In 2018-19, the Mountain East Conference began its "Dear Sport" initiative where student-athletes in the conference were encouraged to write a letter to their sport. The initiative provides the opportunity for student-athletes to express in their own words the impact that sports has played in shaping them throughout their lives. 

Click here to view all letters posted throughout the year. 

Below is a letter from Molly Welsh, a softball player from Wheeling Jesuit.

Dear Softball,
 
Thank you.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart. 

Thank you for shaping me into the woman I am today.

For showing me that it is okay to fail. For showing me what is means to have success. For showing me what it means to persevere. For showing me what is means to love. For showing me never to take any moment for granted. For giving me passion, dedication and determination.  For giving me the life I have today.
           
Thank you for teaching me so many valuable lessons. For teaching me how to get back up when you fall down. For teaching me the value in a moment, an at-bat, an out in the field, a pitch, the moments with your best friends.  For teaching me about relationships.  For teaching me how to have discipline. For teaching me to have a positive attitude even when I have to be on the field at 5:30am.  For teaching me to push through injuries.  For teaching me to be a leader.  For teaching me to love my teammates, my coaches, my friends, but more importantly the life I have been blessed with.
 
Thank you for giving the rambunctious 5-year-old me a place to play in the dirt. For giving the 5-year-old me something to do to get out of the house.  For giving me the opportunity to be coached by so many amazing people, but most importantly my dad.  For giving me the opportunity to have such a special relationship with him because of this game. For giving me countless reasons to spend time with my family, in the car, after games, at tournaments, hotels.  For giving me my best friends.  For giving me the best people in my life. For all the laughs, for all the love, for the tears, cuts, bruises, for all the failure and success, for all the burpees and sprints, for all the memories.  These memories are the most special.
 
Putting into words how much this game means to me is nearly impossible.  When I first stepped on the dirt in my baggy white pants, pink glove and pink cleats, I never knew that 17 years later this would be my life.  I wish so badly I could go back to being that fearless little 5-year-old ready to go up to the plate with a helmet way to big a bat bigger than me.  I wish I could go back to my teenage days and realize how much this sport impacted my life.  I wish I could go back to my freshman year of college and stop time.  I wish so badly I had just one more season of this sport, but I am so thankful for everything that has come from my time playing.  Although at the end of this season I will never lace my cleats up again, get the rush of game day, take a deep breath as I step in the box, know the feeling of making a perfect throw, or feel the joy when I catch a fly ball, I will have the greatest feeling of them all.
 
So, although after this year much will not be the same, I know softball has opened up so many opportunities for me, gave me my best friends, gave me my best memories, and more importantly shaped me into the woman I am today.
 
So, thank you softball, for making me, me.
 
With the greatest love,
Molly