Danni Ryan
Bengal Contributor
Dear Danni Rae,
I want you to remember that everything happens for a reason. I know that during the moment it is going to be painful and heartbreaking, but you will get through it and you will thrive.
You are going to start playing softball at the age of 5. You will cry the entire ride with your father begging him not to take you to T-Ball sign-ups but after meeting your team and making friends, your tears will be taken over by that infectious smile.
At the age of 7 you will follow in your dad’s footsteps and decide you want to be a pitcher. You will start going to pitching lessons, spending extra time at the field or in your backyard perfecting your craft. At this time you will just be having fun and enjoying every second of the sport that you are slowly falling in love with.
You are about to turn 10 years old. Up until this point you have been the girl everyone knew in rec-ball. You would have played up three levels above your age group every year, spent every summer playing on the gold all star teams, received multiple MVP awards but you have fallen head over heels in love with softball and are ready to go to the next level and start your travel ball career.
Travel ball is a world unlike any other. You will switch around teams, you will have to say goodbye to friendships you thought would last, you will go through some coaches that don’t give you the time of day but you will encounter some of the most unique teammates that you will continue to grow with, you will find an amazing coaching staff that sees your talent, commitment and contributions to their team. You will spend countless amounts of hours driving with your dad to places you have never heard of and you will fly to some of the most beautiful locations just to have the chance to play the sport you love.
High school will have some ups and downs. You will be a 3 sport varsity athlete and win a championship in every sport but softball. Even though you never lead your team to a championship in softball, you will still be a role model to your teammates and to the future kids coming in and have stories about you passed on. In late October, you will have the opportunity to fly to Florida and play in the ESPN World Wide of Sports softball showcase where dozens of big time University coaches will get the opportunity to watch you play and you will be untouchable. Many schools after this weekend will want you to come visit their campus and you will decide to visit the University of Wisconsin first. You will fall in love with their campus, their coaches and their program so fast that as soon as you come back home you will call the head coach and verbally commit. It will be exciting and you will spend the next year and a half infatuated with the Badgers.
In April of your junior year, you are going to receive a phone call that you never saw coming. You will cry, throw anything you have of Wisconsin into the fire and you will question yourself. I want you to know that it will hurt you for a long time and be the underlying mat to all your problems. But you did nothing wrong.
You will then be looked at and be offered a full-ride scholarship to the University of Toledo where you will attend for your first year of college. I want to tell you this is your happy ending and this is your reason why, but it’s not. You will be mentally abused, pushed to the ground, screamed at, feeling isolated and lose the love of this beautiful game. And I am so sorry you are going to have to get through that by yourself, but you will. Even though it will scar you, you will become stronger from it. I promise.
After you finish that long dreadful year, you will decide to quit. You will want to hang up your cleats for good and never want to step on another diamond again. You will go through that following summer being at the lowest point, doing things you shouldn’t, crying yourself to sleep every night and wishing it could have been different.
It is now August and you are trying to look for a school to transfer to just to get a degree. After applying to Idaho State University and getting that acceptance letter back, you will open another email from a woman named Candi Letts asking if you would like to be a walk on to the softball team. Saying yes will be the greatest decision you will ever make.
You will spend the next 4 years playing Division 1 softball at Idaho State University. You will have superb coaches who care about you, you will meet your best friends that will be a part of your wedding one day, you will make the most outrageous and incredible memories that will last with you forever, you will be completely and utterly happy and most importantly you will find the love of the game again. And even though during your 5th and final year playing, your senior season will be unexpectedly cancelled and your softball career will be over in a blink of an eye, but you will be okay because, this University, this program, these people are all of your reasons why. All of the horrible events you went through, will lead you to this magical place.
I need you to know how proud I am of you. For the countless hours of hard work you put into this sport, for always putting in 100%, for pushing yourself to get back up when you were knocked down numerous amounts of times, for showing who you truly are through the art of softball and making your dream of playing Division 1 softball come true. Everything happens for a reason, and ISU will be your reason.
All My Love,
Danni Rae Ryan #16
