Washing headstones of American soldiers from World War II wasn’t on the original itinerary when Alabama softball made the trip to the Netherlands in early August. The original plan was to play the Dutch National Team three times, but plans changed.
“For about two hours we washed the headstones of 2,000 American soldiers,” coach Patrick Murphy said. “A bucket of water and everybody had a sponge, and that was one of the coolest things we did.”
The Crimson Tide only played one full game. The first game was rained out before a pitch was thrown, and the third lasted through one rain delay before succumbing to the weather.
Regardless of the weather, after each game, Alabama ate dinner with the Dutch National Team.
“I think that was my favorite part of even playing them, that we got to sit and talk with them after every game and just learn about how they do things, what their schedule’s like and just the way that their game is portrayed in their country and how different it is,” senior utility Jadyn Spencer said.
During the 10-day trip to the Netherlands, the team went around the country to different landmarks. The team spent time in Amsterdam, took a canoe trip, toured a canal, browsed the Van Gogh Museum and visited Anne Frank’s house, which was a lot of the girls’ favorite place to visit, junior utility Kallie Case said.
“We tried to hit the things that everyone was telling us to go to,” Case said. “I think we got around to a lot of the things, and ten days is a long time so I think we made it to a lot of the places we were trying to go.”
The trip was a long time in the making even though the team only heard about it at the beginning of last year. Murphy had talked to the Netherlands’ coach at a softball convention, who mentioned wanting to scrimmage teams to prepare for ISF XIV World Championship Softball that the Netherlands are hosting this week.
“I think it’s great for a young person to travel, and it’s priceless,” Murphy said.
Playing the Dutch National Team wasn’t too bad either, he said.
“They’re the No. 1 ranked team in Europe so that was an awesome opportunity, and you know, not many people can say that during their college experience they got to go play overseas,” Spencer said.
Softball is the third Alabama sport to make a trek to the Netherlands; soccer and men’s basketball have made previous trips.
“It was seriously a life-changing experience,” sophomore pitcher Sydney Littlejohn said. “I figured I would never get that opportunity without playing Alabama softball. I mean, I never thought we would be going anyways, but getting to go and getting to go with my best friends, it was amazing, beyond amazing.”
