Reflections on College Softball

This spring I have had the privilege of relationship with several college fast-pitch softball players at our university. I have been to a number of their games through February and March and took some notes about the things which characterize this game and its culture. Most of them are things unique to softball and some to this particular team.

· They play with an optic yellow ball, 12” in circumference with raised seams.
· They swing bats made from a composite material which are very light and extremely hard. It feels like swinging a feather made of titanium.
· They chant all manner of nonsense from the dugout. Some chants are related to the game situation, others to their teammate’s name, still others are related to the ball/strike count and some I don’t even understand.
· The pitchers throw rise balls, curve drops, fast balls, knuckle balls and straight changes. Some pitchers throw as many as five different pitches.
· The players have pony tails and hair ribbons peaking from beneath their batting helmets.
· Their uniforms start bright and clean, but are usually streaked by mud, dirt, grass stains and sweat by the third inning.
· Their bases are sixty feet between and rather than having a mound like baseball, they have a circle on the same level as the plate.
· The fences are 190 feet down the line and it’s 240 to straightaway centerfield.

After having breakfast and conducting a chapel with several of these players every Sunday morning of home games, I could see past all the details mentioned above and the obvious differences between their sport and baseball. I could see in their hearts the powerful desire to compete and to excel. I could hear in their voices the passion for their teammates and their coaches. I could see in their eyes the drive to be champions.

I saw them playing their hearts out when they returned to the field that day. This is who they really are and where they want to be. They are most at home in those uniforms, with gloves on their hands and that optic yellow ball in flight. They are at their very best when they see the ball on its way to a violent meeting with their bats, knowing an extra base hit is about to be.

Play your heart out and join these lovely young ladies in their pursuit of victories and the fulfillment of their lives’ great passion.