End Of The Road

Kristen Jones

When I began my DII career 4 short years ago I didn’t spend much time thinking about when it would be over, or that I had just a few years left to play the one sport I’d spent most of my time trying to perfect. If I stop for a second and think about all the time and effort I put in to training and practicing for softball it’s almost incomprehensible that my career has come to an end. 

Like many others, my final season ended in regional play in Dahlonega, GA against a rival PBC team. Augusta State again playing North Georgia for a berth to the super regional. It was the second time in the last 4 years this had happened. Unfortunately we lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to the nationally-ranked Saints. I can honestly say that the end of that game and the moments following it were a bit of an emotional roller coaster. As I stood in the dugout in the last inning and watched North Georgia’s second baseman make a diving play to end the game I turned my back to the field before the final out was made. In that moment I was overcome with disappointment that it wasn’t my team celebrating a win and that I’d never have that opportunity again. But as we went to shake the other team’s hands and eventually made it out to our postgame huddle I couldn’t stay sad or disappointed for very long.

I find no disappointment in 4 years of time spent with wonderful teammates, coaches, and working towards a degree. These are all things that no one can take away from me and a loss cannot diminish their value. Yes my times as a student-athlete at Augusta State were some of the best years of my life but they are not my entire life. Now I look forward to the completion of my under grad degree this summer and a starting work towards a Master’s degree in the fall. I will always be proud of my success as a student-athlete and a Jaguar and because of that I feel primed for my future success as an individual in the professional world. 

 

Louisville Sluggers

On Saturday May 12 the Flagler Saints softball team did something that had never been done before–they defeated 3 -time defending Southeast Super Regional champs North Georgia to advance to their first ever Division II Softball World Series. One of the Saints senior leaders also happens to be the Peach Blog’s very own Lauren Ely, who has blogged for us throughout the year. Lauren will also be blogging about her trip to Louisville for the DII Championships Festival and Flagler’s shot at winning a National Championship. Here is Lauren’s first report from Louisville:

Lauren Ely

What a day!

We just got back from an amazing dinner at Churchill Downs for the opening ceremony of the 2012 National Championships Festival. The ceremony gave us a chance to explore the grounds where the infamous Kentucky Derby is held and relit the fire we felt on Saturday to continue winning. 

This morning we left Georgia bright and early at 4 a.m.  We flew out of Atlanta to Charlotte, from Charlotte to Cincinnati and drove on a bus in to Louisville before the opening ceremony. 

Our team is excited and thankful to have the opportunity to compete for a national championship.  After going through an end of the season slump and losing seven games in a row, we thought our season might come to an early end.  We have talked several times about how we were truly given a second chance when we narrowly qualified as the last seed in the region rankings. 

We slammed the door on our slump and have finally begun playing like the team we knew we could be all season.  Our three-game series against North Georgia showed the heart our team possesses and that we have the ability to beat anyone, underdog or not. 

Tomorrow we will get a chance to mingle more with the other student-athletes from golf, tennis and lacrosse, and we will have some time to practice and hopefully see more of the city.  Goodnight!

Click here to follow all the action from the DII Championships Festival.

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NCAA DII Championships Festival

Division II is always looking for ways to stay on the cutting edge for its membership. One key initiative that exemplifies this mentality is the championship festival. This concept, started when the first ever DII Championships Festival was held in Pensacola, Florida in 2006, brings an Olympics-like environment by combining multiple DII National Championships at one host site.

There have been five previous Festivals, with the most recent iteration taking place in 2010 in Louisville, Kentucky. That Festival in particular was so well-received that Louisville, and host institution Bellarmine, were again selected to host this Spring’s event. More than 1000 student-athletes across six sports (men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, softball and women’s lacrosse) will compete for the right to be crowned as this year’s best.

The Peach Belt Conference has enjoyed another highly competitive Spring season, which has resulted in an amazing 8 out of 13 schools qualifying a team or individual for a National Championship:

• Men’s Golf – Georgia College, USC Aiken, UNC Pembroke and Georgia Southwestern (J.P. Griffin qualified as an individual)
• Women’s Golf – Armstrong and UNC Pembroke (Jenna Birch and Meghan Moore qualified as individuals)
• Men’s Tennis  – Armstrong and Augusta State
• Women’s Tennis – Armstrong and Columbus State
• Softball – Flagler

The 2012 Championships Festival starts on Tuesday with the first round of Men’s Golf, and continues through Saturday. For more information on the Festival click here.

Best of luck to all our PBC teams, show the nation what this conference is all about!

Vote for Kristen!

So our intern (and Augusta State softball senior) Kristen saw that D2SA.org was running a contest where student-athletes had to create a short video showcasing their experience in Division II. This was her first attempt at creating a video like this, and she put together and edited all the footage. Not bad for her first time! Check it out and vote for Kristen’s video HERE. She can win an iTunes gift card for her efforts!

Meet Kristen Jones

Kristen Jones

Recently the Peach Belt Conference started working with a new intern who will be with us through the summer. Without further ado, Meet Kristen Jones:

Hi everyone my name is Kristen Jones and I am currently a senior softball player at Augusta State University. I am also the newest intern at the Peach Belt Conference office and couldn’t be more excited and honored to have such a wonderful opportunity. Now I have to be honest, when Carl told me he wanted me to write a post for the Peach Blog I was pretty intimidated and wasn’t sure what exactly I was going to write about. But I’ve decided to just give you all the run down on how I got to the conference office and a little bit about my 4 years in Augusta. I hope you all find it as interesting reading it as I found living it.

Originally I come from a smaller town in central Florida called Plant City. For those who don’t know, Plant City is famous for its strawberries and we are in fact the winter strawberry capital of the world. I played softball there from the time I was 5 and eventually made my way to Augusta to play in college. Since being a part of the softball team here I’ve had a handful of wonderful experiences and opportunities. I was able to attend an NCAA leadership conference, I’ve been a member of SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) for 3 years and am currently the President for ASU, I am serving on a consolidation of athletics committee for ASU and Georgia Health Science University (the schools will be merging soon and there is a lot to figure out), and like I mentioned above I have the opportunity now to serve as an intern at the Peach Belt Conference Office.

Being a senior I am on track to graduate this summer with my undergraduate degree in kinesiology with a focus in exercise and sport science. Now I know what you’re thinking, “What is a kinesiology major doing interning at the conference office?” Like most other student-athletes and students in general for that matter I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I got done with school. For me it was coaching. But the more time I spent attending events like conference SAAC meetings and the Women in Athletics seminar put on by the PBC, the more I realized how much I enjoyed being in an athletics administration environment. After coming to this realization I immediately got in touch with my advisor and Carl at the PBC letting them know about my plan for getting my masters degree in public administration. I was hoping they would see the path I wanted to take to get in to athletics administration and they did and were so willing to accommodate me.

So that’s my brief little introduction and how I came to be at the conference office. I’m so excited about my current internship and can’t wait for what lies ahead of me.

Follow Kristen on Twitter @kjoness12