Today I watched my littlest sister, Karley, pitch her heart out against Carmel, only to come out with a brutal loss. Cathedral, going into the game 10-12, was the obvious underdog, and the underdog, they remain. Seeing the girls' faces as their season was brought to a close, I couldn't help but wish it could have ended with a victory.
I have spent many years watching my two sisters play softball. Many summers have been devoted to travelling all over the U.S. to play in national tournaments and seek the ultimate competition. I played myself, but my heart was always on the basketball court.
I have loved watching both Kathleen and Karley, and would say that I take so much pride in being their sister. You would have to have seen the two of them play to completely understand what I mean.
Kathleen played third base. Just thinking about her out on that field brings tears to my eyes. She was one of those players who you could tell, just by watching her, that she really loved the sport. She was never clean, always covered in the dirt of the field, and she liked it that way. She dove after everything, hustled every where the game took her, yelled at the top of her lungs, and poured her soul into the softball diamond. She was the batter you got excited for when she was on deck, and looked forward to watching smash the ball. I can still remember her first appearance on the Varsity team in high school. She was a freshman and was brought up to play with the Varsity for the first time. She was put in to bat, with two outs, runners on, and I believe we were tied. My mom was a nervous reck sitting next to me, praying that Kathleen would do it, and she did. She smashed a line drive down the third base line. Everyone held their breath, hoping it would stay fair, and as soon as the ball dropped, the crowd was in shock. Kathleen hit a triple, and won the game. Her softball career was far from over, for she played the next 3 years at Mullen, went to the City tournament several times, and made me the proud big sister I am today. I still think Michigan made a HUGE mistake, even if she did make it all the way to the final cut...Bet they would have been in the World Series if they had.
Karley, on the other hand, is a completely different story. As a little girl, Karley was always dragged to our sporting events, year after year, summer after summer. She was a good sport, found something or someone to keep her busy, and made the best out of it. I don't think of it as a completely negative experience for her because she did end up picking up a lot of athletic skills by constantly having a basketball, softball or volleyball in her hands. She was a total natural, one of those people you envy because they could be good in just about anything they attempted. Softball was no exception. Before she even began playing, she would ask Kathleen and me to catch for her while she pitched, and trust me, she wanted to pitch all the time. If she wasn't pitching to us, she was pitching to the side of the house (making racket until it drove my parents crazy enough where they yelled at her to stop), she pitched to herself, she pitched to other little kids who were dragged to the games too, she designated herself as pitcher in any game played on the cul-de-sac. She was born to be on the pitching mound, and trust me, she looks beautiful out there. There is something about Karley that makes me wish I had played longer and harder. Maybe it's just the pride I have in the fact that, without knowing it, teammates and coaches look up to her. She's not just a natural athlete, but a natural leader. She can hold a team together better then most, and she does it without even realizing it. Unbelievable. My heart goes out to Karley because, as a pitcher, she has been underestimated her whole life. Many people don't realize that being a pitcher, a lot is expected out of you. Coaches are always looking for the next best pitcher to come along, and therefore your position never feels permanent. It's like many people in this economy; your job, the thing you love doing and you've spents years and years mastering, is constantly on the line, and you just hope that tomorrow you will still have your corner office waiting for you. Karley's had that corner office, but her belongings have never had the opportunity to find a home, other than the packed box, ready to leave. She has been challenged, underestimated, and taken for granted her entire pitching career, and yet she has battled through it with grace and confidence. She is a remarkable person and a joy to have as a sister.
It's been hard for me to see the pain that my sisters have battled, but having had that pain myself, I know that it will only add to their character. I can only hope that when they look back on the years and summers they spent battling the heat, hoping for wins, that they too remember the victories on and off the field.
The diamond is forever yours.
Thinking over the BFFC, I am strangely reminded of the Babysitter's Club movie, how all of the girls met and spent a summer raising money to buy a place to base their club/babysitting business out of.
