After a long, hard season of juggling softball and soccer, the softball season has ended. This past Saturday I had my banquet. Throughout the season everyone on the team worked hard for us to make it to the playoffs. We had our wins and loses, but we finally got to our wpial game against Canon Mac.
We left on Tuesday after A lunch and rode on the bus for an hour and a half to the field in Peters Township. As the varsity team warmed up, they were all nervous with anticipation. During fielding warm ups, the coaches were hitting the ball as hard as they could to get the players ready. Since our varsity team is made up of mostly the nine seniors, they were all looking to make their last season as long as possible. Being one of the few underclassmen that had to dress, I was excitedly waiting to see if I would get in. Finally, the game started.
We began the game unaware of the battle we were about to encounter. The teams were evenly matched. Our team wanted to prove ourselves to everyone, since we are not known as being a very strong team. Our nine seniors were all eager to extend their season as much as possible. The first inning started and our first three batters struck out. We were not off to a great start. We were fielding and as we cheered on our pitcher she struck out their first three batters.
Our defense needed to be strong. Unfortunately, they scored three runs making it 0-3 going into the bottom of the second. We scored one run the second inning holding the score at 1-3. By the top of the fourth inning, we were down 3-7, but, as luck would have it, the beginning of our order was up. We had two girls on base with one out. Our fourth batter was up, she watched two balls go by. Their pitcher was becoming frustrated because our cheering was getting in her head. As we all screamed we could see her trying to hear what her sign for the pitch was. As we noticed her struggling to hear, we screamed louder. Finally, she got her sign and threw a perfect ball right down the middle! It was as if our batter had been waiting for that pitch the entire season. I heard the crack of the ball making contact with the bat as our batter hit the ball right over the fence for a home run!
We all gathered at the plate to celebrate her success! Just as she touched home, we screamed and patted her on the back. Thanks to her amazing effort, we scored three runs. The momentum was ours. The next few innings were back and forth battles. We were up, then tied, then down, and then tied again. Entering the sixth inning, the game was tied. Cannon Mac was batting and managed to score three runs, the score was now 12-15. The top of the seventh, and final inning, had all of us on our feet, encouraging our teammates to bring us back to the top. Cannon Mac had gone through each of their pitchers twice and finally ran out of subs. We had two girls on base, two outs, and needed three runs to tie and four to win. The pressure was high as our opportunity to play a second round playoff game was on the line.
I watched as our batter hit a fly ball to the outfield, and we all prayed for it to hit the ground. We were standing up watching very intently as the ball flew in the air. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. The girls on the bases were running as fast as they could to get to home. Unfortunately, we watched the outfielder make a great catch to win the game for Cannon Mac. Although we were all disappointed, we had played our best game of the season. Our coach was so impressed with our performance and proud of our efforts that she treated all of us to Rita’s ice after the game. We celebrated all of the season’s achievements, ending our 2018 Fox Chapel Softball Season season on a positive note!