Personal Narrative: The Generous Game Of Baseball

If you like baseball you are going to love this story about my fun state baseball tournament! We had 11 players, three coaches, and a lot of fans and parents. You will hear about how we did, what I did, and what happened. Now you will read about my team and I did, and everything else that happened.

Wow, what a great and accomplished 4 years it’s been for us. Heck, it’s been an accomplished 10 years for us. It’s been a wild ride, and as it’s almost time for me to put down my bat and put away my glove, I have some thanking to do. So, thank you for everything, for everything you’ve taught me and everything you’ve made me learn through the game of softball.

Baseball was in my blood. Some of my earliest memories include batting cages with my Dad, sliding into home plate and throwing my first curve ball. By eight years old, I was playing ball year-round on travel teams and loving every minute of it. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that this was my sport, and I would play it in high school and possibly beyond. But, during the summer of 2010, the unthinkable happened. Picking up a golf club for the first time, I fell in love with a new game. I played every chance I got that summer. Begging my parents for clubs and lessons, my passion grew and most of the following summer was spent on the golf course, not the baseball field.

The quote, “ Everyday is a new opportunity. You can either build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That is the way life is, with a new game everyday, and that is the way baseball is.” - Bob Feller. That quote has irony on how to be successful, likewise that baseball has helped me become successful. Baseball has taught me many things about life such as how to have a good work ethic, how to accept failure and success, and has helped teach me to keep going when times get tough. Those are a few ways that baseball has helped me be successful.

I flew out of bed and put on my uniform. We were at the field around 8 a.m. the reason why we had to be there so early was because I had 3 games! We won both the first and second game. I didn’t get out once. It was time for the third game. I was pretty scared because they were pretty big and scary. They also had a winning streak. The 1 to 3 innings were pretty intense. But when it came to the 4th inning and that’s where things got very intense. The score was 8-9 we were losing by 1. And I was up to bat. Two outs, one person on base, and the last inning. I stepped into the batter's box, she winned up for her pitch and throw ball. I step out of the batter's box and look over to my 3rd base line coach. As I did so, out the corner of my eye I saw a familiar face in the crowd. It was my….

I play softball. It was All-Stars, and we were in first place at the moment. We had won three games, to London, Circleville, and another team whose name I can’t remember. It was the second to the last game, and our team was watching from some nice shade in the outfield (By the way, it was in the 90’s while we were there. It felt like a sauna!) Everybody was all sprawled out on the shady grass. You could smell sweat and sunblock in the air. We ate Flyers pizza, and candy (probably not a smart choice), and made sure to drink a whole lot of water. Both of the teams we had already beaten multiple times, so I didn 't see the sense of playing them again, but we had to anyways. We listened to the crickets chirping in the pond behind the field, and heard the crack of the bats slamming against the softballs being pitched. The London team ended up winning by one point, which was surprising because they had been

The huge game was coming in just 4 days as I stand on the pitching mound of an old deserted baseball field behind an old middle school. As I stand up there getting ready to throw a pitch I drained the sweat out of my shirt and went into my pitching position. As I crushed the ball with my small fingers I let go of the crinkled ball. It was a ball. I knew I wasn 't ready for the world series. As days went by it was time for the big game. I was never this terrified in my life. The score was going back and forth. First it was 1-0 then 1-1 and so on. But when it came to the bottom of the 8th. We got the lead due to a hit to center field. We were up 6-5. Then the inning ended. It was the top of

This game taught me that i can 't reflect on the unchangeable and move to the future. Reflection can be an awful thing moving on making your mind just feel clean and into a new state where you can make your dreams a vision. Basking in the glory days can 't be the only thing you can do for you lose or broken memory. Moving from there was the best thing that could have done for my career in baseball and after I moved on we won our next tournament and I forgot it all. The best thing you can do for a Challenge is try and if you fail wait till you can 't tackle

