Playing softball in the United States is very different in the Netherlands. I am a sophomore at The John Carroll School, and I got the opportunity to play the sport I love and to test my skills in another country.

I was gone for eight days, and four of those days I got to play against the best-of-the-best in Europe. The women’s ages ranged around 25 to late 40s. The teams came from Sweden, Netherlands, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Poland, Denmark, Germany, and Belgium. There were five United States teams. This takes place annually, and teams from all around Europe practice for this moment.

On January 13, we had Opening Ceremonies, and I got to hear everyone’s National Anthem. My team got to play that same day, and we started off by playing Czech Republic. It was a good game; we started off very strongly, and the atmosphere was incredible. In Europe, the Cup is a very big thing, so there were people from all over coming to watch the games. The stands were always filled, and it was never quiet.

Playing Czech Republic was very interesting at first; that’s when I found out that the youngest player on their team was 20. I was in shock because I was playing the best-of-the-best and it didn’t feel real to me.

On January 14, my day started at 5:00 am, and before we left for the tram, we got a very nice breakfast. My team then talked about our game plan. We had three games, playing Sweden, Netherlands, and France. I got used to the fast play and how fast the pitching was. Our first game was against Sweden, and we won by four. During that game, we had gone back and forth, but we ended coming out with a win.

In the next two games, we played the Netherlands and France. The games were very rough, but both of those teams were incredibly good. The pitchers threw 70 mph easily, and they were incredible.

After our games, we finished as the top American team, being the only team who won against the European teams. Coming out in the top five teams was something I will never forget and hope to go back next year and get the same opportunity to play and, hopefully, win.