I would go to the only local preseason tournament, where dozens of college teams fought for bragging rights, and so many of my heroes met in one place. I can remember watching these girls play, and thinking to myself that being on that stage was the ultimate goal. To play at that level was my motivation to become the best I could be.

Now that I've achieved this goal, and actually played in that very same tournament that I grew up watching for so many years, I can easily say that the destination has been worth the long journey as a student-athlete. The grueling schedule that come with being a Division I athlete, learning how to prioritize schoolwork with what seems like a full-time job, and maintaining peak performance levels at all times sometimes seemed impossible. But it all builds up to being crucial for the best time of the year: season.

This season in particular has been quite the whirlwind. We've never played so many ranked opponents and while some may think it hurts us, I think it's helped us immensely. Playing the big names (and some more than once!) like Alabama, Oregon, and Oklahoma has shown us that we can compete with these top-level teams. We've shown glimpses of what we can achieve, and now we know that we are capable of playing with the best of the best, because we'll be seeing more of them in the near future (Michigan, Minnesota, and Nebraska, just to name a few). While we may not have had the total success that we'd hoped for, I can honestly say that we've learned more about ourselves as a team in these last few weeks than I thought was possible, and I can't wait to see what happens now that we finally get to play at home!

There's no better feeling than playing on your home field. You know every inch of your infield, you know how the wind blows, and what angle the sun will hit your eyes at each hour of the day, and of course, you get to interact all of your hometown fans. The local travel ball teams come out and support you, and their eyes show you how much they look up to you. That is definitely one of the greatest feelings in the world as a college athlete. To take a little girl out on the field with you and see their shy expression as you ask them their name and thank them for being a Terp fan. To be able to represent an entire population of young girls who love the sport as much as you do is something the sport has given me, and will never be able to repay the debt.

So many emotions are brought to the surface during the first weekend at home, and I welcome them all. The excitement in the locker room beforehand, the adrenaline of taking the field in that first inning, and the joy that comes with victory and your teammates and fans behind you. I can't wait to see what this weekend brings, but I know that I can promise it will be an electrifying atmosphere that many of us won't forget!