nice hit

I started playing softball when I was 7 yrs old. I was really small and short like my sister, except a couple years younger. I wasn't really that fast at running or pitching, even though I was "amazing" at that age. I started off playing with an 8u team called The Krushers. Then when I was 9, I started playing with a travel team called The Gainesville Gold; I've been with that organization ever since. Now I'm playing 16u and we're already getting looked at by college coaches!! When I first started playing, I always hit last. I was always the 9th batter. That's changed as the years went by. I wasn't really a strong batter because of my size. I've obviously gotten stronger and just older at the game. I always wanted to hit homeruns. I had the capability of doing so, but it never happened for me and I would practice really hard. Now, I'm the 2nd powerful hitter on the team. :) Ive hit a total of about 5 homeruns my whole career. Its really not that much at all, considering how long I've been playing....but oh well. I remember when I hit my first homerun. My team had made it to ASA 14u Fast Nationals in Midland, Texas and we played about a game a day. We were a really young 14u team playing a bunch of second year 14u teams who were about a year older than us. We played really hard the whole tournament, but didn't win a game :(. It was the last game we played that I hit my home run. We were losing, 7-2. Which is a huge ass-wooping in softball. Anyway, I always had the "fastest" hands on the team and loved faster pitching and the pitcher we were facing threw about 60 mph. I had 2 strikes and 2 balls on me and was pretty scared of not pulling through for my team; because we had two outs and a runner on 2nd. She threw me the pitch and I reacted. The ball came off my bat so fast, I didnt even see it go. I felt the power of my hands swinging through, and I started to run to 1st. As I was rounding 1st base, I heard Coach Kevin's voice say to me, "Congrats Seader, you just smashed the ball over the fence." I was so happy. I smiled the whole time, "slowly jogging" around the bases. I rounded 3rd, heading toward home plate, with my team jumping up and down and screaming "HELL YEAH!"

We lost the game. The final score was 7-4 and I have to admit, I cried. :( I was so sad to leave the tournament, but I'll always smile when I think about my first homerun.

Separation

My parents have been married for 20 yrs. Ever since me and my sister were small, they always seemed like they were going to be together forever. I never thought they would ever separate. I had alot of friends whos parents got divorced, but I never really knew how they felt or how they handled it. I've been close to my father since I was born. I look like him, I act like him, and he really raised us the way he was; he's basically my other half. He was born and raised in north/east Philly, holding the Italian half of my family. My parents are complete opposites. He played football and had a full ride to Kansas State, but didn't take it because he blew his ACL. My dad started going on the road when he was 13 yrs. old. On the road, I mean traveling, playing the drums for Oldies groups such as, Danny and The Juniors and The Temptations. He's been doing that ever since; he's 40 now. Being on the road alot, he was away from home and my sister, my mother, and I use to get sad about it. We didn't like being separated far from him alot, of course, because he's our father And I don't like being separated from him even when he's not on the road. I don't think anyone does. Sometimes I feel like I've been left, but other times I feel like it all just happened for a reason. I don't want to get into detail about exactly what happened, but someone else did have something to do with changing my father's feelings about my mother. This all happened this past April; I was in 9th grade and Frannie was finishing her Senior Year. I've gotten alot out of all this. It wasn't all just negative. I've had my friends here with me, helping me and talking to me, so I'm happy. Things don't always go your way; we wish they did, but they don't. My father still denies that he "left us". He says he sees me more now than he ever did before. I highly disagree with that but if that's what he thinks, then okay. I don't really like talking to him about it. Sometimes I get scared and feel awkward about the conversation. I probably shouldn't ignore it, but I do and I'm fine anyway. I know my dad loves me and my sister very much. He may not feel the same about my ma, but she's over that and I am too. Frannie is in college now, going to Appalachian State. She's having the time of her life up there, playing softball and starting her life as an adult. My mother and I just moved into Gainesville with a little house right next to OHS and we're doing good. It's alot easier for me to go into Gainesville, which was "town" to me. That's one positive thing that was brought out of all this. Also, along with a stronger sense on how to deal with situations now and later in my life. The negative is that my father is now living in The Villages, Florida, happy, with his new girlfriend. That's really all I got to say about my first post...

Love,
Angelica.