A Stanford softball student-athlete has written a weekly blog in each of the past three seasons to provide fans a behind-the-scenes perspective of the team. This year, sophomore Arden Pettit is taking over the Softblog to chronicle the team's adventures throughout the season. Her first entry this year is below.
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It's that time of the year again – the best time of the year – it's the beginning of the Stanford softball season! I am excited to bring you the latest and greatest Stanford softball news every week.
My teammates are a pretty entertaining group so fasten your seatbelts because this season's blog will be full of videos, adventure stories and of course some softball.
I guess I should tell you a little bit about myself before we get started on this journey.
My name is Arden Pettit. I also go by Ardy Pardy, Ardy, AP, or Coach D's personal favorite “Player Arden.” I hail from the beautiful Sunshine State (Florida) and enjoy pretty much any outdoor activity.
On the softball field I spend most of my time chatting with the umpire behind the plate or chillin' like a villain at third base.
As a sophomore this year I have the lovely pleasure of living with three other softball players: Savannah Schulze, Haley Snyder, and Victoria Molina. We call ourselves “The Quad” and spend most of our time cracking jokes and laughing with each other. Safe to say there is never a dull moment in our room.
OK, enough jib jab, time to get into the real stuff!
This season we have 16 lovely ladies who all worked extremely hard this offseason to get ready for the start of season. The man behind all the hard work is our new Performance Coach, Steve DiLustro. Somehow Coach Steve makes us laugh even as we're running 150-yard shuttles.
Another great addition to our staff this year is our Volunteer Assistant Coach, Jo Koons. She was a player at Utah State and brings great energy and enthusiasm to the team. She likes to make us look bad by waking up at 5 a.m. to run eight miles.
In addition to our new staff members we also added three pretty cool ladies to the roster this year. All the freshmen have some interesting daily routines …
Lauren Frost (INF) – aka “Frosty” because she is from Alaska and her last name is too perfect to not take advantage of that nickname. --“I always put my left cleat on and then my right cleat, but if it's a tournament I go right cleat then left cleat.”
Carolyn Lee (P) – aka “CLee” because Carolyn is just a mouthful. -- “I always have yogurt for breakfast and pile it in this order: strawberry yogurt, granola, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, kiwi, pineapple, and finally dried cranberries on top.”
Molly Fowkes (OF) – aka “Molly”, which is weird for our team because almost no one actually goes by their proper name. Lucky you Molly. --“I have to sleep with my stuffed broccoli floret pillow and teddy bear every night.”
Can't wait to see the freshies experience the honor of playing Pac-12 softball.
Well, that about wraps up the first Stanford Softblog of 2016. On behalf of the team we are excited to have such great fans and hope you can get out to a game at some point this season.
We open up the season this week at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Arizona. If you can't make a game don't worry! You can follow our live stats online at gostanford.com. Also make sure to follow our new Snapchat account (stanfordsball) to catch a behind the scenes look of what its like to be a Stanford softball player.
Catch you guys next week,
- Ardy Pardy
Kajikawa Classic Schedule (all times PT)
Fri, Feb 12 vs. Portland State at 6:30 p.m.
Sat, Feb 13 vs. New Mexico at 1:30 p.m.
Sat, Feb 13 vs. Cal Poly at 4 p.m.
Sun Feb 14 vs. CSUN at 12:30 p.m.
Sun Feb 14 vs. Seattle U at 2:45 p.m.
For anyone who didn't think a broccoli floret pillow was a real thing … here is a video of Molly to prove you wrong.
