Playing for the PGF National Champion OC Batbusters after previously being with the Corona Angels, Paulina Anasis, a 2015 corner infielder from Southern California headed to Northwestern, has played at the highest levels of club and high school competition.

Paulina was in the top 50 of the 2015 Hot 100 we updated in October and the 6-foot power hitter showed why last year as she was a 1^st Team All-Orange County selection who batted .425 and led her high school to the semi-finals of the very competitive CIF-Southern Section Div. I playoffs.

But all of her successes on the field have come due to sacrifices she’s had to make.

In today’s blog, the senior at Canyon High in Anaheim, Calif. talks about the many times she’s had to say, “I can’t, I have softball,” and how sometimes skipping softball practices, games or tournaments for other big events in her life, have led to consequences, even being benched for an entire tournament.

Paulina also explains when those consequences, painful though they may be sometimes, are definitely worth the life experiences she gains!

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Last weekend I was fortunate enough to see the iconic and brilliant band Fleetwood Mac at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas for a friend’s birthday.

Of course, in order to go on this weekend-long trip, I had to miss a softball practice.

Missing practice is never something I’ve been comfortable doing, thanks to my mom and dad raising me to understand what commitment entails.

In this case, although I am still extremely committed to my softball career, I was presented with the opportunity to indulge in an experience that I will probably never forget for as long as I live on this earth!

I put in years of relentless hard work on the field and in the cages, getting barked at by coaches and supporters (or haters), enduring injury, sacrifices in my social life, missing family events, enduring long trips for tournaments and surviving the many additional elements that come with this lifestyle of being a student-athlete.

This being said, I also find it important to explore myself as a human being.

I am part of many worlds and circles such as my city, my high school, the sport of softball, my culture, etc. I believe it is important that we committed and dedicated student-athletes don’t forget to take notice of all the influence our circles (and other circles) have to offer to us.

We are the most vulnerable to influence during this time of our lives, being that we are discovering new things every day!

If someone were to ask me who I am, I could say: a Canyon High School Comanche, a softball player, a Batbuster, an 18-year-old, a student, and the like.

To me, those are only who I am on the surface.

On a deeper level I am also a daughter, an open-minded individual, a music enthusiast, an environmental supporter and the list goes on!

I hope that my fellow student-athletes can find the balance between their commitment to what they do and their commitment to who they are because it is a muffled reflection of what they will one day turn out to be.

Because of my commitment to softball, I have experienced rejecting innumerable invitations to sleepovers with friends throughout elementary school, middle school and my first two years of high school as well as years of tardiness to family birthdays and holiday celebrations and a seemingly perpetual repetition of the phrase “I can’t, I have softball.”

I know every girl in my position can relate to this statement.

I recall wanting to go to my 8th grade promotion dance and having to miss the first game of my 14U State Tournament because of it. As a result of missing this game, I was benched for the rest of the weekend.

I knew this would be the case beforehand, but nonetheless I concluded that my 8th grade dance would be something I would never have another opportunity to relive.

On the other side of the spectrum, I can remember wanting to go to my freshman homecoming dance but it was in conflict with a showcase tournament. I ended up deciding that I would have future opportunities to attend homecoming throughout high school; that this would not be my last chance, and that perhaps in future years it won’t conflict with my softball schedule.

I knew there would be college coaches coming out to see me and it would be a opportunity lost for me to not attend all my games that weekend. During this time in my softball career, the peak of my recruiting process, it was crucial for me to maximize my exposure to college scouts.

Turns out I got to go to homecoming the very next year, having no clashes between my schedules and having been in a more secure position in my recruiting process.

I committed to Northwestern University that very same year.

Situations like these were potential turning points in my softball career. They could’ve made or broken my desired future of playing collegiate softball. I’m thankful for my ability to weigh out the risks versus the rewards of each of these particular situations and others I did not share.

I managed to still end up successful in my recruiting process and have a teency bit of a social life, through which I have found a great deal of myself.

I find myself making critical decisions such as these, completely unrelated to softball, but equally as important to my life and I can attribute this skill to many years of practice in decision-making.

— Paulina