I had a conversation this week with a friend of mine that is currently in the middle of her season, much like I'm sure a lot of you are who are reading this. She is struggling with her confidence right now at the plate and I think a lot of the topics we discussed during our hour-long conversation are things that every single softball player not only needs to hear, but needs to be reminded of over the course of their careers. You see, at some point every player is going to have doubt, have fear, and lose confidence. This is par for the course when you play the most difficult sport ever invented. Failure is a part of our game, but it is also the fuel to our successes in this game. We will struggle. We will get into slumps. We will not feel like ourselves when we step on the field. So how do you get out of that? I think there are a few things we can do.

I know a majority of you were glued to your couches this weekend watching the St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational just like I was. There were so many great games, upsets, individual performances, and SportsCenter worthy defensive plays. I found myself screaming at the TV when Northwestern and Florida State both walked off UCLA and when USF crushed Oklahoma State.

What was hard not to notice in all of these games however, was that it was the little things that put most of the teams that found success in a position to win.