Quitting In Softball

Imagine standing on a softball field expected to perform at the age of 5. Even though the butterflies in my stomach were starting a war, nothing was going to stop me from stepping on that field to play my first tee ball game as a Little Tiger. Fans cheered, but what I noticed most was a little boy in the outfield picking his nose. Standing in the box, I was terrified; the field looked huge. I had never seen anything like this before, but I knew that the little boy was the person I needed to hit the ball to, so I hit the ball as hard as I could. The ball went soaring through the air like a bird on fire. Dropping from the air, it rolled to the fence. At that time, I knew I had fallen in love with the game of softball. I was smiling from ear to ear, I couldn’t believe I had hit the ball that far! Both sides screamed, yelled, and shouted with excitement. Was all this commotion for me? I rounded first, but I couldn’t go to second because my teammate, Kylie Leach, didn’t run. I didn’t know what she was doing. Sadly, the batter after me hit a ground ball to the pitcher, and the other team threw him out at first.

Have you ever had so much passion for a sport you have been playing for almost your whole life? I love playing all positions of softball and I admire everything that comes with it that includes battle wounds, road trips to games, making memories to practicing out on home field getting ready to bat some love into their lives. Softball is not an easy sport at all but it’s my passion and a privilege to be able to stand on that field. So much love, effort and hard work has been put in over the years. After 12 years of truly knowing the sport these are my favorite things out on the field such as pitching with strength, sliding with passion, and batting to hear all of your support to make a home run!

My breakfast started to creep back up my throat as game time got closer and closer. I walked across the patch of grass behind home plate and was towered over by the 30 foot backstop with a huge net suspended from it. My bulging bag of equipment was beginning to make my shoulder hang. I walked down the steps into the cement dugout and placed my bag under the bench that spanned the entire length of the dugout. I sat down, laced up my cleats, and put my warm-up jacket on in preparation for batting practice. I stepped onto the grass surrounding the dugout to get the feeling of how wet the grass was. I dug my cleats into the grass and began my usual routine of taking certain practice swings as I gazed upon the press box in the wake of the backstop. Preceding the burn in my forearms, caused from the practice swings, I marched behind the dugout to the rows of batting cages to wait my turn in line. Pacing back and forth I knew I had to keep my nervousness to a minimum. I popped in a wad of Big League Chew and continued to

Each of my years playing softball has been a momemtous experience for me. Indeed, I have learned valuable lessons about life. I have not only gained experience on how to approach different life situations, but the game has also provided an insight of me. In other words, softball has impacted my life and will also shape my future. Therfore, this will seek to discuss some of these impacts contributions to my life.

Softball has been my passion since I was first introduced at age five, and by eight, I was thrilled to advance into playing competitive travel ball. Travel ball even gave me the opportunity to play in the National ASA softball tournament in Virginia when I was fourteen. Unfortunately, there were not enough volunteers and the local travel programs dwindled.

The long series of events started when I was seven years old and my parents signed me up for Bobby Sox softball. I soon grew to love the sport and came back to the organization every year until I turned ten. I stopped playing for the league and tried out for a local travel ball team and made it. I soon had a career out of playing travel ball, it was my whole life. I had been on many teams and created many memories. As I got older, I didn’t enjoy playing softball as much as I did before. I was scared to tell this my dad this because he had high hopes that I would play in college. When I told my dad that I wanted to quit softball, I learned that I need to do what makes me happy even if it disappoints people.

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.

Yogi Berra believed that, “Baseball is 90 percent mental and the other half is physical.” From my tenure as a college softball pitcher at Point Park University, I learned how imperative being mentally sound is to the game of softball. The legal field is a very demanding field. I know my experiences gained on the diamond will allow me to flourish in a field dependent upon mental toughness.

By now, Jennie’s life was focused on softball, though she did have a normal life outside the sport. She liked to shop, try on her mom’s makeup and hang out with her friends. In school, she was an excellent student. But softball consumed most of her free time. Every summer the sport brought her to a new part of the country for a national tournament.

From the young age of five, through the eleven years full of learning curves and numerous injuries, I was shaped by my self motivation and peers. Softball was a profound component in my daily life. When I was younger I would have never thought softball would have such an incredible impact on my character. Today, my past experiences shape me into an individual who can be seen as not only a leader, but as someone who can work as a team to achieve goals and standards. I remember learning to pitch for the first time.

Since I was five years old softball and sports have been a huge part of my life. In softball, specifically, there are many times of failure and success. High school sports, for me, has taken a lot of my time, effort, and commitment. From the first day I stepped onto the court and field to the last, I want to be able to say I did my best. It has been tough and frustrating at times. I experienced failure many times, even when I did not want to admit it. My moments of failure within high school sports have turned me into the character and person I am today. It has taught me how to take failure and turn it into success. Failure has made me realize that the only way for you to succeed is for you to fail first.

Sophia Janssen Ms. Hill English 9 30 April 2018 Jennie Finch Jennie Finch states,”Never limit yourself, never be satisfied, and smile-it’s free”(quotefancy.com 1)! Jennie Finch is not just an Olympic softball player; she is a role model, and a leader for the sport of softball. She faced many setbacks in her early career, but her challenges helped her become better. Now she travels around the country talking, inspiring, and doing softball camps for girls all around the country. Jennie Finch had a normal childhood and would’ve never imagined that she would become a role model for younger children, an elite softball player and a person of influence.

When I was playing travel softball for Angels Fastpitch in my second year of ten and under softball, this memoir began. My coach would not play me much because he said I was not good enough, he said I could not catch. He said many other things all were horrible. The emotions that came

Softball ruled over my life from the time I was five years of age until I was fourteen. According to the people who had watched one of my games, I played first base phenomenally and had some wonderful at bats when I focused on centering my power to hit the ball with all the force I could muster. Unfortunately and fortunately, my father coached every team I played on from T-ball to fast-pitch. At every game, he observed my mechanics and hand-eye coordination, and this pulled memories of watching my brother hit numerous home runs and make game-winning outs from his mind. On nearly all of the car rides home, he would tell me “You remind me so much of Dusty. I see him the way you throw, in the way you hit the ball, and the way you present

Never knowing what pitch is going to come next is always an adrenaline rush while standing in the batters box. Fast pitch softball is a game that has physically and mentally changed my life for the past eleven years. It involves two teams, one who is home and the other who is away. The game consists of seven innings on a softball diamond. There is an upper half and lower half of each inning. The upper half begins with the home team on the field, consisting of nine players in the appropriate positions, and the away team at the plate batting with only nine to ten people in the roster. Offense is a major key to win a game. Making contact with the ball is probably the most difficult and frustrating thing in the world, because you just never know where the pitch is going to end up. There are many techniques to hitting, but we need to get down to the basics first.