Louisville had this player, the catcher, I think her name was Ollis, who epitomized what this game is about, or should be. On the field, she's fiery, very good, and the obvious emotional leader of the team. But it was off the field where I got the biggest kick out of her. During the rain delay, she held court with a bunch of younger kids. She sang with them, led them in a conga line throughout the stadium through the raindrops, and the kids had a ball. Those kids looked up to her and she embraced them. I know 17 year old girls are rarely role models, but she was to those kids, and she seemed so genuinely engaged with them. Then, during warm-ups the next day, she's in front of her dugout juggling softballs.
She's playing for the state title, but she's having fun with the whole experience. She has the perfect perspective. In fact, I saw lots of that this weekend, and it was a good feeling to see these kids competing at a high level in their sport, but taking it all in and not letting it get too big for them, like Jonathan Alder's Cierra Clark doing the steps to the Cha Cha Slide in the on-deck circle in the 5th inning of a close state title game. It's stuff like that that makes me love high school sports.