Thank You Firsties
Cheryl Milligan, Head Softball Coach
Dear Em and Macey,
It’s a little ironic that we found out your careers were likely over while at an escape room. While “Figure it out”, “Work together” and “Find a way out” worked well inside that room they were of no use to get you back this lost time. There was no escape from this situation that would end with you back on a college softball field.
You each took the news in your own way. Macey, you were the stoic realist that you are every time you take the mound. Em, you were as emotional and passionate as we know you to be. The perfect combination of senior leadership.
I can’t imagine a worse segment of any season to lose than the close of your senior year. A time that should have been spent with celebration, maybe a record broke, surely a loving send-off from teammates and a bittersweet final day, was instead a time of unprecedented uncertainty and redirection.
And still you persevered. Because you are more than a softball player, more than any single of your activities, accolades or passions. You are a West Point cadet, and this was your first test as you leave West Point. Because of your leadership and your dedication to service, when others thought only of the sadness of a season lost, you think of all others have lost in this pandemic. Because of your training and hard work, where others see their world crashing in, you look forward to a future of helping that world. Because softball has helped shape you into the leaders that you are, you leave a sad time better and a team behind you prepared to move on.
I hope that you will be an inspiration to any who choose to waste a minute or waste a day doing anything less than 100% of their best. That you didn’t get to play your season had nothing to do with you - but that others learned about how much life can change in a moment that had everything to do with how you handled yourself during this crisis. While our sport waited in anticipation of seasons being returned and eligibility extended, you waited to hear your next assignment, knowing and accepting that college softball had played its final game in your life.
The lessons were learned, the bonds had been made, the love of the game had been felt. And now, it was this one final culminating lesson that loomed and probably fell the hardest; these things in life that we love and make us whole might be lost on any given Thursday.
Macey and Em, I know I will never drink a Boba tea the same. I will lift a glass to you, your work and your sacrifice each time. Stay strong, say safe and lead well.
Love,
Coach ©