With baseball season up and running, it has me thinking back to my softball days.

From t-ball to playing through my sophomore year of high school, softball was a major part of life growing up, as was baseball since my brother played through college.

For the most part, I enjoyed playing softball. My teammates were my best friends, and I had no problem spending most of my days and all of my summers with them.

I enjoyed the game, too. I liked the camaraderie of it and the way everyone played their part in making the team successful. There was a certain energy too that softball gave that baseball and other sports didn’t, and I loved that buzz you could feel on the field.

Playing travel softball for many years, I’m grateful for all the places the sport took me as well. We traveled to states like Florida, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, South Carolina, and more.

We made so many memories both while we traveled and even just during practices. In a way, for as much time as I spent on the field, it has made me who I am.

My freshman year of high school softball was probably my favorite season I ever played.

Because the high school I went to was loaded with athletes, unlike most high schools, our freshman team was stacked with players who could easily take down varsity teams.

That being said, we went undefeated that year. According to my cousin, who was also our coach, the team’s run differential totaled 330 (or so) to 19.

And that was another plus to that year. My cousin, who is only five years older than me, being my coach and having fun alongside us. Because we dominated every team we played, he — and we by extension — had a lot of fun mixing up the lineup and putting girls in positions they’d never played before.

It was the kind of fun that sports were made for.

But, things changed when I moved onto the junior varsity team my sophomore year. Not in talent, but in the vibe.

Something I get a lot of joy in saying is that I never lost a game in my entire high school softball career. I only played two seasons, but still.

Despite all our success, I knew I was done after my sophomore year for two reasons: I didn’t plan to play in college and the coach I had that year was taking over the program the next year, meaning he was moving up to be the varsity coach.

I did not want to play for him anymore. I couldn’t.

Never in all my years of playing softball, and in other sports, had I ever had a coach who made everyone cry at least once.

Despite being one of the best teams he ever coached — possibly the only team that went undefeated under his lead — he was so tough on us.

We girls tried to make the season as fun as we could, but it could only go so far with a leader like him. At the time, I was 16. I was in high school, playing a sport I loved, winning games, and yet I dreaded having to go to practice and games.

It’s a shame how one person can have such an effect.

But that’s all it takes sometimes, unfortunately. It only takes one person to do something mean or say something rude, and it sticks with you. It affects how you move forward.

As people, we have more power than we can even realize, which can be both good and bad.

We have the power to make someone’s day brighter just by complimenting them, lending a helping hand, or just being a positive factor in their day.

Unfortunately, we can also put a weight on someone’s day by insulting them or their work, turning them away, or by taking out our frustrations on others.

When it comes to this, I think we should all look back on the golden rule that we’ve heard since preschool: Treat others the way you want to be treated.

Don’t be the person who ruins someone’s day, or worse — I’m sure you wouldn’t want to be put through that or shut down by others.

If you wouldn’t want to have your work insulted or be told what to do, then you shouldn’t be doing that to others. It’s really that simple.

I hope we can all find it in our hearts to be nice to one another and recognize what power we possess and how to use it for good.

Torianna Marasco can be reached at 989-358-5686 or tmarasco@TheAlpenaNews.com.