“It’s not how you begin, it’s how you finish.”
Intense, never-wrecking, arousing and spine-tingling are the feelings of winning! Whether it’s a 3-legged-race with your best friend in sixth grade, or winning a state championship, everyone, including myself, gets caught up in that very part of it. Looking back now, I don’t think of the winning, you think of the memory and smiles shared with my friend; the same went with my teammates and me last year, in the region softball tournament.
When the clock struck three, everyone was ecstatic because school was out for fall break, but my team was thrilled only because we were loading the bus for Albany, Ga to begin the Region softball tournament. On the way, the atmosphere on the bus was electric. The ride to Albany is generally short, but that day it felt like hours. Once we finally arrived, we were the first team there. I was excited and confident my team was going to get the two wins of the day, however things didn’t go as planned. We thought when entering the tournament ranked number one, teams feared us, but into the second game, we were quickly proven wrong when we lost to crisp county 5-2. Many of us were heartbroken and devastated, but we decided to learn from it. Our senior, Emily Corbitt said, “Even the best lose
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sometimes, but what makes them the best is the comeback”, this magnified our loss and made us want to come back the next day even stronger. From that day forward, we held our heads high and began to work as a team like never before. We weren’t looking back until we got what we deserved, and that was the Region Championship title. Finally, we fought back all the way from the loser’s bracket after eight long, tough games to the championship. We were exhausted, but most defiantly not ready to give up. My team and I was nervous, trembling in fact, when the game started considering this team already beat us once. You could feel the tension in the air, as the 6th inning arrived. Sparks were flying off of the bats of Crisp County. When we finally got out of that arousing inning, we were still winning 2-1 but, we still had to fend off the scrappy team once more in the last inning. Although we have confidence in ourselves, we just couldn’t scrape up even one more run in the last inning. Crips’ county’s’ defense was by far the best in the region, and we just couldn’t manage to get on, so again it was another scoreless inning for Thomas County Central Lady Jackets. This put us in a very tough situation in the last inning. Despite the pressure, our solid defense came into play with two back to back catches right at the edge of the fence. Now it was so quiet you could’ve heard a pen drop. The fans were on their feet, and both dugouts were so still, you may have though it was a photo. Erika Greek, also a senior, was still going strong. She had over 115 strikeouts on the season. She showed no fear on the mound. Erika threw strike after strike to the relentless batter, and she stayed alive by fouling them all off. As she was way ahead in the count, Coach Gauger went with a gutsy call and called the off-speed. When the ball came out of her hand, her form was perfect. The girl at bat froze and watched the waist high pitch go past her with the bat resting on her tense on her shoulder. As it went into Payton’s glove, all eyes were on now on the umpire now. As the umpires arms flew up in the air, and we heard his deep voice say “STRIKE THREE!” we were thrilled. We all ran out to the middle of the field, with tears of joy in our eyes. Over the years, I have played in hundreds of softball tournaments, but the Region Tournament in 2014 will always be one of the most memorable moments in my high school career, thus far.
Our sadness and heartache after a tough loss was only temporary, and those feelings made us stronger and more determined to play harder in that tournament. The joy in our smiles and the tears in our eyes will always signify the hard work, dedication, and determination of my team. We are fearless, because we are a family. My team understands we will always have each other’s back. In my point of view, softball is not just a sport, it is a game created to share with friends and make memories that will last a
lifetime.
It was the beginning of a new softball season, and I couldn't wait to get out there with my team. At our first practice I remember feeling back at home on the field. Just when I thought this was going to be our teams best season, my parents moved me to a private school. Leaving what I was familiar with was not an easy task, and deciding if I would continue my passion of softball with a different team was even more difficult.
I tried out and made my highschool team. While playing on my highschool team I joined a travel team for the Brooklyn Cyclones while still playing for my church’s high school team. My passion for softball could not be taken away from me. Even when I failed, I did not give up on my dream. Giving up on my dream of being successful in softball would be equivalent to letting down my past self who was just a little girl who fell in love with softball. Playing softball was my parents way of wearing me out, but it was my way of getting away from the problems of the real world and into a world of my own. Between two white chalk lines nothing else mattered, but playing the game I fell in love with when I was only ten years old. On the field, I was able to feel pure bliss. Playing softball for seven years has not only given me joy, but it has also taught me life skills that I use from day to day. I learned to work as a team to achieve a common goal, to communicate with others better, I have learned to cherish my wins while accepting my losses and I have learned no matter what happens in life, you always have to put your heart and soul into everything you
My senior year of baseball was quickly coming to an end. I knew the only games we had left were the playoff games. It was the first round of the state playoffs. We were the fourth seed, so we had to play a number one seed. I knew it was going to put our team to the test, but I knew we had a chance to beat them. We had a good last practice before game day, and I felt confident in my team and felt like we were ready for the game.
