An Inspirational Opening Day for Girls Softball

On a personal note, my eight-year old daughter took the field for the first time playing softball on Saturday morning and made me proud. Opening Day for Moorpark Girls Softball commenced with a moving speech by Olympic Champion Jessica Mendoza. Mendoza, a Ventura County native, shared her inspiring dictum “Love it. Dream it. Live it.” for the young softball players watching her speak from the infield. Mendoza told the story of her beginnings, and she admitted that she was “not very good” when she started playing t-ball on her very first team, the Green Clovers. It was a message that any athlete could be inspired by.

Olympic champion Jessica Mendoza speaks at Opening Day for Moorpark Girls Softball. Photo: Stacie Wheeler

With a storm threatening Opening Day, the Lightning Bolts were aptly named. My daughter Kaila, the smallest girl on her 8U team, was the first girl to make contact while batting in the bottom of the first inning on Opening Day. That Jessica Mendoza Louisville Slugger we bought her a couple of weeks ago has been making a big difference in her hitting.

Watching and frantically photographing my daughter’s very first softball game was part of an incredibly emotional day. Kaila has been immersed in Dodger Blue since before she was born (listening to Vin Scully call Dodger games from the womb), and now she’s donning number 42 and driving in the winning run in the bottom of the fifth with a RBI groundout to first.

Batting second in the order and playing mostly right center field (there’s four outfielders), my tow-haired daughter made me proud when she ran down a well hit ball in center and got it back to the infield hitting the cut-off girl. If I didn’t mention it before, during my short-lived softball career I mostly played right field. Watching the girls come back from a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3 in five innings was amazing.

It was not too long ago that I took Kaila to her very first Dodger game. Five years later, she’s the one in the batter’s box and I’m the one in the stands cheering her on.

America’s Pastime is truly a family activity, and Kaila’s little sister was her biggest cheerleader from behind the backstop. Aliana was already asking about her future softball career, so it looks like we will have to pull out the t-ball set for her soon.

Kaila made me very proud when she picked #42 to wear during her first season of softball. Photo: Stacie Wheeler

Later that evening, Kaila asked to put on SportsNet LA, and we watched Game 3 of the 1981 NLDS which pitted the Dodgers versus the Astros. She wanted to watch more baseball in order to learn the nuances of the game. Steve Garvey hit a two-run homerun in the bottom of the first, and Burt Hooton notched the victory. The Dodgers went on to win the series 3-2.

I think I’m going to have a lot of years of dirty cleats and jerseys to clean, and I look forward to it.

With the Dodgers readying for Opening Day in Arizona, the excitement for the baseball season has hit me hard after my daughter’s rookie debut. Watching the simple beauty of the game at its most primitive form with children catching, throwing, pitching and running is just as much fun as watching the Dodgers.

I still have trouble trying to explain to her what an unearned run is.

Lightning Bolts 4

Pirates 3

Kaila 0-2 (strikeout, hit-by-pitch, RBI groundout)