My Pitching Journey

…And then I heard him say my name, I was in.  I have been playing softball since I have been able to walk.  In second grade my dad was able to get me to play for the school a year early, on my sisters’ team. I was two to three years younger than everyone, but I was able to keep up with them. I always enjoyed pitching; I have never been good at it, but I kept trying. I pitched from when I started up until eighth grade.

          At the start of my freshman season, I had a meeting with my coaches, and they told me where they see me playing. They said second base or pitching, but since I knew that I’m not that good I said, “I don’t want to pitch this year.”

My coach said, “We want you to try since we are short pitchers this year.” Our first game was on April 2, 2019, a very cold night. My coach had picked me to be the starting pitcher.  Mariah and I were the two pitchers warming up before the game, I was scared to be starting and my confidence level was very low.

Mariah told me, “You better do bad, because I want to pitch, as long as I’m on this team and not varsity.” The whole time I was pitching I was not only worried about pitching, I kept thinking of what Mariah said. That game I didn’t do good for me pitching-wise.  I played second the rest of the season until our game at Osceola on April 26, 2019, my Grandpa and my dad were there watching me.  It was the last inning of the game, we were losing by a lot, and our pitchers were struggling.  My coach called a time out and put me into pitch, the bases were loaded and there were no outs, I was the pitcher. I was again very nervous; I was thinking about what I could do to possibly pitch better. I remembered watching Amber Fiser pitch for the Minnesota Gophers, she winds up by bending forward and pushing her arms through to the ground and up into the K position, so I decided to try it. The first three girls up I struck out, I was very happy and from there my confidence levels went way up. I remember the bus ride back to Amery, I told Madelyn what I did that game she was very happy for me.

 One night towards the end of the season we were playing a doubleheader. I was struggling a little that game and walking more girls than I normally do. The varsity’s first game got done before our first game, and they had some time between games. I saw Madelyn, Abby, Ella, Julia, Drew, and the varsity coach coming to watch me since it was surprising that I was doing good. I started to do way better since I wanted to show my favorite person Madelyn, that I was actually doing good.

The rest of the season I was the starting pitcher, and I was doing a good job.  I was getting more confident as the season went on, I think it helped that my dad was the ump for most of my games, since I grew up pitching to him.  On May 9, 2019, my team had a game in Prescott. My favorite game of the year is always in Prescott since my whole family comes to watch me play, and I have friends on the team. My normal coach was going to be gone for something, and our assistant coach was stepping in for him that night.  She had a different pitcher start, and she struggles when it comes to pitching.  I was not happy about that since my whole family was there to watch me pitch. Luckily, for me, she couldn’t throw a strike, so I got to go in and pitch after she walked the first two batters. I was really happy I went in because I ended up striking out one of my friends from Prescott, even with my dad's terrible umping.  I then went on the rest of the game and season starting again.

 There was a day that I went home from school sick. We just happened to have a game that night, before the game my coaches had no clue what to do since I wasn’t there. They had my whole team try warming up before the game to see who could possibly step in for me, but that game didn’t go well. My dad the ump said that it ended in three innings due to the 15-run rule.

          The season ended and I was very happy with how I was playing, and my dad was happy for me also. The end of the season banquette came, and my team was getting called up, for a picture and participation awards. After my whole team was called up, my coach pulled out a special award he said, “I have never given away one of these awards because I have never believed in them before, but there is one person I feel is deserving of this. Saved our season, from getting ten run-ruled every game.” From there I stopped listening because not only was I embarrassed I was laughing with Madelyn and Belle since everyone knew it was me. I had won the JV MVP, and I don’t know if I could’ve been happier. I spent most of my 2019 summer working on my pitching and playing for my u-14 team, I hope that I go into my 2020 season and be better than I was the year before and that 2019 wasn’t just my lucky year.

          My journey of pitching has surely changed this year and I’m very glad that it did. It let me have an experience I never imagined, and I wouldn’t have wished for a different outcome of the season.