Grace White is a college senior who plays first base for Union University, a DII school in Jackson, Tennessee, and is majoring in Journalism. She is the Sports Editor for the Cardinal & Cream, the school’s student publication, and has a younger sister who plays in the Virginia Unity club organization.
In today’s Inside Pitch, Grace ruminates over the closing out of her college softball career as her final year as a player approaches its end. As she mulls over her remaining days in uniform, she appreciates what her four years in the Lady Bulldogs uniform has taught her—”discipline, time management, toughness, and hard work.”
But it’s also given her a second family—about 20 sisters whom she will love forever.
Here’s more from Grace as she wraps up an outstanding college career…
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It’s March 7, 2023.
We’re on our way back to Union University from a midweek doubleheader against Ouachita Baptist University at their home field in Arkadelphia, Ark.
The bus is dark except for dimmed phone screens and a few overhead lights being used by those doing homework. Country music (mostly HARDY) plays through my headphones. My feet are propped on the seat across from me. My head is nestled into the pillow I brought from my dorm.
I try to sleep away the remainder of the four-hour drive, but my mind won’t shut down. In the middle of dozens of thoughts making their way through my head, it occurs to me that it’s times like these that I will miss the most about softball.
Not the “not being able to sleep moments,” but the moments where I am surrounded by girls that I love and consider to be my sisters. Even though the bus is dark and quiet, and nobody is really paying much attention to anybody else, there’s still something to cherish about the stillness.
We have all just been through two games where we fought our hardest and came away victorious. None of us could have accomplished it on our own. I think everyone knows that, and in the quiet, I believe we are each thankful for the opportunity to get to be a part of something so special.
Since I was five years old, I’ve been on various teams, but none feel quite the same as the experience I’ve had at Union. I live with three of my teammates about nine months out of the year. I see the others pretty much every day, more than I see my own family.
We eat together. We practice together. We complain together. We cry together. We get excited together, and we go to war together. It’s the type of togetherness that is found pretty much only in a college sports setting.
Sure, the playing has been great too. I’m closing in on 100 career hits, which, Lord-willing, I will get to accomplish by the end of season, and the team is on pace to reach the Gulf South Conference tournament for the second straight year.
Not everything has been perfect, though… nothing in life ever is.
However, the lessons I have learned from my four years at Union will go with me for the rest of my life.
I’ve learned discipline, time management, toughness, and hard work, whether it be pulling the tarp at 11:30 pm after a long bus ride, lifting weights at 7:00 am, or playing over 50 games per season with only one off-day per week.
I’ve also learned how to be a better teammate.
When things aren’t going exactly my way and I pop out with runners on second and third, I have to put my frustrations aside and cheer for the girl coming up after me and hope that she has the success that I had wanted for myself.
When I’m sitting the bench, it’s my job to be as ready as I can be should I be called upon even when it would probably be easier for me to just sit and pout.
Now I’m not saying I don’t still struggle with these things. I’m not a perfect person, but I want to try to get better every day until the last out is made in my final game. Even then, I want to find ways to translate these lessons into the real world, whether it be in my job or in my home life.
The great thing about softball is that you have about 20 other girls beside you who are learning pretty much the same things you’re learning. You’re all out there pulling the tarp and lifting weights and practicing almost every day, but in the real world, you might be the only one having to go through a struggle and having to learn a tough lesson.
I’m going to miss having my teammates to go through things with me. I’m going to miss seeing them every day.
I hope that most of us can remain close, but even if we don’t, I believe that were we to see each other again sometime down the road, we’d be able to reminisce about old times in the Union softball program and pick up right where we left off because that’s how close we are now.
Until then, I’m going to try to enjoy the few remaining weeks that I have as a Lady Bulldog, soaking in every moment and cherishing every opportunity.
— Grace White, Extra Inning Softball correspondent
