Amanda Daigle Sr. • P	The first thank-you I owe is to my parents. Without them I would not have had the opportunity to attend Saint Mary’s…and as I feel sorry for any team that has to face us on the field, I’m glad they helped put me in the right dugout! Thanks for the countless hours of travel to and from games and practices over the years, and for spending many-a-weekend watching ball. It always meant a lot to look over — even in wind, pouring rain, or snow — and see you in the bleachers cheering me on. Thanks for coming to support me and my team even when you thought you may not see me play. I think it’s even harder as a parent than as a player to accept those situations, but my team is a huge part of me and it means a lot to me that you supported whoever was out on the field. Thanks to my siblings, Abbie and Aaron, for their patience over the years when family plans were always made around my softball schedule. I have to thank all my friends for their support along the way. Thanks to Jung for keeping me sane through the last two years. I couldn’t have done it without you. Thanks to Kellie, Steph, Weinmann, and Smalls for your encouragement, for being SMU softball superfans, and for still being my friends even though every time you ask me to do something fun, I tell you I can’t because I have softball. Kellie, I also have to thank you for all those late-night study sessions when I got back late from games and had to make up material I missed. My biology grades definitely reflect your patience with the thousand questions I fired at you while you while you were trying to fall asleep. Thanks to everyone who taught me the game of softball. Thanks to all the coaches at Saint Mary’s who have taught me the game and made me a better player. I want to thank my first pitching coach, Tim Nispel, who devoted a ton of time (and a lot of bruised shins…) to make me a pitcher. Not only did Tim get me into competitive softball, but he also really taught me to love the game. Thanks, Tim for not letting me become just another “brown bagger” at Tate Park. My next thank you goes to all the USED and ABUSED people in my life … that means you, catchers. Thanks for the countless hours you spent in a squat while your hand (and sometimes other body parts) took a beating. I have to say I don’t envy catchers at all. I learned just how great catchers are when I tried catching Schipp’s riseball … for as many as I actually caught it, she may as well have been throwing at the tarp. That framing and blocking stuff is harder than it looks. I want to especially thank a few people who have caught for me the most throughout my softball career. Thanks to two of my best friends, Jung and Ellen, who luckily enough for me are catchers and have not “lost my phone number” even after I’ve used and abused their convenient catching services. Thanks to Holly Cormican and Ashley Groeler who caught the majority of the pitches I threw here at Saint Mary’s. Even among great ballplayers, your heart for the game and the joy you take in catching is rare. Ash, I especially miss spending games throwing to you in the bullpen. Thanks to my fellow seniors for four great years … and to Lang the wanna-be senior for three (just kidding, Lang). Edge, despite a rough start to your college softball career (sending someone to the hospital for two weeks with a major concussion, loose and missing teeth, and broken facial bones) you’ve come around quite nicely ;) The high expectations you set for yourself and the team in every practice has helped this team reach a high level of performance. Thanks for the catching services that I have used and abused over the years, and especially for being the only catcher for five pitchers in the off-season this year. If you need an orthopedic surgeon to fix up your knees later in life, look me up cause I owe you one. Regs, you’ve been a brick wall at first ever since you stepped on the field…you’ve been a regular “Snaggy McSnaggums” over there. Thanks for the witty commentary and away messages that have kept me laughing — often until my sides hurt and my eyes water. I laugh now when I remember Annie Hovde’s assignment from coach to get you to talk freshman year — she didn’t know what she was getting into when she did that. Krista/KP/ “Jockstrap”: you are the heart and soul of this team. Your energy and excitement, your encouraging words, and your leadership on the field will surely be missed. You have a presence when you step out there. Your great fundamentals (thinking back to K-Rod’s impression of your fielding on skit night…), solid defense, and home run swing (they couldn’t take it away from you two years in a row…) are a testament to your work ethic. Lang, even though you’re the smelly kid on the team and I’ve learned way too much about the things that come out of you, it’s been a pleasure playing ball with you. Thanks for your reliable performances and your ability to keep the mood light in any situation. Thanks to all those who have believed in me and encouraged me along the way. Thanks to my teammates for always having a kind word of support when I got down on myself or when things got frustrating. I’m sure you underestimate what it means to me to have support and confidence from players that I respect so much. And I couldn’t look back on my softball career without recalling a certain incident in St. Louis where I got some rather blunt and public support from my teammate Amy Langer. In the middle of an inning I heard a loud and clear “Put Amanda in!!!” from center field. I have to say that in my four years at Saint Mary’s, that’s the most blatent plug of support I’ve ever had. Thanks, Langer! I want to thank past players for the SMU fastpitch tradition that has been handed down. Thanks for teaching us a work ethic that is second to none and for making us get the smallest details of the game right. But most of all thanks for teaching us to be Bulldogs who keep fighting through adversity. I’m proud to be a part of that tradition. I’m also proud to say when I look at our current team that the Bulldog tradition has been successfully handed on. How do I know we’re Bulldogs? I know because when no one was looking in the off-season, our team was working their asses off during and outside of our three practices a week. I know because on one of the first days of practice Mondo was already in great shape and kicked my ass on a bluff run. I know because we did self-imposed hill sprints in the off-season because we hold ourselves to higher, Bulldog standards. I know because our team was on “Fennern-time” for 6 a.m. workouts in January and still enthusiastic about being there. I know because when coach called us in early one day from 5-in-a-row, Kimmy asked me after our huddle to hit so she could finish the drill. Ladies, I’m proud to be a part of this team because our actions speak for themselves. I don’t think there is any higher compliment than that. Thanks to each one of you for your hard work, and for doing Whatever Is Needed. Keep it up, Bulldogs. My favorite baseball quote was a line by former Yankee pitcher, Jim Bouton. He said, “You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all along.” Now, as my career in competitive fastpitch comes to a close, I find this statement truer than ever. I am blessed to have gotten to play ball with so many talented, hard working people, and I know I will miss it so much when it is all over. Thank you for all the memories. And one last time … Havin’ a day, RED!