Kate decided to give softball a try this summer after being inspired by watching our Cambridge High School girls softball team (conference champs!) and discovering one of her favorite grown ups (Jamie Downing) was the youth coach. She started the season with literally zero experience (she’d never even touched a softball before), joining a team that has been playing together for a couple of years. She was completely out of her comfort zone, but still wanted to give it a try. For that alone, I was so proud of her!
Her season started and she was instantly hooked. She had everything to learn but she was eager, stuck with it, and asked us nearly every day to help her practice throwing, catching, grounding, and hitting. She even decided to give the catcher position a try! She was so committed.
About halfway through the season she set a goal for herself to try to move up into the top half of the batting order. Her team played double headers each week and they started at the top of the batting order for each game. She was at the bottom of the lineup (meaning one of the last to bat) and because of this she only got one at-bat per game. She realized if she moved up into the top 50% of the batting lineup she could get two at bats per game, so that became her goal. She practiced batting nearly every day, and by the end of her season it all starting coming together for her. Her last three double headers of the season (6 games) she made contact with the ball every at bat. We were so proud of her! She was still at the bottom of the batting order, but her confidence had grown so much and it was so great seeing her crack those pitches.
Her season ended with a softball tournament and much to our surprise, Coach Jamie announced she was changing up the batting order for tournament play…starting with Kate as the team’s leadoff batter.
We were amazed!
She’d set a goal to be in the top half of her team’s batting order, and not only did she make it there – she made it all the way to the top! She was the first batter in the lineup for her team to close our their season. She was so overjoyed and excited, and G and I were so happy for her!
ALL of the girls on Kate’s team had an incredible season and were so much fun to watch. It was really wonderful seeing how everyone progressed as the season went on, and how well the girls all played together as a team. I don’t want to to detract from that; I just couldn’t resist sharing and celebrating how proud we are of Kate for setting a goal, working hard to achieve it, and seeing that hard work pay off in such a big way. That is one of the many benefits of playing sports, and a huge life lesson she learned firsthand this summer on the softball field.
Leave a Reply