Just over 48-hours after the UT Tyler Softball team won the West Regional, the Patriots have safely arrived in New Jersey - a mere 2,909 miles from the Baseball team in Oregon.
We loaded up and left UT Tyler around 8:30 this morning and headed to DFW, picking up assistant coach Keith Bell along the way in Forney. Check-in and screening at the airport for 25+ players and staff was surprisingly easy (hats off to American Airlines and the TSA), and after a quick lunch at TGI Friday's, we made the 3-hour flight to Newark International, landing at 6:05 local time. Gino the bus driver, who will be with us for the duration of the trip, brought us to the LaQuinta Inn in Fairfield, N.J., where we met up with our host family, the Sickles. They are great people who have already been a tremendous help!
On their recommendation, we headed over to Frank's Pizza in Lincoln Park, N.J., for a late dinner. Food was great, but we were amused by the fact that the sodas came with a lemon and the iced tea didn't...who knew.
Tomorrow morning, the team will head to Manhattan for some sightseeing before returning to check out Montclair State for the first time and get in an afternoon practice. Check back for more!
Almost forgot...after we boarded the plane to Newark, the flight attendant announced that the UT Tyler Patriots Softball team was on board and on their way to play for a national championship - we got a BIG round of applause from all the passengers!
