Personal Narrative-2014 Baseball State Tournament

Softball. My favorite sport. It’s not a contact sport so, the chances of me injuring another player are slim to none. Or so i thought….. I was in Traverse City last year with my team for a softball tournament. It was the fifth inning of our morning game, we were down by a few runs and I was on deck. “There is one out,” I thought to myself “I have to get on base.”

When I was younger, I always wanted to be someone famous like a singer, an actress, or even an astronaut. But one day I came across a sport, but this was not just any boring sport to me, it was a sport that I knew I wanted to do for a career or even until I grew old. It might just be a ball and bat to some people but to me it felt more than a sport. It felt like an endless vacation from everything going bad in my life. That sport is softball. But I knew something that felt so wonderful has to have some challenges.

Dane Kutnick is in right field , Tanner Smith at first, and Jason VanDenLangenberg is catching. We have played 3 tournaments together, but we already looked like we have been playing together for a long time. We may not have known it yet, but they were going to turn one of the best plays of the year.

It was a scorching 100 degree summer day. It was the start of the 11 year state championship baseball game against Albert Lea, I still remember that game like it was yesterday. It was miserable out we played three games that day before reaching the state championship. When the game started I kind of forgot about how hot it was out. We started fast scoring 2 runs in the top of the 1st inning Dylan and Reno each crossed the plate that inning. Derek took the hill to pitch, he started with 2 strikeouts and a lazy fly ball to left field. Then I was up to start the top of the second inning and I watched the first two pitches pass for balls and then on the third pitch of the at bat I hit a line drive to left field for a single but the next three batters all got out. Tanner got up and said

I was in the hospital. It was June 12, 2017 at Genisys Hospital. My grandma was dead lying in the hospital bed. I was crying for hours and hours. I could not sleep thinking my grandma was dead. The very next day I had a baseball game. It was at Liberty Shores in Linden at around 6:00. I was just shocked I made it to the game and was able to play in it. But I was the first on there because I was really excited and nervous for this game. I was so nervous that I just wanted to play amazing for my grandma.

It was a normal Saturday for my team, the Montgomery Rebels, at Lagoon Park, and there was not a cloud in the sky. My team and I were about to play a team called Triple Play (despite the name they could barely get a double play.) My coach, also known as my dad, came up to me and said, “Does your arm feel good?”

It was the middle of June and we are playing the second game of the World Series. We got here by doing well in the state tournament so all the teams are pretty good. Before anybody plays we all have a big party at the fields there were hotdogs and burgers and drinks. They had bounce houses and contests, then after an hour or so everybody exchanged team pins. We met all the other players from the other teams and just had fun. Each team was staying at a different hotel so after the party we all went back to our hotels and went to bed to get rest for the games the next day.

It was an early Saturday morning in October, when the Panther girls softball team were playing for a third straight win. The two games before that flew by easily, we won both and were playing to be seeded first in the tournaments the next day. The crowd was full of excitement, parents yelling, and the coach yelling at the umpires, because of bad calls. We were nervous because it was a really good team that had 3 of the best players in the state. We had played them in two previous tournaments, and lost on the second day, so this time we were determined to beat them.

I yelled “Swing” at stetsons players.I asked my dad “ Can I get a ball?” he told me “Go ask for one,” because there was a girl that gets

It had been a long day at the softball field and everyone on my team was exhausted. We had won every game that we had played that day. We had made it to the championship and we're ready to win. I was the pitcher so I had an important duty, to pitch as best as I could. I gave it my all and pitched like there was no tomorrow. As we were nearing the end of the game the score was close, but we were ahead by one point. It had just become and even more intense that it already was. Every single person was on the edge of their seat waiting to see who would win it all. My team was up to bat and I was on third base. My teammate that was up to bat missed the first ball but had plenty more chances to hit the ball. I was so ready to win it all. As

It was October, 21st the Riverside High School Bulldogs Homecoming game. They were 8 and 1 and they needed this win to advance to the State Championship. All the pressure was on all star quarterback John Tortellini. After the last bell rang the team meet up in the football weight room so they could get a pregame workout in. John was Partners with his best friend Eddie, they lifted for about an hour then they moved into the showers so they could clean up for dinner. John as he always did before he went into the shower he took off his glasses and placed them on the bench next to the door.

“DING!” the ball collides with the bat and rolls all of the way to the fence. I take off, sprinting as fast as I can to get to 2nd base. I touched first and then landed safely on second base, smiling ear to ear and listening to my teammates and fans go wild because we might actually have a chance to win this game. Before I tell you if we win or lose, let me tell you about how my day started. (Great lead it caught my attention. )

The count was 2-1, I was up to bat. The score was 5 to 4, in the bottom of the 9th inning. The pitcher lifts up one leg and twirls his body, releasing the baseball. I ponder my next move, as I see the ball accelerated towards me. I get in position, swing, and let it rip. “Clank!” the baseball slices through the air, going over the wall. “HOME RUN!” My teammates shout. Where I grew up, nothing was better than hearing the impact of a baseball.

One time in a baseball game my team was losing by two. There was two outs and I was up to bat and there were 2 people on base. I got a strike on the first pitch. On the second pitch I swung as hard as I could and hit it all the way to the fence. The two people on base both scored and we tied the game. We won in the tenth inning all because I knew how to hit.

For a young baseball player one of the highest goals to achieve is hitting a homerun -for me that was all I wanted. I already achieved most of what I wanted in baseball, and one of my proudest was a no-hitter, but it was no home run. When I first realized how bad I wanted this feat was one night after a practice where all we did was just hit. The majority of my teammates hit at least one homerun that practice, but me I hit the fence but never was able to send one over. The car ride home after the practice was horrible, I was a mess. I told my mom, “ I’m horrible at this game, I get so close everytime and I just can’t hit a ball over the fence.”