It’s that thing that I think about every day. The thing in the back of my mind that says: You know you’re doing something right if you get pulled up to varsity as a sophomore. I didn’t actually think it was going to happen, though.

 I know everyone dreams of being pulled up as a freshman, being that stud that everyone else on JV envies. I admit it, that was me too; I wished I was in their place. Even though it didn’t happen, I was okay with pitching for JV to get a lot of pitching time and become a better pitcher.

I knew I had talent, but I wasn’t freshman-on-varsity good. When they didn’t pull me up at tryouts this year, I wasn’t too upset. I stayed with JV for preseason where I became captain of JV and we won third place in the Roseville Tournament. I knew I would have to just wait until varsity needed me, then they would bring me up.

Well, soon enough, they did need me. Just when league was just starting, the two pitchers up on varsity, Taylor Cotton and Megan Mello, both became injured.

A couple of days later, varsity coach  Mrs. April Steele, pulled me up and I pitched most of the league season. Before the first game I was a little nervous and these questions keep running through my head: Would my pitching not be good enough for varsity? Would I do really bad and everyone would hit home runs off me? Would the team not like me because I’m not as good as Taylor or Megan? But once the game started I pushed all these negative thoughts aside and decided I would try my hardest and that’s all I can do. The first game I pitched was a home game against Cordova where I pitched a winning 1-0 shutout game. This game and a couple other of my varsity games were written in the Placer Herald about my pitching. In the end, we went 7-3 in league, taking third, and qualified for playoffs. I really had a good time playing with the varsity team this year and I’m honestly going to miss the seniors.

It was an opportunity for me to experience pitching for varsity and it gave me more confidence in my playing. Because of it, I think I will have an overall better summer travel ball season and two more good years on varsity softball for Whitney before I hopefully get into a good college and play softball in the future as well.

By ABI BROOKS