My name is Kayla Fisher. Softball has always been my thing. Every coach I had as a kid said I had “raw talent.” The phrase always confused me but I figured it was a good thing because it made my mom smile. I’ve worked so hard throughout my career so far to get to where I am and I will continue to work even harder to get to where I want to be. My friends always got mad at me for missing social events like birthday parties and sleepovers. They didn’t understand my love for a sport and my ambition to be the best version of myself as a player. Some people even unfriended me because of it. I sacrifice these things because someday I hope to play at the collegiate level. That’s my long term goal, but obviously there will be some highs and lows along the way.
During my 8th grade year I played town travel. It was coached by some girls’ parents. These girls got a lot more playing time because of this. For me, I was playing for fun, yet I was one of the best players on the team. I was confused because I also played on a club team, took private softball lessons, and constantly proved myself but I still wasn’t given a fair opportunity. The head coach’s daughter batted 3rd and didn’t get a single hit all season but never dropped in the line-up. I only struck out once all season and most of the rest of my at bats were hits and walks including home runs and triples. None of this mattered. I was still batting 10th. This was discouraging because I knew I was good. I was losing confidence because I wasn’t getting the playing time I deserved on a town team. The only reason I was still feeling good about myself was because in club where games are more competitive and my team was really good, I was playing a lot and really well. The town team was also really cliquey, there were friend groups that would leave people out during the games. I was friendly with girls, but none of them were my friends. I felt left out because I was one of the only girls not in their group.
One game it was a summer night game under the lights. I sat the bench the first few innings and batted 9th. It was hard to sit there watching my teammates losing our game and not being able to do anything to help. All of the sudden my coach looks at me and says, “you’re going in to pitch.” I stood up, grabbed my glove, and walked out onto the field. There was a part of me so happy to be pitching. The other part of me was upset and frustrated that I was being used as an afterthought. They didn’t even bother to warm me up before putting me in, I felt like I was being set up to fail. I decided to smile and just do my best and work with what I’ve got. I threw some pitches to warm up on the mound mid-inning, 5 to be exact. 1 change up right down the middle, 2 screwballs on the inside corner of the plate, 1 fastball up in the zone, 1 drop ball down in the zone, and one curveball that swept the outside corner. I felt ready, regardless of not getting a warm up before the game or before being put on the mound. The umpire came up to me and said, “you got two outs, batters on first, second, and third.” I nodded and said, “Thank you!” The batter walked up to the plate, tapped it twice with her bat and got set waiting for the pitch, I threw her 2 fastballs she watched both go past her, I then threw her a drop ball and she swung right over it. I smiled as I walked into the dugout. It may have only been one batter but I was happy I did as well as I did with no preparation to go into pitch. I went back in the next inning and it was a 3 up, 3 down. A 1,2,3 inning. Once again I smiled as I walked off. The game was over, we still lost but I still pitched really well. My coach said nothing to me. I didn’t need the validation but he gave it to everyone else. Why was I any different?
The next game I was back on the bench. I asked my coach if I was gonna pitch or play any innings at first base. He looked at me and said, “I see you as more of a hitter, you should focus on that.” I laughed and responded, “Did I do something to never be put in the field?” He responded, “You’ve never proven yourself to me, the girls in the field have.” I was so confused. Every single opportunity I’ve gotten, and there haven’t been a lot of those, I’ve done really well. I never gave him a reason to doubt me. Our record as a team with me on the bench was also 0-6. So I’m wondering why he kept doing the same thing every game expecting a different result. I’m pretty sure my dad says that’s the definition of stupidity. I was tired of not getting a fair opportunity because there were plenty of coaches that would believe in me and give me the opportunities to become better instead of making me feel like I wasn’t good enough and make me lose my confidence.
When it was time to pick high schools I couldn’t decide. I could go to the one in my town where all my friends are going but I knew I wanted a new opportunity. I applied to 3 private schools and applied for a technical school. When I saw I got into all of them my decision was even tougher. After weighing the pros and cons of each one I realized where I belonged. I went against private school because all-girls is boring, I hate skirts, and It would be too strict of an environment. When thinking about my hometown’s high school I realized I’d be around the same people that I had been around for the last 9 years for another 4 years and I didn’t think I could handle that, I also knew that within the small town environment I wouldn’t get a fair opportunity in softball because my parents wouldn’t be best friends with the coach like some girls’ parents were. When I visited the technical school I felt at home. It was huge and kind of intimidating, but It looked so awesome and like a challenge I wanted to take on. I accepted my offer for Tech.
I walked into tryouts. It was a whole new environment. The girls were nice, the coaches were nice, something I was not used to yet. The head coach, Coach Cooper, walked up to me and said he was excited to have me here. I smiled and said I was happy to be there. He watched me pitch and told me I was very talented and he couldn’t wait for the season to start. When the whole tryout was over he walked up to me and said, “see you tomorrow?” I smiled and said “Yes, I can’t wait.” The practice tomorrow was for girls competing for varsity spots. I went home and got really happy because I was finally getting the opportunity I’ve worked for. The next day at practice I was taking some reps at first base, Coach Cooper came up to me and told me, “I want you to make sure you watch and see where the ball is going before you stretch for it, this will make it easier to make plays.” I was really happy to be criticized because it wasn’t in a degrading way. I didn’t get this type of positive advice from my other coach.
A few weeks later it was our first varsity game. I warmed up to pitch before the game started but the upperclassmen obviously got the start, she deserved it. Right before the fourth inning he called me over and said I was going in to pitch. I was excited for the opportunity but nervous that I would mess it up. I stood out on the field with the ball in my hand feeling the seams and I smiled because this was the moment I had been waiting for. Knowing he believed in me enough to have me pitch at the varsity level gave me the confidence I needed to have faith in my pitching. I saw the first batter walk up to the plate. She looked intimidating, she was tall and obviously very strong. I knew this wouldn’t be an easy at bat but I also knew I could do it. I threw her a screwball that was near her hands and she couldn’t get around on it. She popped up to the first baseman. That was one out. Only two more to go. I threw the next batter 2 fastballs and one was a strike and the other was a ball. I heard the umpire shout out, “one and one.” The next pitch I threw a curve ball and she swung and grounded out to second base. That was two. I kept telling myself “only one more” this helped me because I knew I was ⅔ of the way there. The next batter walked up and hit a single up the middle off of my fastball. I felt overwhelmed for a minute but took a deep breath and just thought about the next batter not the last one. The next girl walked up and smiled at me and I smiled back, I threw her a curve ball and a changeup both for strikes and she watched them go past her. I then threw her a rise ball and she swung under it. My rise ball is my newest pitch that I had been developing over the past year. That was the first time I used it in a game, I was really happy that it was effective. It was my first time pitching and striking a girl out at the varsity level and that made me so excited for my future at varsity because I now knew what I was capable of. Coach Cooper looked at me after the game and said, “Awesome job, Kayla”. Just that simple praise made me feel amazing. It also made me feel like I made the right choice and my hard work was finally paying off.
