Fast Pitch Softball Player
At one time, she looked cute as a button, dressed in pink with ponytails
with dreams of Peter Pan. She played with dolls, helped mom
bake cookies, and has probably earned a few bucks baby-sitting. She has been,
and always will be daddy's little girl.
She still has all those little girl attributes. The only difference
is now she looks cute dressed in sliders and shorts. If she is wearing
ribbons in her hair, they are team colors. She still bakes cookies...team bake sale.
And she has probably earned a few bucks...at the team car wash. Now she is, and
always will be daddy's little softball pitcher.
She takes pride in how much dirt she can collect every weekend. Go to dinner
on a night that she is not playing and it takes an hour of primping to get ready,
and she still feels self-conscious. Go after a game and she'll walk right
into a restaurant with a streak of dirt across her forehead, ratted hair,
stained shirt and brown socks that used to be white. With an appetite.
She is ready and willing to play at the drop of a hat! If she can get away
with it, she will play on two teams. (In the same day no less) She has a huge
wardrobe: plenty of tournament shirts and shorts from all the teams she has
played on. When you say, "wear something nice", she
thinks it means a t-shirt without dirt stains.
She is a fierce competitor, willing to stand in against a fast pitcher at
close distance that even pro baseball players would have trouble hitting!
And she might be 5'2" and 100 lbs. She might play first or third base
at 20 feet from home plate, saying I dare you to bunt, go ahead, drive one down my throat!
She has more spirit than maybe any other team sport. At least it sounds that
way. Softball is the only sport where a girl's ability to cheer sometimes
effects roster decisions. She can't bunt or hit, she is a liability in the
field...but she cheers constantly!
She is playing the game for all the right reasons.
She loves it.
She could hang out at the mall, stay home and
watch TV, or spend her summers at the pool. Instead she has a tight schedule
with limited free time, hangs out on the practice field with a coach in
her face, and spends her summers getting baked on a 95 degree field with no shade.
She has her priorities in order: tournaments, league games, team practices,
schoolwork, individual practice and batting cage, family, private softball
instruction, church, conditioning, softball camps, boys. (Maybe church comes before private intruction. At least on Sundays.)
She is diligent and hardworking. She knows you get out of something, what you
put into it. She is not the type of kid to take the easy way out! She is
competitive, not willing to give up. She learns many valuable lesson
during the course of her softball career, like:
You can stay at Holiday INN for $12 bucks a night if you are willing to go 4 to a room.
Unlike the geographically challenged, softball girls know how to get from home to every field in a 25 mile radius.
Last year's sunflower seeds that she found in the bottom of her bag aren't too bad, if she washes them down with enough Gatorade.
Never wash your socks when you're on a winning streak!
Never wash your socks when you're on a hitting streak!
Never wash your socks after you've scored the winning run, scored any run, or were close to scoring a run!
Never trust a mother who says she won't wash your lucky socks.
She has a lot of fun every season, enough to make her come back next year regardless of all the sacrifices, money, the occasional bad coach, injuries, drinking water that people have put their hands in, etc.
zebrazebrazebra