Dear Softball,
Where to even begin? ... all the friendships? ... all the successes? ... all the failures? ... all the memories? ... the day my parents told me to sign-up for you because I wouldn't have to run a lot?
I think the best place to start is with the ones who got me here: all of my travel ball coaches and teammates, pitching coaches, hitting instructors and past college coaches that put up with my non-stop chatter and overly ambitious lifestyle. My life-long coach and mentor in my father, and the best cheerleader and friend in my mother. People that my life wouldn't be the same without - you allowed them to teach me and give me knowledge that has allowed me to become the best version of myself.
Throughout almost four years of college, you showed me how to be resilient. You taught me raw strength - not the kind you get in the weight room, but the kind that experiences teach you. Incredibly difficult to understand, but you taught in such a way that enthralled me without me ever knowing.
For giving me Michael Dean, Rubilena Rojas and Eugene Lenti - I do not think I could thank you enough. They have allowed me to grow and have created an atmosphere where I am able to think, act and play in an exciting and wholesome way. Throughout my college career, you have given me the opportunity to represent you with nothing but smiles. You are the best part of every day, every weekend and every workout. You and I have been doing this for a long time, but every year itgets better and better.
Come the year 2020 and you gave me a season I only dreamed about. You showed me new friendships. You showed me different sides of Auburn - one I was so excited to be a part of. You showed me that it's okay to cry as long as you wipe up your tears and go play defense. You taught me that teammates don't judge or hold grudges. You taught me that teammates love like parents - unconditionally and forever.
This year you've given me the best gift: leadership. You gave me an outline I had to create in order to guide 13 new faces to flourish in this program. It was not easy, but I realized you had shown me how to fail at the greatest depths and succeed at the highest peaks. You had built me for this year and every year after that. How easy it was to crumble under pressure ... how easy it was to throw it all away. Day after day, practice after practice, you became the hardest thing I had ever done in my entire life. Although being cut short, you've created a forever friendship in me.
Although the unknown remains in our journey together, some things will always remain - how you believed in me and how you gave a girl from Prior Lake, Minnesota the chance of a lifetime.
- Justus Perry