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USF Summer Baseball Blog No. 7 - Mason Morioka
June 15, 2009
Today we head to Bethesda, Maryland with a blog from freshman catcher Mason Morioka. This blog, along with all others over the summer will be posted on USFDons.com, so be sure to check back on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for a new player blog through the end of July.
After a great five days at home, I embarked on what would be my first trip to the east coast to play my first summer ball in a collegiate league. I am playing in the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate League with my teammates Connor Bernatz and Cameron Love and many others from different schools. I flew on Virgin America, watching two movies on the flight over, flying into Washington Dulles Airport. I was warmly welcomed to the east coast when my host father (Brent Weingardt) met me at the baggage claim. I was first introduced to the humid weather while walking to the car when Brent came to pick me up at the airport. When we returned home I was warmly welcomed by Brent's kids: Josh (21), Jason (18), and Julia (15). I later accompanied Brent to pick up his wife, Dani. I sat around that night talking to my host brothers and sister. I found out that Jason is the voice of the Big Train. He is the internet broadcaster when we have home games. He is also attending the College of Wooster, which he found in the latest edition of Sports Illustrated walking off the field losing the championship game for Division III. Julia interviewed me for her school paper. It was my first interview; it was pretty rocky to say the least. She is among the top in her class in just about every category thought of. Josh has been my guide, helping me get around the city and such.
Since this was my first time doing anything of this sort, I was really fortunate to have the host family that I do. They have always been there to help me through the transition of being off on my own, 3,000 miles away from home. With great food and hospitality, so far, I can say that I've really enjoyed my stay here in Maryland. Now let's get on to the baseball part of Maryland.
To me, it's like I ran into a team that I've known all my life. The guys here are really easy to get along with and have been a real joy to play alongside. There were a lot of returners to the team so it was really easy to get into the mix. Since I don't have a car here, I have been catching a ride with what has become one of my good buddies, Mike Bottoms from Morehead State.
The community of Bethesda has brought just over 1,000 fans at every game. Our supporters have been greatly appreciated and our general manager chooses a couple of non-profit organizations to be recognized by throwing out the first pitch of our home games.
We are still currently undefeated as our pitching staff has dominated every team that we've played. From what I hear from some of the guys, this is one of the most potent offences that the team has seen. We have the reigning MVP of the Cal Ripken League and many potential draft picks. Our defense has been absolutely outstanding. But the real challenge lies within the Maryland Orioles. They won the league last year, but the Bethesda Big Train is looking to regain that title this year!
Since we have a lot of returners, one thing that I have really enjoyed is the questions. We are frequently asked questions like: How is Matt Hiserman doing? How is Zack Kim doing? Hearing all the remarks from the coaching staff and returning players about our guys: all I have to say is that Connor, Cameron, and I have some big shoes to fill!
With all of this being said, I hope that we can fill the shoes of the previous Dons. Those guys being Jonnie Knoble, Evan Fredrickson, Matt Hiserman, Zack Kim, and many others. They have left a legacy with our coach, Sal Colangelo and the rest of the coaching staff. Coach Sal talks about those guys all the time and he makes references about them, telling us stories about the previous summers.