I spend six days per week for twelve months straight practicing catching, throwing, and hitting a softball. My friends call me crazy when I have to leave their house at ten o’clock on a Friday night to go play in a midnight madness softball tournament. They think I am insane for travelling to away, out-of-state tournaments each weekend. However, ten years of competitive, travel softball and nearly nine hundred games have molded me into the person I am today. Many people do not understand why I spend the majority of my time playing competitive softball, and they fail to recognize that my entire identity is a result of this sport. However, I am aware that I would not be who I am without it.
I have played softball for four years, Softball has always come to me naturally. It was my third year playing when I moved to Friendswood, I was new to everything. During this year I met a girl named Shaye Brockwell. She was really nice to me and we hung out many times. Then her dad started coaching and I got on their team the next year and everything changed.
As Paige and I walked across the field towards our team I felt euphoric. Four long years of work, sweat, and dedication had led up to this night. It was the perfect end to my senior year of softball. The scoreboard just beyond the mass of sweaty, screaming softball players read 15-0. This was the final score of the district championship game, a game my team had never won before. The applause and cheers of the fans echoed in my ears for hours afterward
Covered from head to toe with red quarter-sized hail welts, I rushed off the well-used softball field with a traumatizing memory. Even with frustrating coaches and umpires, we still managed to stay ahead of Sauk Rapids-Rice. This forever memory will always be something to laugh about and relieve anger from my frustrating coaches.
We were going to win the game. That was the end of it. I knew it. We were the winners of that game. I stood up and yelled in a voice that even frightened me. I didn’t scream about moving our feet, or calling the ball, I screamed about how big of winners we were. I was done with moping. For seven minutes of my life, I had forgotten that I could do anything I set my mind to, and I had given up. The worst seven minutes of my volleyball career were those seven minutes in the third game of the final match at Brighton Volleyball Tournament. I had put my determination down to wallow in my disappointment. Disappointment needs to build determination. I had decided a long time ago that there were certain things in life that I could do better than other people. Those were my gifts. I use my gifts to my full potential.
The team was ready, we had been working extremely hard for the past seven months for this. We were all in great shape and very rested. A few of the returning players were meeting me at my house to carpool to the final game of the state championship tournament. Everyone knew that the hard work had paid off when we won the semi-final game the preceding day.
Ever since I learned how to talk and walk, I played softball. It didn’t matter if it was a game during recess or during the championships of my Allen Sports Association (ASA) team, I played softball. During the summer of my fifth grade year, my friends and I decided that we would try out for the high school team as freshmen, but when the time came, I was not ready.
As the sun rose over the horizon I was already on my way to an early morning tournament game with my baseball team. I knew that if we lost todays game that we would be eliminated from the tournament and would be sent home. I had almost no belief that we would win today because the team we were scheduled to play was ranked number one in the tournament. I knew that the rest of the team felt the same way.
What I did this summer was go to state for softball. How we get to state is my team and I played different All-Star teams from around us. We play wheatfield twice the first we bet them by a lot. The second game we played Wheatfield again and this told us who was going to state Wheatfield was beating us for awhile and then in the last inning we were tied nine to nine. We needed one more point to win. The game was tied our team was batting we had two outs and I was up to bat I hit the ball into the outfield and got someone home and we won the game ten to nine and that's how we got to state.
After that we had a lot of confidence as we went to our second game that was located at a college in Lakeville. We were getting ready to play Shakopee and we expected them to be better. We walked silently up to the plate with the sound of dirt crunching under our cleats, got set, put a smile on our face, and went to work. Starting with so much confidence gave us an upper hand. With few hits by both teams and close calls we managed to scratch across ten runs to ten run the team. After rolling over our second victim we had a good note to sleep on for the next day of state baseball. The next day we had to play four more games and if we won all of those games then we would go into the championship
I was in gym class my junior year at Sherman Senior High School when my gym teacher Mr. Jones suggested that we go outside and play softball. The sun was shining bright and there was no rain in sight. When we opened the door to step outside, I could smell the fresh cut grass, and see a few of the remaining mud holes on the ground just as they were almost all dried up. The dark chocolate watery looking mud holes were halfway across the concrete parking lot with a glare beaming down from the sun. We made it to the field and I noticed that it was still slightly muddy from the rain we had gotten the night before and the sun was working its powers to dry it all up. I just wanted to run out to the field and sit in the freshly cut grass and not play softball. I knew that no matter how hard I tried to get out of playing softball, I was just wasting my breath when we could be playing the game.
I had never really been a part of a team that had a chance to win something, but the potential was always there. I finally got my chance to be a part of such a team my sophomore year of track. Mr. Jones, the head track coach, had decided to experiment with some different races to gain more team points. Since the girls' team lacked a medley relay, he placed Cindy, Kim, Susan and I in those spots. Cindy would run the 400, Kim would run the 200, and Susan and I would start the race off by each running the 100. We all had worked viciously to earn those spots by running off against our teammates.