Today we should have won, but we didn't.

Today we should have won, but we didn’t. It may have come down to one play, or maybe we just had a really bad game or day overall, but we should have won - we were the better team. On paper, everything said we would win…we were stronger, faster, more athletic - just better softball players than they were. We should have won.
 
This feeling is one of the worst, knowing that you should have won and walking home empty handed instead. BUT, I can almost guarantee that there are days that you and your team have walked away with a win against a stronger, faster, more athletic and just overall better team than yours. This is the beauty of softball - it is anyone’s game on any given day. It is nothing like football or lacrosse, where players go up one on one to try to out run, out tackle, or out score each other. Softball is not only about how well you gel as a team, but also how well you execute. Sometimes, a missed steal sign or a wild pitch can decide a game. Those who execute at the right time win. It’s that simple. Average teams beat great teams when they fail to execute and do the little things. Throughout your career you will be on both sides of this scenario, walking away from some games wondering how in the world you just lost and others wondering who had the four leaf clover in their cleat. Success is seen as earning a hit 3 out of 10 at bats. In a game where you can fail 7 times out of 10 and are still considered successful, you are guaranteed to have bad days. Sometimes you’ll hit the most perfect line drive right at the center fielder, and then next at bat you’ll hit a ridiculous pop fly that ends up in no man’s land behind first base for a single. Sometimes it really is about timing and luck.
 
It was 2007. We were in North Carolina playing for an NSA Eastern National Title with 128 teams. With 8 teams left we were knocked into the loser’s bracket and fought back to the championship game, needing to win two games to win it all against an undefeated Alabama team. Going into the 7th inning of game one we were behind 1-0. A slap up the middle, a bunt, and a perfectly placed single tied the game. We then went into extra innings to win the first game, ultimately winning the tournament in game two. In the span of one half inning, the entire course of the game had changed due to a perfectly timed execution. It was to no fault of the other team. They made the out to get the player who had bunted, and they fielded both the slap and the single in the outfield cleanly. We executed, and on that day - things went our way.
 
​It was 2010. We were in Maryland playing for the ASA Eastern National Title with 85 teams. In the 5th inning we were tied with a team from South Carolina. I gave up a single to left field with runners on first and second. Our left fielder decided to dive for the ball instead of getting in front of it, and the ball ended up rolling to the fence. We ended up losing the game by one run. That play decided our fate and sent us home in 5th place that year.
 
​In softball, it is anyone’s game on any given day. Some days we walk away winning when we probably shouldn’t have, and others we walk away losing when we did everything right. Yet, day after day we still find ourselves out on the field working towards perfection.