I take one foot out of the box and let out a breathe I didn’t know I was holding in. I once again looked to my coach Mike for direction and go to take a practice swing. Little did I know the catcher was getting up to pressure Maddy back to first base from her lead. As I was taking my swing I heard a thud, my bat had hit something solid. I immediately filled with remorse and tensed up. My bat suddenly got heavy with guilt. The catcher dropped the ball and fell to her knees clutching her back. I went limp and looked around confused and shocked. I didn’t know what to do so I started walking towards the dugout. Timmy met me halfway and put his hand on my shoulder I looked up at him and that’s when I realized tears were streaming down my face. I felt weak like a helpless child. Timmy reassured me that it wasn’t my fault. “You have the right to have one foot in the box and take practice swings, it’s going to be ok,” he said, but I wasn’t really paying attention to him. I looked around at my team and the crowd they were all shocked like me. I could hear the girl’s muffled sobs from where I was standing. “Do I really hit that hard?” I thought to myself. The other team’s coaches walked the catcher back to the dugout and a new girl came in. I reassured Timmy I would be fine then walked back the box. The game resumed and I got

At three years old, I fell in love, and it's a love affair that has continued to this day. All I remember is wanting to hit with my dad every second of every day. Now if you go ask him, he will probably take credit for how good I've become as a player. But that's another story on its own. Baseball has had my heart ever since my little hands were big enough to pick up a bat. Recently, I experienced the most important moment in my baseball career to date on one sunny weekend at a baseball field in Cartersville, just northwest of Atlanta.

North Andrew hadn’t been to a state championship game since the early 90’s. This isn’t acceptable in a small football town like mine. Everyone knew something had to change. It wasn’t until my sophomore year in 2012 that we finally made it back to a state championship. We had a new coach that year and a lot of talent. Our new coach worked our butts off, harder than any other 8 man team in the state. This was difficult for all of us but we later learned that hard work really pays off.

As days pass, the pain begins to subside, the tournament slowly approaching. I tried to imply that I still wanted to play, but they weren 't getting the message. My family and I decided to have a big discussion about whether I would attend the tournament or not. Headstrong, I told them I was playing. “You’re doing WHAT..?” my mother yelled. I attempted to explain how I wasn’t going to let down my team because of one injury. “Baseball is my whole life, mom. Tomorrow is the first tournament game,” I explained, “I will find a way to play.” Me being the stubborn kid I am, I talked them into letting me play. Luckily, the break was on my catching arm, not my throwing arm. After talking to my coach, we came to a compromise. They let me pitch for the start of the games in the tournament, and even bat if my hand was feeling alright! I show up at the tournament fully clothed in my baseball pants and jersey. The smell of stadium hot dogs and sweat filled my mind. My team, unaware of my decision of playing, is in awe. I warm up my pitching arm, throwing to my coach while my team does warm ups. I, tolerantly, practice my batting with my team. Luckily, my hand doesn’t hurt. The expression on my face was much like a child on Christmas

However, over the years my strategies to win have constantly evolved. This year, my approach was simple: emphasize hitting over pitching. After extensive statistical research, it became clear to me that such a strategy typically translated into winning. My scheme paid off; the “Cavaliers” won the league for the first time ever. Five years ago, I barely understood how the scoring worked, so it was rewarding to finally win with a newfound understanding of numbers.

My team and I watching from the crowd, as Clarkstown and New City battle it out to advance to the next round. The sun beaming down on us like we were asphalt on a summer day, and getting in our eyes causing us to put on eye black. I can’t help myself and smell hot pretzels being made so my dad and I buy one and share it before the game ends. The game finishes, 4-3 in favor of Clarkstown, my coach tells us to go to the out field to stretch and throw if you were a parent in the stands all you would see would be 10 bright white baseballs flying back and forth. The umpires soon arrive and our three coaches call us over, to say “We did not try this hard and make it this far to lose, so let's go get that win boys!” my team replied with “Let’s go

As a student athlete, I have learned to use failure as an opportunity to learn. The moments in which I have "failed" have only helped me grow and reflect on the mistakes that not only I have made, but also those made by others. I was forced to do this multiple times throughout my final season of high school field hockey. Even though the team had players who were devoted and had a true desire to win, the season ended as a losing record in the books. As the primary goalie and captain, this was extremely difficult to accept. However, I began to see the game as more than just a win or a loss. Losing gave the team the opportunity to closely look at what we did well, and what we needed to improve on. We were then able to focus more precisely on what we needed to do in order to succeed. I was able to learn that being successful and winning were not necessarily the same thing. We had success in a smaller sense; we worked as a team, played clean games and were noted for our sportsmanship. Although our record did not improve much, the overall attitude and skill of the team began to rise. We began to play for each other, instead of just playing for ourselves. This change was astronomical for the overall well being of the team.