“Pitcher Perfect,” New Era, August 2009, 34
Pitcher Perfect
Why do you like softball so much? I love to pitch. I love working hard toward a goal and accomplishing it by getting better and better every day.
Who are the big helps in your life off the field? My parents. They have never told me I couldn’t do something. They taught me gospel principles I need to know to be successful. Off the field, they’re my biggest influences. There’s no way I would be here without them.
How do the things your parents taught you help in life? When I got older and all of a sudden had to deal with things by myself, I had those principles to rely on because I had practiced living them. My parents taught me to rely on the Savior because He will always be there. That has been the one constant in my life. When everything else might not be there, I know He is.
Your team had a perfect season once. Why do you think the Savior asks us to be perfect? Is it possible? A perfect season is not perfect. In a perfect season, you still strike out. You still get home runs hit off of you. But it’s the final outcome, how you respond and come back, that makes the end result a win. Even when you personally have a bad game, you still have a team behind you and can pull out a win. I think that correlates to the Savior. We strive to be perfect, and we may be doing everything in our power, but sometimes it’s just not enough. We can’t do it by ourselves. We need the Savior to help us.
Anything else? There are so many life lessons I have been taught through playing the game, and there’s also the flip side of how much living the gospel has helped me in softball. They go hand in hand. I feel Heavenly Father has helped me and blessed me because I try to live the gospel.
Photographs courtesy of the Palmer family and JayLynn Photography