Ron Pietroniro photo
Newmarket's Robin Mackin fires a pitch during the final inning of Canada's victory of Chinese Taipei in women's softball Tuesday.
Olympics
August 12, 2008 11:58 AM
Newmarket pitcher closes out 6-1 win over Chinese Taipei
Brad Kelly
Robin Mackin's Olympic debut didn't quite feel the way she anticipated.
And, actually, that's a good thing. When she envisioned the moment women's softball coach Lori Sippel would give her the nod to take the mound, the 20-year-old pitcher had thoughts of a tight stomach and dry mouth taking over her body. In fact, when that moment actually arrived here today
"When I imagined that moment, I probably would have said I would feel extremely nervous,” she admitted. "But I actually felt pretty comfortable going in there. It was a good feeling."
Mackin entered the game in the sixth inning in relief of starting pitcher Lauren Bay Regula, with Canada already up 6-0 over Chinese Taipei. She had a 1-2-3 sixth, but in the seventh, with two out, Mackin was nicked for a home run to left field by Chiu-Ching Li. Undaunted, she struck out the next batter, her second of the inning, to close out the game.
Getting in to the first game was important for the Newmarket resident, allowing her to work through those Olympic jitters.
"My coach said get in there and get your feet wet a little bit," said Mackin after the game. "It's nice to be able to get out there.
"It was nice to see that it was just another softball game. That overwhelming feeling and that excitement; I think I've left behind, so now I'm just ready to play the game."
Canada has had a long time to prepare for these Games. A 3-0 victory over Italy at the world championships in Beijing back in September of 2006 secured a top-five placing, allowing the team to become the first Canadian entry to officially qualify for the Olympic Games.
Over that time, Mackin established an expectation level of what it might be like to be here. The experience thus far has gone way beyond her wildest imagination.
"It's exceeding my expectations and I had huge expectations as to what this might feel like," said Mackin, who has transferred to the University of Nebraska after two years at San Jose State University on a softball scholarship. "As far as the athlete's village and the opening ceremonies, it's hard to find the right words to describe exactly what it felt like.
"It has been such a great experience."
At the same time, it is the Olympic Games and there are a lot of distractions pulling an athlete in every direction, when the focus is squarely on a podium finish for Canada, who are ranked fifth in the world coming in. Mackin noted that the team has worked a lot on the mental side of the game and distraction control.
"We wrote a huge list of all the distractions we might face at the Olympics and we are ready and prepared to fight through them," she said. "We know that there is going to be adversity, and we know it's the team that can deal with it best that's going to come out on top."
Canada is scheduled to resume pool play Wednesday against The Netherlands.