I'm sorry if this seems annoying, but I'm really proud of this and I wanted to share it with you guys.

I've played softball for about eleven years now. I started when I was six and today, I finally achieved my dreams. Today, I signed to the University of Charleston in West Virginia to continue my pitching career. For years I have had my family's unconditional support. When I was ten, my parents put me on my first travel ball team in town. We soon realized that if we wanted to play competitive softball then we would have to find a different team.

So, we ended up traveling to Jacksonville, a city that was two hours away from this. At the age of about eleven, my parents would get up around 6 AM on a Saturday and drive me over to our 8 AM practice that would last about two or three hours. Then drive all the way back home. Now, two hours seems like a cake walk away 😂.

Throughout time it gradually started turning into teams that were farther away. First four hours, then five hours (that wasn't even in the same state as us), and now the team that I'm on is about eight hours away from us. Not only have I been the one to put countless hours of work in for this, but my family has too. I would not have been able to sign today without the wonderful support they have given me. From the countless hours that my dad has caught me in the backyard to the days when I felt like giving up they always believed in me.

Ever since I was young enough to watch the Softball World Series it has been my dream to play softball in college. I never thought that this day would come. My dad drove me countless times to camps to get looked at and nothing ever came out of them. Most of the time I didn't think I was good enough and that no one would want me. I was "too small" to pitch and I didn't have the right "body type" to pitch in college. Today, this moment was surreal to me. It was my first real dream coming true.

Today, is a start to a new era for me. Where I have to go forward into uncharted territory by myself and become an adult that can watch out for myself. But with the people behind me, I can do it and I thank everyone that helped me ever get this scholarship.

I may be the only person receiving this scholarship, but I am not the only one who had to work for it.