.....And maybe even bring a tear to your eye (I know it did to me!).
OK, I know I'm a little soft for this one because my lovely 14-year-old daughter Kate --
-- just finished her freshman season on the Bexley High School varsity softball team.
Bexley doesn't have enough girls for a JV team, so the underclassmen play varsity.
About mid-way through the season, Kate began to really focus on pitching (she had only done it a few times in middle school). She was eventually brought in to pitch the final innings for a few games.
Unlike her mother, who gets quite nervous as she steps on the mound.....Kate is cool as a cucumber, with nerves of steel and a big smile on her face. She says she actually enjoys it.
Go figure!
So 2 weeks ago, we had a home game and the starting pitcher was ill. Kate was asked to pitch.....her very first start, and she pitched 5 innings. She did a great job, struck a few girls out and even managed to catch a line drive that headed straight for her face (and threatened to ruin A LOT of very expensive orthodontia!).
I must say.....I'm a very proud mama.
(Hey, what good is having a blog -- if you can't share stuff like that?)
What fun it has been to see her enjoy playing the game this season and bonding with her teammates. Seeing Kate's name listed in the box scores in the paper the next morning was a hoot as well.
Unfortunately, their season ended last night with a 3 to 0 loss in the first round of the district tourney. The girls were sad, but they know they had a fun season (a building year in which they didn't have many wins, but definitely learned a lot).
OK, here is the real feel-good part of this post........
One of Kate's coaches, a great young gal named Nell who used to play softball for Bexley, played in college and has a younger sis on Kate's team.......sent the team a link today to the very inspiring short video story that I have embedded below.
She thanked the girls for a great season and thought that they might enjoy this ESPN video about a very special college softball game a few weeks ago.
Some of you may have already heard about it, but I thought it was worth sharing here.
It was a game played in Washington state to decide who would win a conference championship.....but it turned out to be so much more.
The video is about 5 minutes long, and I will warn you.....it definitely brought a tear to my eye.
Possibly because I have a daughter who now plays high school softball.
Yes, that's possible.
I'm more apt to believe it touched me (and so many others), because we're sick and tired of the media always talking about "Mean Girls" and constantly reinforcing the idea of competition and cattiness among high school and college-age women.
These gals were definitely competitors that day, but what happened on that ball field transcends anything they could have ever accomplished with a mere ball and bat.
This took compassion, courage, character.....and a whole lot of heart.
So I hope you enjoy the feel-good video story below.
Shed a tear perhaps (a happy one) -- and smile at the thought of those very special young women. I truly think there are many more of them out there than we honestly know.
Actual, real-life young women and role models that my daughter Kate can look up to, unlike some of the more unfortunate stereotypes promoted in the media today.
Yep, I believe it's that thought that brought the tear to my eye.
And a BIG smile as well.
Have a wonderful weekend everybody!
Kelly :)
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