By By Todd Doolittle / mcc pitcher
May 28, 2003
Day 7
We had the day off today. I slept in a lot in the morning. I got up around 11:30 a.m., and I went to the pool with Philip Garret to around 1:30 p.m. After getting out of the water, I went to the cook out hosted by our sponsor's the Lion Club.
The afternoon lunch was very pleasant. They fed us a quality meal of steak and barbecue chicken, with plenty of side dishes. It was great to be able to meet some of the local folks in the pleasant setting of Redlands Community Center.
While a lot of the people at the lunch were not sure of what we did the night before, they were all very supportive of the team. They kept telling us we could win it all, even though we lost our first game.
It was great to meet and talk to the people who helped get us here, because they were all very upbeat about our chances to win the national title.
After we finished eating, coach (Michael) Federico thanked the Lion's Club and our sponsors for everything they did for us this week. Everybody on the team had to stand up in front of the crowd and introduce themselves and point out their parents.
It was pretty cool to see all of the parents who made the trip out here to watch us play. I also enjoyed meeting the people who live in Grand Junction, and they really showed how much they cared about the World Series.
After the lunch, I got a chance to play a local golf course with Phillip Garrett, Don Moore and Justin Brewer. We played at the Adobe Creek National Golf Course.
Phillip and I had to rent clubs to play, but they gave us a deal and gave us one rental set for free. I hit a 6-over-par 78, and Don showed his links
expertise finishing with a par 72. Of course, he played in high school. I don't play that much, and really it was just a good chance to get away for a while and not think about the World Series.
We got back to the hotel about an hour after the final game started. So we missed the bus out to the stadium, but luckily, we were still able to see the annual Memorial Day fireworks display from the entrance to the hotel.
The day off after our first game in the series may have worked to our advantage. This was probably the first day were we had most of it to ourselves, and it allowed us to unwind and not think about the games.