Blood, Sweat, and Tears The crowd is screaming, two teams chanting, my heart is beating so fast as I squat behind home plate, and then I hear the umpire yell, “Play ball!” from behind me. Lone Grove has, once again, made it to the Class 4A Fastpitch Regional Tournament. We’re in Newcastle, Oklahoma about to face the Newcastle Racers. We drove ninety miles for my last regional tournament as a Lone Grove Lady Horn, and my last chance at making it to the State Tournament. I looked at Taylor McIntyre, my pitcher, and smirked as she started her wind up, “Strike.” The regional tournament is what we have been shooting for all year long. OSSAA, Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association, changed the districts for Class 4A Fastpitch, only the top four teams in each district were allowed to continue onto regionals. We were in a position to make the playoffs if we won 4 of our last 6 district games. We did that! Although we kind of did it the hard way, we persevered and won four. Coach Miller explained, “We played our best softball at the end of the year.” Not only did we have a new districts, but we had five new starters from the previous year and an inexperienced freshman pitcher. It was difficult for me to adapt to Cassidy, our freshman, compared to Taylor, our Sophomore, who had wrist surgery at …show more content…
Strikeout. Taleigh, our third baseman, is up now. Another strikeout. “This is it,” I thought to myself. “This is my last game. This is my last game of softball, the sport that I have played since I was three years old.” Shelby is up, she is our designated hitter and four-hole. If anyone could hit, it would be her. I screamed and chanted as loud as I could. Strike one... Strike two... Ball one... I held my breath as the Woodward’s pitcher started her windup. Shelby swung with all her strength, you could hear the air off the bat. The ball crashes into the catcher's glove, strike three. I couldn’t believe it. It was