San Francisco - Day 1

I arrived in San Francisco yesterday and had an awesome day. My flight got in at 10:30am. Jim Nemerovski of girlsplaybaseball.com picked me up from the airport and took me to a baseball facility about 5-minutes away called Futurepro Baseball. They have state-of-the-art pitching machines with simulated pitchers. The ball comes out on the pitcher's release, so you can time your swing the same way you would in a game! I met Ed Sickinger of the CWBL Fillies there and he gave me some valuable hitting tips. I talked baseball for awhile with Ed and the owner of the place, and when the time came to pay, he wouldn't even charge me! Talk about nice! Futurepro Baseball was a really cool place with the best pitching machines I've ever seen. If you're ever by the San Francisco airport, check it out!

After our session, Jim picked up his son, Jason, and the three of us headed over to Treasure Island. I met my Liberty Belles teammate, Kelly Bay and her dad at the cages and got some more hitting in. Then the five of us went to a baseball field, where we took some grounders, pop-ups, and live BP. It was cool to get to meet and practice with one of my teammates. Kelly and I hit it off right away and we plan on getting together for another practice today.

After we said our goodbyes, Jim showed me around town (he's the best tour guide!) I looooooooove San Francisco and it just so happens that his house is walking distance to just about everthing! After all that practicing we were pretty hungry, so we picked up one of my favorite foods - tacos! and headed back to the house, I met Jim's lovely wife, Maxine and his daughter (a fellow baseball player), Jessica. We chowed down and had some good laughs. Then Jim said, "you are welcome to stay with us, but I may have another option that you may prefer, let me show you." We hopped in the van and he drove me to the secret location. I was kind of apprehensive, "what is this place he has in mind? A hostel? Someone's garage? An old abandoned building?" We finally pulled up to a gorgeous house, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. Wow! It is immaculate and also walking distance to everything! So I dropped my bags off and settled in.

But the day didn't end there. We went back to Jim's house, watched the MLB network (which I don't get back in Chicago. Curse you Dish Network!) and Jim prepared fresh Dungeness Crab . . . free baseball, awesome digs, MLB Network, dungeness crab! . . . am I in heaven? (Kevin Costner: No, you're in San Francisco). Jim brought me back to my new home and unloaded a bag full of gluten-free foods he bought for me. Wow, I couldn't have asked for a better welcome to San Francisco. Thanks Jim and Ed! I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!