Welcome to the Ohio Hawks USSSA World Series Blog. Check back often as we post the girls comments about the trip, Orlando, Disney and their games.

August 1st

Greetings Ohio Hawks fans! Today was the last day in Florida. We went to the Kennedy Space Center and explored space and now I know astronauts can die going into space. I saw the launch pads where the Space Shuttle takes off from and was able to walk on a Space Shuttle which is now on display. I learned how a launch feels for the Space Shuttle as well. They have a ride that was designed by the astronauts to simulate an actual take off. It was fun. I saw a lot of history today and learned a lot of things about our space program. They had times when they failed, but they kept working toward their dream of going to the moon and that work paid off. It showed me that you have to keep working hard through times you fail to reach your goals. If you get to Orlando, you have to go check out the Space Center.

Thank you to everyone who has read my blog and for the support to make this dream of playing in the World Series a reality. Tomorrow morning we head back to Ohio!

Keeleigh Cummings (Kee, K.C.) #17

Wednesday, July 30th
Our journey has ended at the World Series. We won a very exciting game and lost one very exciting game. The day started out with a LONG rain delay, but we stayed focused and came out and played hard and came out on top once we started playing. The second game of the day was exciting and then … very sad. As we left the field for the last time, and the girls said, “I’ll miss you,” it was a very sad moment. I will miss all the girls on the team. We have become like sisters during the season and I will miss all of them. It was a very sad time.

I hope to stay with the Ohio Hawks, and when this band of sisters teams back up in two years, we are going to be tough to beat. While I am sad our season is over, this is an experience I will never forget. I would like to thank those who sponsored me. Doug and Karen Hatcher, Connie Williams, Cassie and Walt Majors, Dave and Terry Walters, Karlos and Pamela Patterson, Central Hair and Tanning, Miamisburg 5/3 Bank and my pitching and hitting coach Jodi Eickemeyer.

I would also like to thank Doug, Larry, Curtis and Susan for everything they have done this year! It has been a great experience, fun times and very memorable.
Keeleigh Cummings (Kee, K.C.) #17

Tuesday, July 29th
We left our house for Florida on Friday at 6:00am. We finally got here on Saturday and right when we get to the condo we started to unpack. So far we are 1 and 2. Which is not the best but its O.K. Our condo has a huge pool that has a slide that goes around and around and around! And when you’re on it, it feels like you are on a roller coaster because it goes so fast!!!!  We were in a parade on Saturday and it was very exciting but HOT! I really liked trading pins with other teams. The best thing about our trip so far is seeing all the different teams from around the USA. There were teams from Ohio, Florida, Maryland, Indiana, Texas, California, Washington, and that’s all I can think of right now!
-Bekah Lenos, #1

Hello everyone, I just wanted to let everyone know that we are having a blast here at the USSSA World Series.  It was a very long trip down here though. We lost our first two games by only a couple of runs.  Today we came in a kicked butt.  All of us played really well and we won 5-1.  It is hot down here so after the games we spend alot of time in the pool.  We have a blast in the pool. We are going to Magic Kingdom one day while we are here so that will be fun also. I will keep you updated with more blogs in the coming days about future games that we play.  Thank to everyone who helped support me in my journey down here to the World Series.  Keep checking back.
- Lexi Carpenter  -  #84 "The Goose"

This morning we closed out pool play against a team from St. Charles, IL. After a two close losses, we won our first game 5-1 to finish third in our pool. Blake Taylor hit a ball out to the fence to drive in some runs in the first inning, Emilie made a nice catch in the outfield early and we were able to stay on them the whole game. The win made going to Universal Studious more fun. Always have more fun after a win than a loss! This was my first time going to Universal, and we started out on the Shrek 4D ride. Between Donkey sneezing on us, Shrek tooting on us and Gingie spraying us with icing, it was a fun ride. I have always liked the movie Jaws, and got to go on the ride. I thought it might be a little scary, but you could tell it was not a real shark. But, if it had been a real shark – we would have needed a bigger boat! The new Simpson’s ride was pretty neat. It was like a ride without a ride with the motion cars. But, probably my favorite part was Beetlejuice’s Monster Music Prevue. It was funny and had some really great music. Going straight from the ballpark to Universal has me ready to recharge for tomorrow morning. Bracket play starts, and bracket time is Hawks time! I will write more tomorrow.
-Keeleigh Cummings (Kee, K.C.) #17

Monday, July 28th
Sunday morning we got to go the Disney Wide World of Sports, we were getting ready for the parade. The parade was very exciting. It was exciting because 1. Mickey Mouse was there!!!!!!! (of course!) 2. When you are ready to go, they announce our team name. 3. You get to go in a giant stadium for the parade.
- Sarah Wolfe, #16

Hi.  We finally got to Florida saturday.  the parade was sweet!!!!!!!!!!   When we got to the stadium it was like a reds baseball game!!!   when we started trading pins I got alot of pins from older teams. There is also a girl next to me who is 16u and she plays for the sting .they are from north carolina. i also caught a fly ball with my wrist. and i caught 2 flyballs and a play at 1st. the slide at the pool was awesome!!
-Emily Fisher, #21 PBJ ROCKS!!!!!!!!!

Greetings Ohio Hawk fans,  
Today we played the Indiana Diamonds. We were a head of them for three inngs and then they came back and beat us 7-4.  Before our game I met a girl from Maryland and her last name was Cummings and her uniform number was 17, just like me that was weird. What were the odds of that? To think of all the players from all over the country here to find one with the same last name and number as me! What a crazy coincidence. I thought that we played ok today, but not as good as I thought we would. But through my eyes we did well.  When we lost I was furious because I knew that we could have done a lot better than today. We should have won. I want to have fun while I’m down here, but I want to play and win. Business before pleasure! Tomorrow, it is time to take care of business. You always have more fun after you leave it all on the field and win!
- Keeleigh Cummings (K.C., Kee) #17    

Sunday, July 27th

We got here! Our condo is very cool! The pool is as big as two Olympic sized pools. It has a swirly slide it makes you go fast. Me and my buddy Emilie Fisher like to get stuck in the middle and then we let ourselves go really fast.

-Sarah Wolfe, #16

Greetings Ohio Hawks fans!   I had a great 1st day in Florida! We had a nice, safe trip down to Florida. We took our time and stopped at the University of Florida. We walked into “The Swamp” and looked around. I thought it was awesome and big like a elephant. We also walked around campus. It was big like Ohio State. The best part was when I walked on the softball field. When I saw what a Division I softball stadium looked like, it made me want to work harder on softball.  I can’t imagine playing in front of a huge stadium full of people. It was different from the fields we play on in Ohio. The outfield grass was green, but hard and you could see the sand under the grass in places. When I set foot on the Atlanta Braves spring training field in the Parade of Champions this morning, I knew that it was serious now. It was so exciting walking out of the dugout during the opening ceremonies and seeing all the people who were there. The announcers even did the O-H, I-0 cheer when we were introduced. That was pretty cool. There are teams here from all over the U.S.. I got to change pins with some teams and collect some neat team pins from them. It was really a great experience. We lost our 1st game 9-4 against a team from Florida. We had a rough start, but – hopefully – all our nerves are out now and we can show some Hawk Power the rest of the tournament. Even though we lost our first game, it has been a great experience so far. A chance to play against the best teams in our age group is something I will always remember! Thanks for checking my blog. I will post again tomorrow after our game with the Indiana Diamonds.

- Keeleigh Cummings (Kee and K.C.) #17