Weekend Hustle

Some weekends feel busy, and then there are weekends like this one, where every hour is planned, your phone is full of reminders, and you barely have time to sit down. This past weekend was one of our busiest so far this year, with the West Coast weekend, an indoor tournament, and an indoor prospect camp all happening back-to-back. Even though it was packed from start to finish, it was also one of the most fun and rewarding weekends I've had. Seeing so many recruits and prospects in the same position I was just over a year ago made the experience even more meaningful.

We started the weekend on Friday with the beginning of the West Coast weekend. 6 recruits from California and Hawaii came to campus to see what our team and school were like. I was part of the group that gave half of the recruits a campus tour starting at 3:00 p.m. The tour lasted about an hour and included a visit to the weight room and various parts of campus. After finishing the tour, we dropped the recruits off with our coach and headed back to get ready for practice.

Practice started at 5:30 p.m., with warmups beginning at 5:15. The practice was very similar to our previous Sunday practice, focusing on situational drills followed by a situational scrimmage. We finished around 7:50 p.m. and immediately began setting up the fieldhouse for the indoor tournament we were hosting the next day. This turned out to be more difficult than expected, mostly because many of us were too short to zip-tie the baseball batting cage, but after some problem-solving, we eventually figured it out.

After setting up, we met the recruits we were hosting overnight. My roommate, Alexa, and I had the opportunity to host a recruit from California, and it was such a fun experience. After practice, the team took all the recruits to WOW for dinner so everyone could eat and get to

know each other better. Later that night, we went back to the dorms and played UNO and spoons - or "forks," as we call it. Things got very competitive, including one moment where a freshman shoved a recruit into the wall to grab the fork. Everyone was okay, and we still managed to get that recruit to commit, which made it even better. We headed to bed around midnight so we could return the recruits to our coach at 8:15 a.m. the next morning.

Saturday, we spent helping with the indoor tournament. I had some free time earlier in the day, so a few friends and I grabbed 7 Brew before watching one of my friends' little sisters play. Later that afternoon, I was an umpire for one of the games and spent more time watching more games. After the tournament ended, we cleaned the fieldhouse and set everything up for Sunday's camp. Our coach provided dinner for the team and the West Coast recruits, and during that time, we found out one of them had committed, which was exciting for everyone.

Sunday started early, with the pitchers and catchers on the team having to be there at 7:00 a.m. The camp began at 8:00 and included multiple stations, with me helping run hitting prep. The final part of the camp was an all-star scrimmage, which wrapped up around 1:15 p.m.

By the end of the weekend, I was exhausted, but it flew by. Being part of a recruiting event like this reminded me how grateful I am to be where I am now. I'm already looking forward to the 21st when our 2026 commits visit, and we get to welcome the next group into our team.