California's High Desert

We travelled to beautiful Lancaster, CA and Palmdale, CA for the California Softball All Star Championships mid-July, 2009. Temperatures, as you'd expect, were in the triple digits and 144 teams were sandblasted with dust from 25 mph winds as they played.

Elevation here is around 3,000 feet and you're midway between Highway 5 and 15. It's on the way to somewhere. I'd like to visit in the winter and see the change of seasons here. I have been skiing at the local slopes, and that's an intermediate skiers delight.

The indoor photo here shows teams practicing at Frozen Ropes/San Diego, where the best trainers and players practice and learn the skills needed to improve.

The second photo is of Kiley Robinson, age 12, on North Shore Gold, who was part of the girls fastpitch team who took Third Place at State, and will be playing at the end of July in Salem, Oregon, at Nationals. Kiley and her dad, Adam, a fifth generation San Diegan, practice hitting wiffle balls twice a week in front of their home in San Diego. Her dad checked with the coach and confirmed her batting average. “It’s .550 with 28 RBI’s,” he said. Ms. Robinson inspires others to play and get involved, too. Softball has helped her learn how to communicate with other people and develop teamwork, she claims. Kiley won the North Shore Heavy Hitter award in 2009, qualifying her for a free week of camp and a month of unlimited batting cages at Frozen Ropes, San Diego.

The third photo shows the U14's practicing. They "overachieved" by winning game one and showing they belonged at this tourney, too.

A highlight of the tournament was a parade of teams, where each team chose a theme, dressed for it, and then at the end of the procession, they all traded team pins with each other. Each girl was given a dozen pins to share and trade. This was a great way to build team spirit and communication with other teams, too.

We may be back next year.