The Goggans: Tupelo Express Softball

At the end of the summer, Anna tried out for the Tupelo Express U12 Fast Pitch Softball team and made it. Some of the girls on the team were the same ones she had played with over the summer, but most of them were new. Everyone on the team was 11 or 12 years old and even though Anna is only 10, we decided to play up on the U12 team. We did this mainly because we knew the coach, Tony Knight, and with Anna being the youngest on the team, we thought if she had a conflict with soccer one weekend (and we knew she would pick soccer over softball), if she missed softball, it wouldn't matter too much. We thought she probably wouldn't play a major position, being the youngest, so they wouldn't miss her too much. Well, we were wrong. Anna started out playing mainly 2nd base. She had played shortstop all summer, but she's versatile and had played 2nd a little bit, so this made sense. It really depended on who was pitching as to whether Anna played 2nd or shortstop, since the girl that started the season at shortstop was also a pitcher. By the end of the fall season Anna had become the starting shortstop - a major position - technically the "leader" of the infield. A position where they would definitely miss her if she wasn't there for a tournament. Ugh!

Backing up a little bit, before Anna tried out for the Express, Terry and I sat her down and had a talk with her about all these sports. We told her how it was going to be if she did both travel softball AND travel soccer. Most every weekend would be filled, as well as many weeknights for practice. She assured us she wanted to try to do both. Avery was playing her first year of high school softball, Tanner was playing his first year of travel baseball - WHAT ARE WE DOING??? :) Well, we hit the ground running. Sundays and Mondays - softball practice. Tuesdays and Thursdays - soccer practice. Wednesdays - church. Most Saturdays and Sundays, some Fridays - a tournament somewhere. Crazy!

Coach Tony is fairly obsessed with softball. He would have the girls out there every day if he could, but he reigned himself in a little bit and they only practiced 3 days a week (Anna missed the Thursday practices for soccer - she also missed Sunday soccer practices to go to softball). For many of the girls, this was their first time to play fast pitch softball - which is very different from slow pitch. Very different. The team did well! One of their first fall tournaments they came in second place. The girls got medals and were excited. As with all sports, it's a learning experience - both of the game and life lessons. I love watching my kids play anything so it was fun for us to watch Anna compete in this competitive form of softball. She was having fun - which is the best part!