As sweat dripped down my face and the sun burned my skin red, I felt the pressure of the situation. It was the championship game in a college showcase tournament. For the past 3 days, my team played countless hours of softball, beating every opponent. This tournament was not only a testament to the “best of the best”, but also, a personal vendetta. The other team is summed up as our cross town rivals; as both are based out of Sparta, NJ. My team was in the field for what should have been the last inning. The game was tight. One team always on the verge of scoring only to have the other team shut them out. Bottom of the 7th inning; my team was in the field after being shut out in the top of the inning. However, this time it was different. We could feel the tension rising as they got a runner on after a walk. For the next batter they cheered a little louder, trying …show more content…
Asi squatted behind the plate, I stared at this monstrous girl; hoping that she’d be ahead of all these pitches. I call a changeup, to see how far ahead of the ball she would be. Her weight shifts forward, and her hands come flying through the strike zone before the ball is anywhere near her. I laughed at how foolish she must have looked. The next pitch was an offspeed curve. This is not only slow but changes planes, making it even harder to hit. As the ball comes in, my confidence grows watching her swing too early. However, she is more on the ball getting a piece of it, fouling it back. She curses to herself; as she just missed crushing that pitch. Being ahead 0-2 you have room for error. Hence why I felt confident enough in calling a fastball outside. This would have worked, had the pitch been as far out as intended. However, the pitch caught too much of the plate. I knew from the second she swung she had crushed it; as I stand up from my squat, all I could do is watch the ball fly over the
It was a Thursday and we had a double header that evening. The weather was not supposed to be very friendly that night. The thought of the game being cancelled was all that the 13 girls’ minds. With the game not cancelled, we arrived ready to play. It started to sprinkle when we started our first game. On and off the field we went. Inning after inning (intentional). By around the third or fourth
I looked in their faces and knew mine mirrored theirs. I didn’t want it to, but it did. Just ten minutes ago, we all were so jubilant. We were so sure we were going to win. We had all wanted it for so long, but we finally felt is as our destiny just a few moments ago. But as our opponent threw the ball in the air, I knew she was just about to serve another ace. However, when the ball landed three feet in front of our best passer, something snapped inside of me.
I was up to bat, waiting for the pitcher to throw the ball and it felt like a sloth trying to move. Finally the ball was off, its laces spinning towards me getting closer and closer. Wam I swung and hit the ball, further and further away it went. I round the bases, going faster and faster. As I am rounding 3rd base people behind the net behind home plate were yelling ” Slide”. I did not hear them yelling slide so I didn’t, when I touched home plate I was standing up and there were all yelling” touch home plate so I was confused because I did. It took me a few second to take it in and when I did the catcher was right next to me so I tried to juke him out but it didn’t work and the Umpire called me out. Everyone went crazy because they were so
It was our last game of pool play on the second day of the tournament, and the other team’s pitcher was a friend of mine so I was excited to go against her. It had been a long day so I wasn’t in the field, but my coach left me in the batting line up. A few innings in it was my turn to bat, so I jogged out on the field, calm and confident that I would do well. After a few pitches I ended up with two strikes on me and I was getting nervous about the outcome of my at bat. The next pitch came and I made solid contact, so on instinct I started my sprint towards first base.
My team, Brookfield, encountered many hard times to win this spot in the finals, and we ended up losing in overtime. We were down two to zero in the first half. Everyone was working vigorously. At half time, my coach gave us an encouraging pep talk. It hyped us up and gave us hope. Then in the second half, my team scored two goals to tie the score up. This made the game go into overtime. During the overtime period, which was two five minute halves, Waukesha scored another two goals. At the end of regulation, my team was devastated by the loss. We were defeated four to two. On the other hand though, we were delighted we got this far and took second. Weather
“We’re here,” my dad says and I know i’m in for the week of my life. It’s july 4th and we get to play baseball. We have finally arrived in cooperstown New York for a week long tournament. You play 6 pool play games then come the playoffs. You don’t sleep in a hotel though you stay with your team in cabins. Pool play started the next day. Our team was pumped for this tournament and in pool play we ended up 5-1. That put us in 5th overall of 106 teams. Then came the playoffs. In the playoffs we made it to the semis. We played the best team, they’re from California. We ended up losing 5-2 so we went to the 3rd vs 4th game. The team and I, won that game 1-0. It felt good to come all the way from New Jersey and take 3rd out of 106 teams. We ended
A softball tournament in Huntington Beach turned into the header on the national headlines in the matter of a few hours. Kristi Denny was preparing to pitch a normal softball game on a Friday night. Well, at least she thought it was a normal game. Kristi was pitching for El Toro High, which is the high school she attended. Inning by inning the game was moving along quickly, when all of a sudden Kristi's life changed forever. Kristi threw a pitch and the batter got around on the ball and absolutely hammered it. The batted ball was traveling at 100 miles per hour, at least. People in the stands compared it to a laser beam. A ball that Kristi didn’t even see. That slaughtered ball struck Kristi Denny right in the middle of the forehead. Kristi had no time to react to the ball before she was laying on the ground with a shattered skull. Before anyone got up and ran out to the pitching circle, a player’s father had already called 9-1-1. When Kristi’s mom, Kathy, finally got out to her, Kristi was feeling her forehead with her hand. She was in total shock and so was her mother, coaches, team mates and the entire crowd. Luckily, Kristi was wearing a face mask. Since she was wearing a plastic face mask instead of a metal one, the ball broke through the plastic and still broke her skull into many pieces. While Kristi was laying on the dirt, feeling her forehead, she whispered; “my head’s inside of my
“Strike one… Strike two,” the umpire yelled out. On the third pitch the ball is blasted toward me, but I wasn’t stunned. Instead I dove for the ball and caught it. There’s one out! The inning didn’t last long. Right after I got that first out, our teams morale went up and the opposing teams went down. The next two outs happened in about 2 minutes.
