An Essay About Softball

Playing the game for over 9 years, starting back with Tball in kindergarton, really helped me develop a love and respect for the sport, but it wasn’t until I started travel softball in 6th grade that I really grew to appreciate all that it taught me. Once I began travel softball it required a whole new level of commitment. Early morning practices and weekend tournaments left little room for slacking off.

“Not everyone is going to see or accept you for who you are, and you have to accept that.” I was told this quote everyday by my mother. Today was no different, walking up to the raked field, quote on my mind , eyes on the fresh red clay, and the sound of my metal cleats against the concrete. I was ready for this day. After months of hard work from November to February , the tryouts for Central softball team were over. Over the span of four months, I pushed myself harder than I ever thought I could, but what I did never seemed to be enough for the team.

I began when I was 4, but did not start playing competitively until I was 10. As the years went on, I became a distinguished athlete. I started to travel across the United States for softball, and even had the opportunity to play on the number one team in northern California.

The day was perfect to play softball,the bright sun was giving off the heat. I was sitting in the the car moving like crazy as if I was trapped and and was trying to escape. I had the worst butterflies feeling like I was going to throw up my breakfast all over my moms car floor. We pulled in the parking lot in a flash and all you could hear was me breathing heavily. My mom hit the button to the door so i could get out of the car. I got out and the fresh air was really hot. I got very sweaty like we just finished with the state championship game but I believe i was just too nervous.

Softball is a sport that is known throughout the United States and the world. Softball originated on Thanksgiving Day in Chicago in 1887. The game was actually said to have begun as an indoor game. Softball was started by a group of men who had gathered at a club to watch the Harvard vs. Yale football game. When the news came that Yale had defeated Harvard, 17-8, one Yale supporter, overcome with enthusiasm, picked up an old boxing glove and threw it at a nearby Harvard alumni, who promptly tried to hit it back with a stick. This gave George Hancock, a reporter for the Chicago Board of Trade, an idea. He suggested a game of indoor baseball. Naturally, Hancock's friends thought he was talking about playing a game outdoors, not indoors.

The object of softball is to score runs by hitting the ball and touching all the bases without being tagged or thrown out. Softball games last for seven innings. The pitcher will pitch to a batter until one of four things happens: The batter gets three strikes against him/her. A strike occurs when the batter swings at a pitch but misses it or hits it foul with less than two strikes against him/her, or when the pitch passes through the strike zone but the batter does not swing at it. The pitcher throws four "balls," which are pitches that fail to pass through the strike zone and which are not swung at by the batter. In this case the batter "walks," meaning he or she is awarded first base. The pitcher hits the batter with a pitch. In this case,

In the spring of my freshman year I tried out for and made the JV squad. My first season was painful. I finished with no hits, having spent most innings on the bench. I knew I would never play if I did not improve my hitting.

Softball is a growing sport for girls within the United States. Whether you are an 8-year-old girl, to a senior in college softball, it’s a sport that many are attached too. A new form of hitting came into play during the 2005 Women’s College Series. Slap hitting is a new form of hitting that changed the way the game of fast-pitch softball is being played. Slapping changed the way coaches and players think about how they are going to field a slap hitter. This form of hitting is becoming a major role within fast-pitch softball. When I got the opportunity to learn how to slap hit I was excited to gain this ability. With practice, patience and determination, I began to learn the hitting style that I use today.

Not knowing much about the sport other than you get to hit people made the first half of the season pretty difficult. My 7th grade year I only played defensive end and i got the hang of it pretty quick and the only thing I had to remember was to contain the outside. I learned a lot that year but not as much as I did my 8th grade year.

Everyone has watched softball, most likely baseball as well. Which do you prefer? How do you know that one is best? Well softball, of course, is the better choice. While watching both sports, you see them hitting, catching, and throwing a ball. Softball is more appealing. The reason for that is softball is a more difficult sport.

Softball has always been my favorite sport. It’s the fast pace of my heart as I’m rounding the bases, fast as lightning, making contact with the corner of the grungy white bases with a heavy coat of red dirt layering the edges, prepared to dive into home base, the sound of the bat making solid compact with the bright, attention grabbing yellow ball, the smell of the dew delicately resting on the fields of green grass, giving everyone a relaxed feeling of being in nature.

As a child, I grew up playing softball and that 's it. My mom played softball, my cousins played softball. It’s just all I knew. When I reached the seventh grade at Gardner Dickinson (my elementary and middle school), my friends all played soccer and I reluctantly joined as well. Each year I had my ups and downs with soccer, but it grew to be a part of who I am and has taught me a lot of things. For example, to try new things, to work hard, to never give up, and to step up and be a leader.

Ever since I learned the ropes, I wanted to play because it has always been my dream to play softball. My mom told me I could try out for Lakeshore Playground that got anyone involved in any sport. There was no such thing as tryouts for this playground. During some of the games, I had my good days and my bad days at either hitting or catching. I loved being on that field. I felt that it was just only my teammates and me on the field waiting for our rivals to hit the ball. That season was a good one, and I will never forget it. This is what started my dreams from just playing on a playground field to being on an actual team. To everyone else it may be just a field with red dirt, but to me it is more than that. It is everything I could dream of because the game is about my teammates and me. I loved my passion, and will continue it later on in my

This season of softball is my second season of school softball. Last year was my very first season of softball ever in my life. Over the summer, I played summer softball in Morton,IL. There was only 2 teams total, us and one other team. That was the only team we played against over that amount of time in the summer. We ended up winning all but two games. Then there was the All-Star game were the 8 best people from both of the teams and formed one team and the people who didn't get picked, formed another team. I wasn't there for that game but my team won, and we were the ones with the better people. It was played at the Eastside Center in Peoria. It was really fun. Fun to play, fun to watch, fun to hit, fun to catch, fun to play! Unless you get hit, then you have the pain from where the ball hit. You know what they say, no pain no gain. The best part is hitting the ball, running to 1st, staying safe. When you hit the ball you get this oh-my-gosh-i-just-hit-the-ball feeling.

I have been playing with older kids myentire life, when I first joined I was a 6 year old playing with 9 year olds. I played for plantationfor 8 years. Plantation was my home it was everything I wanted it to be, but I knew that if Iwanted to fulfill my lifelong dream I would have to move to a more competitive team. It wastowards the end of my freshman year and I was selected to go try out for Boca USSDA whichwas a big deal. I would have to leave my comfort zone and go play somewhere completely newand different. I went to the tryouts ready for stiff competition. When I got there I was mentallyand physically ready for the opportunity in front of me, they gave all the players number to puton there legs to identify who you were. We began to warm up as a group, and then the coachescalled us over and said get ready for the game. It was the longest 5 minutes of my life waiting