District Softball

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I sprint off from third base to home with no hesitation at all.  I’m far enough from the base, so I fall on my knee in order to slide.  I can feel all my weight leaning to the left side.  I put my left hand back to slow myself down.  My foot goes right between the catcher’s legs and glides over home plate.  I stand up and wipe the dry dust off my side and sliding pad.

On the hot days of June 23 and 24, my softball team Fighting Irish went to District Softball in Crofton, NE.  Last year at districts in Emerson, we played three games and ended up getting 9^th place by disqualification.  Kendra, my teammate, was the only one on our team that thought we could actually win districts.  We all thought she was just being enthusiastic, but she was really serious.  On the hot days of districts this year, we won game after game after game, which put us in the championship.

When we were warming up to play our last game, we all felt confident, yet a little bit nervous.  We knew Pender would be tired because this would be their third game in a row, but they would also be fired up because they had fought their way back into the championship game.  Since it was a hot day, most of our warm up time was spent sitting on the bench, getting hydrated. 

This time for the coin toss, our whole team stood in our side of the batters box, which made it crowded.  Makayla jumped into the box excitedly and yelled, “TAILS!”  We say, “Tails Never Fails,” and ended up winning our other coin tosses, so we thought it would work again.  As we all stood, anxious to see who would have the advantage to be home; the coin spun and fell to the ground, and landed heads up.  Pender had the advantage.

Makayla started off pitching, but wasn’t having a good day so she ended up walking the first three people.  Emily came in for Makayla and pitched a great inning.  The batter swung the bat and hit it high in the air towards left field and Claire caught it.  The ump yelled, “Dead ball!  The runner on second left early!”  That gave us all a huge boost of confidence.

The next batter barely hit the ball, so Emily scooped it up and threw it to Amanda at first.  “Runner out!” confirmed the ump, but as Amanda was catching the ball, the runner on third made it home.  “That’s okay, girls!” encouraged Mr. Brown, “It’s just one runner!”  We all nodded, agreeing that giving up one run wasn’t that bad.  With the next pitches, Emily managed to get a few strikes across the plate, striking the batter out.  We all sprinted into the dugout, excited to bat again.

Inning after inning, we fought hard.  Pretty soon the score was 10-3, the Fighting Irish.  Our whole team was improving their batting skills.  People were hitting doubles and triples; others were getting their bunts down.  As I walk back into the dugout after making it home, I took my helmet off and sat down.  I watched a few more girls make it home.  The other team was getting frustrated.  The ump put his hand up, walked to the middle of the field, and declared, “Time! Game over!”

The team was shocked at first, giving their share of shrieks of joy, high fives, and hugs.  We received our medals and plaque and ran around the bases.  We dumped ice water on our coaches and got to draw faces on the back of their heads as rewards.  We took a ton of pictures and wrote our names in the dirt.  Some girls even started crying tears of joy. 

I will always remember this experience; it has changed our whole team’s attitude.  We thought we could barely get 5^th place, let alone win districts. This experience has taught our whole team that as long as we try, anything could happen.