A Pitch about being a Pitcher by Lauren

A Pitch about being a Pitcher by Lauren - November 2019 Scholarship Essay

One way that I have positively impacted my high school and its student body is related to my participation in the varsity softball team. After we struggled to win a game my freshman and sophomore years, we kicked it up a notch as a team during my junior year.

Up until the state playoffs last season, we had only lost one game and that was to a 3A school by one run (we are a 1A school). The team as a whole played together well and we picked each other up when one of us was struggling either defensively or offensively. Being the main pitcher of the team throughout the year, I also struggled at times due to the length of the season, tough competition, and the sheer number of innings I pitched throughout the year. However, we all worked hard together and still managed to have a lot of fun together both on and off the field.

During the year, the interest in our team grew within the school. We had more and more students and teachers attend our games to cheer us on. At our first state playoff game last season, the stands were filled with cheering students and teachers. It made us all so proud because we barely had a fan attend a game in past seasons other than the player’s parents. It was exciting to see a bigger fan base during my junior year. Even though we lost our state playoff game, we played well and lost in extra innings. The fans stayed until the end and cheered us until the last pitch.

I am definitely NOT the only reason more fans came out to see us play. However, pitching is a big key in softball in order to remain competitive in each game. If a pitcher can’t through strikes, the game drags with walk after walk. I think my improvement as a pitcher over the years has been one of the reasons why our team has improved every year and why we get more and more school fans at our games. I can’t wait for the start of the next season because we now have our own field which I think will also increase our fan base even from last year. Go Mountain Island Charter School Raptors!