Congratulations Brookings Blaze!

My daughter's 13 and under softball team, Brookings Blaze, competed in the State Softball Tourney this weekend in Aberdeen. They proudly brought home the fourth place trophy after courageously gutting it out under the blazing 100 plus temperatures and stifling humidity against 28 other teams.

I am proud of all the young women, especially my daughter. She is good player and an important member of her team. This weekend she played the right field and catcher positions. We all watched in amazement as she stood poised behind home plate two different times when runners were barreling toward her and as the ball was being thrown to her from somewhere on the field. She never flinched, held her ground, and concentrated solely on catching the ball and making the play. The first the runner was called safe. The second time she tagged the runner out. I swelled with pride as we cheered for my daughter, just as we did all weekend for each of the girls when they to did something incredible. Things we will talk about for years to come.

The tournament, her team, and my daughter reminded me what life is really all about. You work hard, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, and despite everything you still have a community of people who you care about as much as they care about you, and together, we do some amazing things.