One of our best pitchers Masin are on the mound and we are up 6-5 top of the ninth two outs two strikes bases loaded. We could get an out or lose trying. Coaches, parents and players from each team are on their feet as this one pitch determines if we hit one more time. The ball is pitched and it was the most satisfying thing to hear, “Strike three, batter out!” and, “Ball game!”
This was not the place to show people your weaknesses. I slide out of the truck grab my stuff and made my way down to the red dirt field. I hang my bag up and look on to see a large group of girls all putting their cleats on, talking, laughing, and carrying on. These girls aren’t my teammates. The other girls on my old team were.
The first inning was not short it took a while for the pitcher to start throwing strikes, but they didn’t score so I was ok with it. Then out of nowhere my team was on fire they just couldn’t get out everyone was getting hits. When I came up to bat I was so ready I knew this pitcher like white on
I know this girl and she’s a damn good hitter. Outfield sees who it is and they all take two large steps back. Her name is Hannah, with three homeruns and seven on-base hits already this season. That brings her to twenty-two homeruns and fifty-three on-base hits for her career. Hannah and I both say hello and get ready ourselves. Haylie decided to have me set up on the left corner of the plate. She messes up the pitch she wanted and ended up hitting Hannah on the thigh. We all made sure her leg wasn’t hurt then tossed her bat to her coach. We all acknowledged she was a fast runner so I needed to be ready to throw to second base if she started running. Haylie released the first pitch, the batter who I can never seem to remember her name swings a large swing and hits the ball to shallow center field. Anna caught the ball sending Hannah back to first base. Two outs one to go. Fourth batter steps up to the plate, this time it’s Lauren, she’s in the clean-up spot, also a very good batter. Two balls and a strike later she pops up a foul ball, I throw my helmet off to better search for the ball in the air and see it’s out of the field and I’m not going to be able to catch it. Grabbing my helmet I look at my sister who seems to be slightly pissed off due to our mother screaming at us that we need to get our acts together and preform the way we have trained to play. This wasn’t anything new, she’s always loud in the stands and we try hard not to let
Before starting the game, I never would have imagined that this game would bring upon a new chapter in my life. Therefore, as the whistle blew, my partner and I both ran toward the ball trying to get it before our opponents got to it first. This game felt just as normal as the other three games; high intensity, fast moving, trying to keep the ball under control, and to keep possession of it away from our opponents. Toward the end of the game, the ball became emancipated from all of our feet so one of my opponents and I both scurried at full throttle toward the ball, to see who would get possession back over it. As we approached the ball, I shifted all my weight onto my right leg trying to get the ball. However, when I did that, my opponent kept on running and ran right into me and blew my knee out. When she did that, I fell right to the ground in severe pain shooting down my right leg from my knee down. Everyone ran over screaming,” Are you okay? What is hurting?” I replied with tears rolling down my
Logan’s older brother played on a Legion team and they always played at the minor league stadium in our city. So he asked me if I wanted to come and watch the game with him. So reluctantly I said yes, because he was my friend and I didn’t want to be stuck in the house anyways. We arrive at the game, and there were a lot of fans coming to watch this game. I don’t know what it was, but it hit me as soon as one of the players on Logan’s brothers team hit a line drive into the left-center gap; and the center fielder chucked the ball back into the field to prevent a triple.
Across the field as they celebrate our heads began to drop as hope leaves some. The captain and a few others including myself attempts to rally the team for a comeback and lift the spirits of the minuscule crowd we had. We struck back with a goal of our own scored by yours truly. The team's spirit rose as the opposition grew frustrated, but I was not content with our position. A restart in the game leads to a combination of passes that leads to another goal by our captain. We celebrate joyously, but he calms us quickly insuring that we don't allow our lead to slip away. Unfortunately, the sight of losing was unbearable by the opposition as they get a goal of their own creating yet another deadlock. It has reached about seventy five minutes in our game now with the score still equal. We battle hard, but legs have become weak and minds slow as the opposition come fiercely on a counter attack against the run of play. We try with determination to not allow another goal, but the ball found its way into the net. The game came to a close as we lost our final chance to enter the regional playoffs. Heads were down and mutters of frustration filled the