Fresh off a season in which they won a program-record 39 games and finished second in the Ohio Valley Conference in 2018, Austin Peay State University's softball team heads into the 2019 season with high expectations and a work ethic to match. This is 'Dugout Dish' blog where each student-athlete on the team will take an opportunity to write a post highlighting the goings on of the squad, beginning with fall training and continuing all the way through the 2019 season.
Spirit of Competition
As Austin Peay's softball team returned from Thanksgiving break, we started the Ohio Valley Conference – or OVC – Challenge during our last week of practice. We were divided into two teams that were picked by captains, Brett Jackson and Kelsey Gross.
The first day of the OVC Challenge consisted of five different events. Some of the events required every girl to participate, while others required one skilled individual.
The first event was a stadium run, while holding a long rope. All members of the team participated, and Black Team gained a lead of 50 points.
The second event was tug-of-war, which Red Team won.
The third and fourth events (the iron cross and towel hang) were individual events that Kelsey Gray and Katie Keen won for the Black Squad.
The last event of day one was 2x4 push where we pushed a piece of wood down the length of a basketball court and back, with the Red Team gained 20 points for winning this competition.
The final score after all events of day one was Black Squad-95 and Red Squad-35.
Later in the day, Austin Peay softball participated in a self-defense class led by Officer Charyl Ramsey of the APSU Police Department.
During the class, Officer Ramsey demonstrated many useful techniques that will help us defend ourselves if we are attacked. Some of these techniques included punching, kicking, escaping a choke hold and escaping uncomfortable positions.
We were able to practice our new techniques on a punching bag and a partner of our choice. This was super-fun because everyone was enthusiastic about showing off their new skills.
Overall, the past few days have been very exciting and eventful for Austin Peay softball.
