G.T. Star Slugger Jen Yee

I never thought I would spend a weekend watching women’s college softball this weekend. The reason I was tuning-in was to watch Jen Yee, the best softball player in the country with all of her impressive stats she put up this year. Leading the nation in homers and batting average was on a couple of her stats she led all other college softball players in this year. It was a magical season for Jen Yee and she didn’t disappoint anyone that watched her play on Saturday or Sunday on ESPN. She lived up to the hype and delivered a lot for the Lady Jackets as they fell short in extra innings to Oregon on Sunday afternoon.

It’s not often on a Sunday afternoon that the Atlanta Braves is not showing on my TV at home. Yesterday I had the remote control in-hand; while flipping back and forth to the Braves and Pirates game to the Lady Yellow Jackets softball game. I found myself more wrapped up in the Lady Jackets than the Braves and that doesn’t happen too often. A big reason why was due to the fact of watching the 5th year senior from Canada Jen Yee do her thing. She was impressive in all aspects of the game and she’s the Alex Rodriguez of college softball. It’s too bad she won’t have a chance to swing the bat again for the Georgia Tech team, because she was worth watching, that’s for sure!

I guess Jacket fans can turn their attention to the Canadian team and watch Jen Yee continue to play softball this summer; as she will be representing her country of Canada. I will be curious to see how Team Canada does in softball and will be rooting for Jen Yee to rope another single up the middle or take one out of the park with her awesome home run swing. She brought that strong bat down from Canada, to the hot sun of Atlanta, Georgia; where she hit an impressive 29 home runs this year. Not to mention the fact she had a batting average of over .500; which means she was getting on base more, than making outs for her Georgia Tech softball team.

Jen Yee steps on the field, you know the girl will be giving 100%. She can’t even keep that energy bottled up for the game to begin as Jen was out there with the GT ground crews and was watering the field down. She started this on Saturday; while she just held the water hose on her shoulders. On Sunday, she did more than just hold the hose, as she was the one who was doing the actual sprinkling of water on the field and all of this right before the Georgia Tech and Oregon softball game. It didn’t slow her down either day, as she hit a home run against the Auburn Tigers softball team on Saturday and then hit a long home run over the right field porch in Atlanta on Sunday afternoon.

What now for the senior softball player from Tech? She has been working on an engineering degree; which she hopes to apply her education to producing a new bat. A bat that is a high tech bat and one that would provide better results than the current-day bats are providing to players. I think opposing pitchers would disagree with Ms. Yee and would probably let her know now, that there is nothing wrong with the bat she used in 2010 for the Lady Jackets softball team.

It was a magical day for the Lady Jackets as they spent most of Sunday trying to come back from the defecits they kept finding their selves in from the women’s team from Oregon. They had their own little slugger doing her thing.

Allie Burger from Oregon

It was a great Sunday afternoon for the lead-off hitter from Corvallis; where the Oregon team is from. Allie Burger is a star in the making and she probably learned a few things from Jen Yee in their two day battle against the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta. Burger almost hit a home run and was just inches away from clearing a long fly ball over the right field fence. This was a big hit in the game and Allie had a hot bat all weekend long in Atlanta. You don’t think her small size would be home run material, but their rivals from the Oregon State Beavers probably thought that too; when she hit her first college career home run off them this year. Oregon would win that game over Oregon State by a 6 to 5 score and Allie Burger hasn’t stopped swinging since. Look for this freshmen to make more noise in the 2010 tournament and for the rest of her college softball career. I won’t be surprised to see Allie Burger leading the nation in hits next year or at some point in her college softball career. She has a nice blend of power and speed that make her perfect for women’s softball. Her bat is a big reason why the Ducks didn’t need to play a 2nd game on Sunday against the Jackets softball team.

Did you spend the weekend watching these talented girls like Jen Yee from Georgia Tech and Allie Burger from the Ducks of Oregon? Don’t laugh or think this would have been a waste of time. If you like sports and watching two evenly matched teams go at it on the diamond in softball or baseball, you would have loved watching the softball in Atlanta his weekend. These girls are amazing and I wonder where they go after college? I guess the WNBA isn’t the only pro league women need to become professionals in sports. I think a women’s softball league on the professional level is needed, if there isn’t one now. I know there would be at least a dozen cities that would have an interest in this and folks in Georgia would have more than the Atlanta Dream from the WNBA to watch in women’s sports. I’m not that big of a fan of women athletes or the sports they play. When you see talent like Yee and Burger display at the plate, it makes you want to watch them play more.

The softball in Georgia Tech is in good shape. They have a lot of talented freshmen like Oregon’s Allie Burger that will be representing them on the field in 2011. I’m sure a few high school girls watched the action on Sunday and now want to be a part of the great softball program in Atlanta. A few more good recruits for next year and the women from Tech will be right back up there next year, defending their title as ACC Champions in women’s softball.

If Allie Burger or Jen Yee is reading my blog now, I do have a question for each of you. Please leave me a reply, if you’re currently online reading about your self and found my blog post through the search engines.

First question for Jen Yee: If you do come up with a better bat, will you make an effort to give the Lady Jackets softball team the first swings with it? Or will you be leaning more toward your teammates in Canada and providing the Canadian National Team with the first high-tech bats from Jen Yee?

Second question for Allie Burger: Did the games in Atlanta over the weekend have a more special place in your heart; than the diving catch you made in high school during the State Championship Game?

Allie played at Shadle Park High School and during her sophomore year, she made a diving catch to help her team win 2-0 in the State Championship game. I’m sure this catch will always be a lasting memory for Allie, but how does the college action and playing against the country’s best softball player in Jen Yee and beating her team; compare to the diving catch as a 10th grader at Shadle Park HS?

Great job Jackets! Hope to see you guys back in 2011! Also, I would like to wish the ladies from Oregon good luck as they continue their tournament play in 2010 and beating the odds in front of the hostile fans in Atlanta; that was primarily rooting for the Lady Jackets to win on Sunday afternoon. Congratulations to both teams!