Curveball Confessions: A Girl's Softball Journey

Chapter 3

My first day of classes go fine. I was overly prepared for each of my three classes today. I read through the first chapters of my textbooks but two of my classes just went over the syllabus while the other immediately started in on lecture. All my classes are back-to-back starting at 8:30am and I am done before noon on Monday/Wednesday/Friday's which is really nice. I have time to hit the library or the cafeteria before practice at 5:00pm. My Tuesday's and Thursday's each have a three hour lab that are smack dab in the middle of the day so I will need to go right from there to practice. I am very thankful that I adjust quickly to new schedules, otherwise I would be so stressed I wouldn't be able to be a student-athlete at a Division 1 school.

I decide to pick something up quickly at one of the local restaurants on campus that let us use meal swipes before walking to the fields. When I get there, the baseball team is setting up for their practice on their ball field. I decide to sit in the bleachers, my back resting against one row as I set up my textbook in my lab and my food on the row where my hips are. I snack on my sandwich and chips as I flip through my textbook and take notes. "Hey Lizzie." I hear when I am almost done with the first chapter. I look up and see my friend Kit (Junior, Pitcher, Business/Accounting). I push my stuff to the side and pat the spot next to my hip. "Hey Kit. How was your first official practice?" I ask as he eyeballs the last of my food. I hand him the basket with the rest of my food and his eyes fill with excitement.

"You are the best. What would I do without you?" He says with his mouth full of food which makes me laugh. "You would be so lonely without me." I say and roll my eyes. He finishes eating before talking again. "So, I heard about that Beka Walker." He says kind of cautiously. "I need one friend that won't talk about her being on the team." I roll my eyes and then click my tongue against my teeth. "Well, I am not only a friend. But your best friend so you NEED to tell me." He says dramatically. "She's great. So wonderful. Fantastic at everything she does." I say sarcastically before crossing my arms over my chest. He leans forward, his elbows resting on his knees and his fists under his chin. He raises one eyebrow before I cave.

"She will be really beneficial to the team but I don't like how I am impacted by it." I say and sigh before continuing. "Marc thinks we are going to make the NCAA tournament which has been my dream since I started t-ball. The movement between pitcher to first base is just unexpected and I wasn't prepared for that this year after the season I had last year." Kit looks over my face before quickly pulling me into a hug. "Kitttt." I laugh as my head rests against his shoulder. We stay like this for a moment before he pulls back first. "You need to learn to hug more. I thought lesbians love physical touch." He says as he smacks my knee with the palm of his hand. I roll my eyes before I stand up and start to gather my things in my school bag. "That's a horrible stereotype... but I do love physical touch. You are just hugging me as if I am going to cry or something." I laugh. He punches my shoulder lightly. "If you cry, I cry so I am just ensuring you are not going to be a blubbering mess."

We walk to the parking lot next to the field, where our cars are parked. "Did you hear there is a party this weekend at the Baseball House?" He asks as he tosses his bat bag in his trunk. "Bailey said something about it. That Joe dude invited her and then nervously invited the whole Softball team. I think we all were going to go for a little bit. We actually have a practice game that morning against one of the D2 schools in the city. Marc just set it up on Sunday." I say and swing Caroline and Bailey's bat bag over each of my shoulders and open the handle of my bat bag to get ready to drag it to the field. "Isn't your first game like the end of November?" He laughs as he shuts the trunk of his car. "Yeah, Marc wants us to be fully ready for the start of the competition season. I don't know." I pause to throw my hands up. "I just do what I am told." Which makes him laugh. "Well, I will see you around or at the party on Saturday." He says and waves before climbing into his driver side.