Broncos Make It to State
A Personal Narrative

    I couldn’t stop thinking that this was it. The last batter. All we needed was an out. We were ahead 12-7. Pitch, hit, catch……… we had just won districts at Fillmore Central by beating Fairbury Twice and were headed to state.
    With that thought still in my head a week later, we were off to Hastings to play at state. Music blared, cameras flashed, and the team munched outstanding food during the bus trip. Excited beyond belief, it had been five years since Centennial had made it to state for softball. No one believed our young team could make it that far, but we all came together and proved them wrong.
    We got off the bus, and everyone just started to take it in. Smells of the freshly cut grass, the buttery popcorn, doughy pretzels, the cheesy pizza, the strong black coffee, and many more wonderful smells overwhelmed us. Players played, coaches jumped, and runners ran on all of the fields. Fans yelled cheers and screamed when someone got a hit, and coaches complained to the umpire when they didn’t agree with a call. Everything was going into focus; we were at state softball.
    As we walked on field 3, butterflies swarmed in my stomach. Our fans piled in one by one while Friend Bulldogs started cheers. Everyone was excited to get the first game of class C state softball going.
    The National Anthem played, fans cheered, and players took the field. With that, the game started. The pitches were thrown, the bats were swung, and the ball was fielded.

    Play after play, the game went on. Hits, steals, slides, throws, pitches, and tags were put together into a great game. Sadly, we came out with a loss. The Lady Broncos shed their tears onto the soft brown dirt while coaches gave us a pep talk, and fans told us we played very well, even though it felt like we didn’t do our best. It felt like we could have pushed harder and did better. The game was over and we sank to the loser’s bracket. We went to face Twin River.
    We sat on the bus, with our heads down. While eating the rest of our food and setting up to play some games, Coach Tony gave us many more pep talks. One that stays in my head is, “We have made it to state, even when we had no one believing in us. And we are here to win and have fun. So as long as you play your hearts out, that’s all I can ask.” I knew that Tony had believed in us from the start. But when he said this, I knew we could do this. All we needed to do was to work hard and push ourselves. After Tony got off the bus, I felt like I was going to cry because what he said was so true. I had tears forming in my eyes, but I wiped them away and got ready to play some more softball.
    We went into the Twin River game still down from the Friend game and trying to pick ourselves up; we knew we had to work hard. The team knew that we could be going home but hoped we would come back the next day.
    We played our hearts out and everyone gave it their all, but sadly we lost. Centennial was out of the tournament. Broncos were going home. The softball season was over for us, the Centennial Lady Broncos.
    Again, our team shed tears on the field, coaches gave final pep talks, players wrapped each other in hugs, and fans said, “You had a great season.” Even though we knew we were done, we knew we had built friendships and formed a TEAM! The Broncos ended the season with a winning record of 19-16.  That season may be over but another is around the corner……. one that holds new goals and new dreams!
    I learned that if I work hard I can achieve my goals. Our young team deserved the chance to get to state. Just because our young team lost its first game at districts didn’t mean we couldn’t come back and make it to state. I must always believe in myself and in others.