Road Trips Help Prepare Buckeyes For Big Ten Title Quest – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 29, 2004
With a sigh, Beth McAbier looked across the middle isle of Northwest Airlines flight 361 last Monday and said what was on her mind to a teammate she knew would sympathize with her.
“Breana, this is our last flight,” the senior Ohio State softball first baseman said to her fellow senior teammate Breana Pozzi.
The two, along with senior Kristi DeVries sitting three rows behind them, were about to take off with the rest of the Buckeye softball squad for San Francisco for a five-game road trip over spring break.
No doubt Pozzi was well aware this was her last trip, as well, but the co-captain still found comforting words.
“Well, not really,” Pozzi said. “We do have to fly home, you know.”
And so goes the early weeks of every spring softball season for the Buckeyes. As the team waits for the Midwest to thaw from months of winter, the squad travels to warmer weather during the first part of their spring schedule to take on teams from around the country. In doing so, Ohio State prepares itself as best it can to battle for a Big Ten championship come May.
The quest for that league title will begin this weekend in Columbus as Ohio State hosts its first two Big Ten opponents of the season at Buckeye Field. Minnesota will be in town for a 6 p.m. game Friday followed by a noon contest Saturday, while Wisconsin will arrive for a Sunday double-header, also beginning at noon.
Ohio State takes out-of-state trips nearly every weekend in February and March to various points across the country. The last two seasons have seen the Buckeyes travel to Phoenix, Hawaii, Miami, New Orleans and numerous stops in California, Georgia and South Carolina.
Not only do the trips get the team ready on the field for the Big Ten season, the time together gives the players and coaches a chance to build team chemistry. “The trips are fun,” Pozzi said. “It’s a great way to get to know everyone better. We really have a chance to bond.”
That bonding has already reaped rewards in the young 2004 season as the Buckeyes are 17-10 going into their Big Ten opener.
“Having to travel to play almost all of our games early in the season makes us prepared for anything,” DeVries said. “You learn how to win under adversity and it makes you appreciate the times when you do play at home. It makes you more protective of your home turf and it gives you extra incentive to win. And it’s a comfortable atmosphere since we practice there and there are always more fans there.”
On many trips, the players’ families travel to the tournament not only to see their daughters play, but as a vacation, too.
“A good portion of our fans travel with us, which makes it more fun and easier to compete,” McAbier said.
While many of the team’s early season games are at tournaments and played on neutral fields, often the Buckeyes will take on an opponent in that team’s own back yard. Such was the case earlier this season when Ohio State knocked off 19th-ranked Arizona State Feb. 15.
“Games like that prepare us for different situations we’ll be in during the Big Ten season,” DeVries said. “It’s a great feeling when you beat someone on their own turf.”
Following their stay over spring break in California, Ohio State’s concentration will focus on defending their own home turf as two Big Ten opponents come into town.
“It’s important to start off the first Big Ten weekend on a good note,” McAbier said. “It could set the tone for the entire season.”
Ohio State plays 22 games at home this season, including a stretch in April when the Buckeyes will play 18 of 20 games in the friendly confines of Buckeye Field, which now features lights that allow night games to be played for the first time in program history.
Each of those home games is important to this group of seniors as they close in on the all-time wins record by a class, which now stands at 157 by the seniors of the 2003 squad. The three Buckeye seniors that comprise the 2004 class are just 13 wins shy of that mark.
“Every game is important,” Pozzi said. “Sometimes just one game is the difference between having a Big Ten championship or not, and we are playing this season to get it.”
### Go Bucks! ###
