April 9, 2020
School Closing the Rest of the Year? WHY?
Governor Wolf just released a statement closing all Pennsylvania schools for the rest of the year. What? Why? How could he do this? To say that I was overwhelmed when my mom broke the news is definitely an understatement. I thought today was going to be a normal, boring day...nope...it was the absolute worst day of quarantine. My friend face-timed me for help on his calculus homework, and we were laughing and making jokes about what would happen if school hypothetically closed until June. When my mom told me that the governor made it official, I immediately laughed and thought she was making an awful joke. Nope. It was not a joke. I just sunk back in my chair at the island counter, and stared into space for about thirty minutes. I did not feel like talking to anyone or doing my homework. My motivation to do anything and everything dropped off the face of the Earth. After fifteen minutes went by it finally hit me like a brick...WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO THE SOFTBALL SEASON??? I did not think that this day would ever come. I have been overly optimistic throughout this entire quarantine about going back to school promptly. I am sure they will cancel the season, but I refuse to think that's even possible. Every social media app is blowing up with parents complaining and seniors looking back at their four years of high school fondly. I honestly do not know what to feel because it does not feel real at all. I have a slight hope that PIAA will do something to give us a few games if this virus clears out sooner than expected, but I do not know. Freshman year the excitement for senior year begins. It is safe to say that every one of my softball seasons borderline sucked for various reasons, but I kept coming back each year because I wanted my senior year to be great. Me and my fellow senior teammates knew that this would be the best season of our four years at Pennridge because we all got along and we had a lot of talent that could get us far in the playoffs. We all hated school softball until last fall. To have that almost stripped away just does not feel good at all, but I guess we all have to keep our head up. Hopefully good news will come within the next few weeks that can help give us a memorable senior year even if it is not conventional.
April 11, 2020
The News is Official
Today is the day we got the unfathomable news. I am writing this blog post on April 11th at 5pm in the afternoon when I am finally able to collect my thoughts on this subject. The news broke at 3pm on April 9th that PIAA is officially canceling the spring sports season. I anticipated this was coming, but I had the hope that they would bend the rules so we could get at least a game or two in. I thought maybe they would allow us to play on weekends, or play a few “pickup” league games that could count towards winning a district title. I am incredibly upset, and so are my fellow senior teammates. As soon as the first article popped up in my news feed, I screen-shotted it on my phone and sent it in the senior group chat. Everybody responded with crying emojis and “why does this have to happen to us?” I often find myself asking the question “why?” Why couldn’t this have happened last year or the year before that when we were in any grade but twelfth? The more I think about it, the more I realize that everything happens for a reason. Mrs. Gordienko sent an email about thirty minutes after the statement came out. She talked about her experience with missing events, and how she grew stronger. I thought about her email, while sulking in despair, and I realized that we cannot change what happened. We need to make the best of this situation, and come out of this quarantine stronger than we ever have before. I stopped dramatically complaining to my mother (who probably has had enough of my comments), and decided that I will find the positives to this situation. So far I have come up with making more intense workouts, more refined pitching drills, or focusing more on my thoughts. This quarantine may have halted many of our senior seasons, but we cannot let that stop our love of the game and our bond with each other. We are all in this together, and we are all not alone.
April 24, 2020
What To Do
All of us student athletes are probably spending the majority of our time sulking in our sorrows because of our lost seasons. While sadness is an okay emotion to have during these times it should not be our primary emotion. We all need to get off our couches and onto our fields. This time off should be treated like off season part two. We should utilize the time we have to better ourselves mentally and physically. I have been taking trips to the softball field down the road from my house in order to get some time outdoors and to practice my sport. I am sure there are plenty of empty public fields for any sport that would give you space to get some reps in. I brought my dad and sister with me so that I could work on my pitching. I took the time to break down my motion into steps that I further progressed. I did isolated work on my ball release and on my footwork. Contrary to belief, pitching is not only done with your arms. I wanted the perfect strides and landings to become muscle memory for my legs. In every sport and every position I am sure there are fundamental drills that could be done instead of lounging lazily on the couch, binging Netflix. Frankly, if we do not utilize this time wisely than by our next game (whenever that may be) we will not be as good of a player as we were. It rained a couple days ago and I decided to take my work down to the basement. I have turf and a net so it was easy to get some hitting reps done and some pitching motion work in. The weather should not stop you from wanting to become the best player you can be. There are simply no excuses.
May 7, 2020
Senior Night!!
Sadly, tonight would have been our fun filled senior night. We would have been facing our opponent, Central Bucks East, at seven at night under the lights. After a school day being dressed up in fancy apparel, the excitement for the game would kick in. Central Bucks East does not have a good team so it would have been an easy win. Of course the weather outside is absolutely gorgeous which does not ease the pain at all. Normal senior night festivities include being presented our posters with various amounts of old softball photos and taking a copious amount of photos with teammates and parents. The field would be decorated in green and white streamers and balloons. Usually, the team would create two lines on the field and hold up their bats so they are touching the person’s across from them. This would create a bridge that we seniors would have the privilege to walk through, arms linked with our parents. At this time, an announcer would be reading off personal aspects about our favorite memories and our plans for the future.
Today, I went on a long jog in the morning, and spent the rest of the day practicing at the fields. It definitely was not the typical day I had planned. One of the other seniors texted us saying that she bought us all flowers. We made a plan to meet up at Drunkenmiller fields around six at night. When we got to the fields, one of the moms completely covered the dugout and walkway with chalk. She drew our names, numbers, and a big ‘We Love Our Seniors’. The four of us seniors spent an hour getting our photos taken. We semi recreated going under the bat tunnel which was hilarious. That mom even bought us cookies and cupcakes and we smashed them all over each other. It definitely made for great photo opportunities. In the hour we were all together it was incredibly fun. Even though we were disappointed we could not have our traditional senior night, we were granted something equally as special.
May 22, 2020
Long Day of Graduation
Yesterday was the day of our graduation. Even though it took seconds to walk across the stage, Pennridge tried their best and made it extremely momentous. My family and I spent two hours taking photos around campus. There was a plan in place to meet at the softball fields around 5pm for our third and last photo shoot. Our parents wanted to capture us in our caps and gowns over our uniforms before we had to hand them back. It definitely was a long day even before going to the fields. I spent so much time smiling and enjoying the company of people I have not seen in a while. When I got to the field, my dad and coaches were there setting up a mini field with the white lines and everything. It looked like a t-ball field. Our senior posters were hung up with balloons and our gifts. The other seniors got to the field, and we wasted no time posing and laughing. It was so much fun as usual. The one mom got confetti cannons and we got some really cool photos with that. Towards the middle of the photo shoot, some of our teammates came by. They only stayed for ten minutes, but it was good to see them. We immediately knew this was a booster club set up because the night before all of the mothers of the seniors got a call from the booster club president and let’s just say none of them went in a positive direction. We spent the night eating cupcakes and taking even more photos. This was just what we needed. My family and I came home three hours later, and we were all so tired. Of course I had an hour long 8:30pm zoom meeting for ap stat too (I fell asleep through most of it). Overall, graduation and our little senior tribute night were more special than I could have imagined them to be. This quarantine has unleashed the creative minds of a lot of people. I hope every senior has the most amazing and memorable graduations and senior nights despite how unconventional they may be. Nobody should take what we can have for granted.