One spring evening, my daughter Sara’s softball team was playing the number one, undefeated team in their league. The other team were all 12 years old whereas Sara’s team were barely 10. We went in with no illusions of victory. If we were lucky, we may get one run.
At the top of the third inning, Sara went up to bat. At this point, none of ours girls had made it to first base, which was no surprise. At least they looked cute in their red, white, and blue outfits.
The pitcher threw. Sara swung.
Crack!
To be honest, I was surprised she was even able to hit the ball since it wasn’t a good pitch. I think Sara just wanted to swing.
The ball sailed up high and came straight down to the shortstop, which is the position between second and third base. I thought the shortstop had caught the ball, but the next thing I saw was it hitting the ground between her feet. If you don’t play softball, a pop-fly like Sara’s hit should have been an easy out, especially for an undefeated team.
“Run!” I shrieked at the top of my voice. I knew this might be our only chance for a base hit. Plus Sara was one of the fastest runners on her team. If anybody could outrun the ball, she could.
Tim, her daddy, and some of her teammates in the dugout started to yell.
The shortstop threw the ball. I held my breath and scooted up on the bleachers. This was going to be close. Sara and the softball arrived at first base at the same instant. The first baseman missed the ball and with a loud clank, it slammed into the fence beside them.
I expected Sara to do what most ballplayers would’ve done in that instant; veer right. When you do that, you go off the playing field and into safety. Did my child do that? Nope. She turned and ran toward second base. She didn’t even slow down.
The yelling from our side intensified. Tim continued to shout in my left ear.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. She had a base hit. The only base hit so far. What was wrong with her? There was obviously no turning back now, so I began yelling, “Stop at second. Stop at second!”
The second baseman stood ready with her glove out. The first baseman picked up the ball and threw it. I scooted up a little more on the bleachers. My heart began to race.
Again, Sara reached the base the same time as the softball. It soared over the second baseman’s head and into centerfield behind her.
“Stay on second!” I yelled. This girl was pushing her luck. Did my child do that? Nope. She tagged the base, pivoted to her left, and ran toward third at high speed. That’s when I saw the dust cloud in her wake. It was bigger than she was.
“Stop at third! Stop at third!” I was shrieking with everything I had. But there was no way she could have heard me over the deafening roaring erupting from the stands.https://brookecoxstories.com/wp-admin/media-upload.php?post_id=616&type=image&TB_iframe=1
The third base coach had both of his palms out yelling, “Stop!”
The third baseman stood ready with her glove out. The second baseman hurriedly retrieved the ball and threw it. Again, Sara arrived the base the same time as the ball. I was now on the edge of the bleachers and I was pretty sure Tim was having heart palpitations. At that point I could’ve swallowed a bug and not even care.
The third baseman missed the ball and it slammed into the fence behind them just as it did at the first base line. Does my child stop? Nope. She tagged third and turned toward home plate. Again, no slowing down.
The crowd cheering reached a feverish pitch.
As Sara ran, I took a good hard look at her. Her face was blood red, she was gritting her teeth, and she was pumping her fists. I knew my daughter was plowing her way towards home plate.
The catcher jerked her mask off and stood at the plate with her glove out. Since the softball was so close, the third baseman quickly picked it up and threw it to the waiting catcher. It was as if everything was in slow motion.
I knew there was no way Sara’s luck could hold out any more. My heart broke for my child as I thought, “What an end to a glorious run.”
Again, Sara reached home plate the same time as the ball. I wanted to cover my eyes, but I didn’t. I wasn’t sure how much more my hearing or my heart could take. I grasped the bleachers with my hands to keep from slipping off of them.
To this day, I can still see Sara’s foot touching home plate and the ball sailing past the catcher. It slammed into the backdrop and rolled away.
The roar from our side was so loud that people on surrounding ball fields turned and looked in our direction. After the hoopla died down, I realized I had just witnessed a softball miracle. Sara got a homerun off of an infield pop-fly to the number one, undefeated team in their league. That should never have happened.
For one thing, all the other teams in their league were intimidated by the older team’s reputation and would give up before the game even started. In fact, I went in with the same attitude. And while Sara was running the bases, I was encouraging her to stop and give up.
But not only did Sara not give up; she defied them and they couldn’t handle it.
If that had been me, I would have limited myself to first base and I would have patted myself on the back for playing it safe. Unlike Sara, I would have never taken that step of faith off of that base.
Why not? In a word: fear. Not the fear of death or being hurt, but the fear of getting out. The fear of letting my teammates down. The fear of walking off the field with my head hung down. Did Sara not feel the same? After the game, I asked her if she had any fear while she was running the bases. She said no; she was just running.
That’s when I realized you can’t play it safe and expect spectacular.
You can’t run and live in fear at the same time. Sara had no room for fear. She was just running.
So dare to take that step off of first base. If you get out, it’s okay. At least you tried. But if you don’t take a chance, you will not ever know have far you may have gone.
There was a little irony to this story. After each game, the girls met up with the coach for a quick meeting. During that meeting, the same man who had his palms out and yelling, “Stop!!” said to Sara, “Way to go Sara! You all should do that.”
“… He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4 (NKJV)
“For if God is for us, then who can be against us?” Romans 8:31 (NKJV
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