Shaking the Nerves

Last night Hayden had to play against the team that she really wanted to be on.  Most of the girls on the other team were the ones she went to the World Series with.  It was hard for her...she didn't want to strike them out or play against them.  I had to explain to her that they would all still be her friend after the game even if she did strike them out or hit them.  Hayden always steps up to the plate though.  She was all nerves at first.  I could see it on her face.  She was taking deep breaths and I am pretty sure her heart was beating extra fast.  I know mine was. She started pitching and unfortunately the first one to bat was her best friend from school and she ended up hitting her with the ball in the side.  I thought to myself, oh no this is it...now she is really going to have a hard time....however, as always she made it through it and she threw several strikes.  She finally calmed down by the 2nd inning and looked relaxed and more confident and comfortable.  I am so proud of her and all of her hard work with pitching.  She has to really practice and focus on her release point and then she is going to be unstoppable.  I love hearing other people say WOW when she throws the first pitch.  She throws so much harder than any of the other girls her age.  In fact, I can't even practice with her because she throws so hard and fast.  I didn't play ball and I just don't have the ability to do it.  She hit me in the knee the other night and then told me I should have used my glove.  That is so easy for her to say because Softball is easy to her and really difficult for me.  Mark does practice pitching with her and she even catches him off guard and he was the catcher. 

She only got to hit once last night, which really disappoints her.  She hit a pop up all the way to the outfield.  When she came up to bat you could hear all the coaches on the other team telling the outfielders to get way back this girl can hit!  I love it!  We lost 5-3 but they played a great defensive game against supposedly the best team in 9/10 league.