The weather was quite lovely when Three Rivers College athletes arrived in Arizona.
It was Saturday evening, the sun had already set and temperatures were in the 80s. With the dry, desert heat, coupled with the mountains scraping the horizon in every direction, the Raiders thought Yuma was beautiful as Zoe Bisby won the home run derby Sunday evening.
Then Arizona turned into Arizona. The rest of the week was either in the high 90s or low 100s. In the sunniest place in America, clouds were a rarity and shade a premium.
“Our first practice, at least for me, didn’t go the greatest. I think as we went on it got a little better. It’s just different,” Bisby said.
Field conditions were also an abrupt change from Missouri. The Raiders are used to soft, well-watered infields. The dirt in Yuma was compact, dry and hard. Routine grounders bounced high and hard. One Raider got a bloody nose during practice early in the week. During the Raiders’ Thursday game against Seminole State, the Trojans’ pitcher randomly got a nosebleed in the dry, arid weather.
“I think it had to do with mentally. From our first practice, a couple kids took some shots off some hops. I think it hurts your confidence a little bit. This is already a big stage. If you’re not confident in what you’re doing on the big stage, it causes problems, and it gets exposed at this level,” said Three Rivers coach Jeff Null, who added the Raiders stopped making excuses early in the week. “The last two games, we made zero excuses about the field. They’re playing on the same fields. We have to adapt and overcome, and we competed better the last two games.”
Added sophomore Bridgette Swinford, “It’s definitely different. The fields are a lot more dry compared to back at home. We always have them watered and they’re really soft. They water them here, but it’s 100 degrees so there’s not much you can do. The ball was definitely taking some hard hops and we tried to do as much as we can, but sometimes you just can’t.
“I kind of liked it though, I’m not going to lie ... I was trying to drink as much water as I could just so we weren’t too dehydrated since we were sweating a lot out here.”
Three Rivers steadily adapted to the bounces on the field and the conditions off it. On Wednesday, games were well behind schedule. The Raiders arrived at the ballpark around 2 p.m. Arizona time for their 4 p.m. game, but it didn’t start until closer to 6 p.m. They had to play a second game later that night as the tournament bracket dictated, and their game that was supposed to start at 8 p.m. ultimately ended just before 2 a.m.
“Back home it is more humid, but it’s just been hot, and the ground is a lot harder,” Kindi Puckett said. “We had a little bit to struggle with, but overall I think we came a long way since the first game.”
The trip, ultimately, was a learning experience for the Midwest District champions.
“We have to keep getting better. Any time you come out here and you face this kind of competition, you learn about yourself,” Null said. “This year was tough on us because we missed our early season tournaments. We missed the chance to play all these top teams early, and you grow from those.”
Scott Borkgren - Daily American Republic