Dear Softball,
Thank you for being there for me throughout 14 years of my life. Thank you for the endless memories and friendships created along the way. Thank you for creating a safe place for me. Thank you for bringing me happiness, but also teaching me that it’s okay to cry. Thank you for showing me what success feels like and how to fail. Thank you for pushing me to be better. Thank you for giving me a season to look forward to. Thank you for teaching me how to be a better version of myself every time I step on the field. Thank you for allowing me to make my family proud every time I put my cleats on. Thank you for all the late nights and early mornings. Thank you for taking me to various places that I probably would’ve never been to. Thank you for all the dirt on my floor after every game. Thank you for the relationships I have created. Thank you for showing me what hard work feels like. Thank you for all of the trips around the bases after every home run, and trips back to the dugout after every strikeout. Thank you for being my sport.

After 14 years of playing this game, I took off my cleats for the last time. My mind will never wrap around the fact that it is truly over because, for 14 years of my life, softball is all I’ve known. This game has taught me so many valuable lessons that I will carry with me forever, and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to play the sport. Throughout my career, softball has shown me so much success, but also how to deal with failure. It has taught me how to work for everything that I want in life, and that results do not come unless you put in the work. It has taught me how to be a leader on and off the field. Softball has allowed me share my passion for the game and become a role model to so many little girls.

I would like to thank my parents, Ashley Hines Cashio and Randy Cashio, for their constant support for 14 years. Thank y’all for cheering me on but also making me a better person after a bad game. Thank y’all for all the time and money that y’all invested in me throughout these 14 years. I couldn’t have asked for a better support system throughout my journey, and I hope I made y’all proud. Thank you to every single one of my family members that attended my games and cheered me on, and Mawmaw for getting me a tea before every single game. Thank you so much to every coach who saw potential in me and pushed me to be my best every day. Thank you for every single teammate that has cheered me on. I will forever cherish the memories we made along the way. Thank you to everyone who has ever shown me support and made me feel special.

I will forever be grateful for the opportunities I was given to play at the next level, but I am finally ready to say that I am excited to see what life after softball holds. This game will always be a part of my identity, and it holds a very long chapter in my book. I never wanted this day to come, but all good things have to come to an end. This was definitely the hardest goodbye of my senior year.

#24 signing out
(This was first published by Corrin Cashio on Facebook. It is being published with her permission.)