Heartland Hawks Baseball 2011

The Heartland Hawks Baseball team started the 2011 season ranked #1 in the nation for Division 2 Junior Colleges.  When I board the bus in March for the spring break trip to FL, I really don't  know what to expect.  I don't see a lot of the games on the fall schedule due to weather conditions and keeping up with the girls' schedules.  Also, they play most of those games on the road.  I remember the picture on the cover of the packet Nate hands out at the start of the trip.  It had a big pile of bodies with 2 letters in the corner:  D.P.  Dog Pile.  And that was the season goal.  To have a reason to dog pile.  They started the season #1 and finished the regular season ranked #1.  Their regular season record was 53-9.  (Even without doing the math, that's A LOT of baseball games!).  The sophomore class won 99 games in their 2 years at HCC.  Their overall record was 99-22.  In all of college baseball (all divisions), Heartland won the 2nd most games.  Following the regular season, they play a region tournament to determine who goes to the College World Series.  This tournament is in Springfield but I've never made it to any of those games.  I usually have the girls' birthday party during this time and this year was no different.  In 2010, they came oh so close to winning, but unfortunately fell short.  But in 2011, the Hawks won their 1st regional title in their 4th year of existence.  They got to Dog Pile (D.P.)!!

I was one lucky coach's wife when Nate's mom offered to stay with the girls yet again.  She comes to stay for 8-10 days in March when I go to FL.  So I was blessed that her schedule was open and she was willing again to hold down the crazy fort.  We loaded the charter bus again but this time the stop was beautiful Enid, OK.  The only beautiful thing in Enid is the baseball field and it was good to be there.

They had a professional like opening ceremony with a meal.

 Each team was introduced.

Nate received his coach of the year award that night.  It's not a great picture since I took it with my phone.

They even had a home run derby with 1 batter from each team.  Dom D'Agata hit for Heartland and Nate threw to him.

Heartland's first game was the following night and they played UConn Avery Point.  The people of Enid came out and really filled up the stadium.  They love hosting the world series.

starting line ups

Heartland won the opener against UConn AP 9-6.

Parents volunteer for uniform laundry duty on the spring trip and they were lucky to get another chance to do that.  Too bad they don't all feel that way.  

2 very willing mothers

will miss them in 2012!

Second game was against Jones out of Mississippi.  Our starting pitcher was able to get the first 2 outs of the game but could not get the 3rd and didn't make it out of the 1st inning.  The Hawks ran out of innings to catch up.  They ended up losing 10-5.  First loss, double elimination.

 that kind of dirt makes the moms on laundry duty cringe!

the group of Hawk fans that were still there on the last day

 1 thing you can say about Enid, OK - It Is HOT!!

The final game was against Cecil from Maryland.  They were the obnoxious team we shared a hotel with  so it hurt a little extra to lose the final game to them.  The Hawks amazing season came to a sudden and final end when they lost to Cecil, 5-3.

Nate didn't want me to post this entry but I told him it was my blog and I'll post what I want to. :)  Besides, as I've said before, this blog is for the girls and a way to record their lives.  I thought it would be nice for them to have a record of their dad's success and see that he is being productive during all that  time he is away from home.  Since I am posting this on 1/2/12 and spring practice starts next week, here's to hoping all the drama of the fall turns itself into another successful season.  GO HAWKS!  I'll see you in Florida!