I remember when I was about 5 years old, I started my local Little League and became a part of a team for the first time. I remember putting on my jersey with pride and strapping on my visor over my bangs. I Walked to the field with my dad who was also my coach at the time, ready to play the game I had no idea would become such an important role of my life. I laced up my Nike cleats and took practice swings waiting for it to start. The start of many missed ground balls, strike outs, errors, loud cheers, friends, sweat, and tears. From the day it started, softball was all I lived and breathed.
I was about 9 when I started travel ball for the first time. My parents saw how much I loved this sport and how I wanted to get better, so they signed me up. Harsh farmer tans, sand in cleats, sun flower seeds, quick naps under a shade tree, frog togs, and long car rides became a norm every weekend of every summer for about 8 years. Where there is a controversy of whether or not that much traveling takes away from a childhood, for me it gave me a childhood I would have never changed. I came accustomed of the phrase “I can’t I have softball,” and missed out on many birthday parties, sleepovers, and school events because of practices or games that I could not miss. I knew it was part of it, and being that young and having to make tough decisions got me ready for the real life. My friends who didn’t get it, would make comments about how busy I was, but softball for me wasn’t just a game or a hobby, it was a lifestyle and a part of me.
Softball gave me so many friends that I wouldn’t have found without it. Teammates who turned into sisters and saw me at my best days and my worst. Girls who saw me make error after error and cry, and were there to pick me up when I couldn’t do it myself. Someone to complain about coaches with and handle tough losses and victorious wins’ side by side. The crazy superstitions of not washing uniforms, rally caps, cheers, pregame rituals, and special breakdowns, the long games and early morning practices that turn people from teammates to family. A special bond with people that I am still close with today and don’t ever think I will fall off with.
High school softball is where some of my best memories came from. Although it was stressful at times, it taught me that hard work and motivation to get better will help you reach goals you thought were unattainable. I became a leader on and off the field and made it my duty to be the best teammate I could be. I battled my own head with slumps I didn’t think I could get out of. I battled with pitchers who wanted nothing more than to see me fail. I found happiness in how I felt when the moving ball hit the sweet spot off the bat. The indescribable feeling of rounding the bases after seeing you ball fly over the heads of outfielders was something I strived to feel every game and worked hard to do.
When it ended, it was hard for me. I still love the game, but the little girl who spent hours in the front yard with her dad throwing, wasn’t so little anymore. The idea that life is more than softball was something at once didn’t seem possible, but is now becoming a reality. Thinking about it not being a strong role in my life one day is like a break up, heartbreaking, but you know eventually life will move on. I give a big thanks to this sport, to the game I refuse to stop loving.
