Never let the fear of striking out....blah blah blah

So a little background on Brady… He is good at everything. And by everything, I mean EVERYTHING. Especially sports. He played 3 sports in high school, then went on to play college football at SUU, and now he coaches 2 sports at Union High School. I, on the other hand, grew up singing and dancing and have never played a competitive sport in my life. Until now.

Every summer Brady plays on a co-ed community softball league. I guess he must have forgotten that his girlfriend has no athletic ability whatsoever when he signed the BOTH of us up this year. “It will be fun,” he said. Yeah yeah yeah. I’m sure it is a blast when you are actually good at the game!! But I tried to stay positive and prepare myself before the league started.

“Brady, can we go to the batting cages?”

“Sure thing.”

…we never went…

Before I knew it, it’s the opening game. I get there and see who else is on our team. Of course every single girl on our team played high school softball and some even played college ball. I was sure to impress them. First batter gets up, hits a double; second batter, hits a triple; third batter, home run. You get the idea. So I think to myself, “Maybe it’s not that hard.”

I step up to the plate.

Strike One.

Strike Two.

You’re Out. (Apparently you only get 2 strikes in slow-pitch softball).

I justify in my head that I only struck out because it was my first time. I come back to the dugout and my entire team cheers me on. “Don’t worry, you’ll just get better and better the more you do it.”

Shake it off. Next inning, I’m up again.

Strike One.

Strike Two.

You’re Out.

Long story short, I struck out every single time. You were right, Brady. This is REALLY FUN.

As the season goes on, not much changes. I still strike out 9 times out of 10 but occasionally I will get a base hit or if I’m lucky I get to walk. HOWEVER, last week we had our last softball game and I must say I was pretty proud of myself. I never once struck out! And I had my best play yet…

I play catcher. The position doesn’t get much action in slow-pitch which has been more than okay with me. But during the last inning a lady from our opposing team steps up to bat and hits a foul ball 3 feet to the left of home plate. Picture the scene from Sandlot where Smalls holds his mitt up in the air and shuts his eyes and hopes for the best. I swear it comes down in slow motion and….and….I caught it!! My first out!! I was ecstatic and couldn’t even try to hide it! At the end of the game my entire team gives me a high 5 and congratulates me like I’m a 5-year-old, but I’ll take it. And for that moment, I understood what Brady meant. Okay, so it CAN be fun…

Before leaving, another one of our teammates says to me, “You’re on our team for life now.”

Oh boy…