Last year as a freshman in college, I joined a creative writing club. The project for the year was to craft a short story in a writer's notebook -- it could be anything from fanfiction for a favorite show to the beginning of a novel we've always wanted to write.

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Every Wednesday, I would go to the weekly meeting and write about Sandy Díaz. Sandy was the main character of my short story, a high school girl who plays on an all-boys summer baseball league in Los Angeles. She is the daughter of a former professional athlete and her stay-at-home mom. Her story is one that follows her struggles to be seen as an equal in the sports world and essentially find success, the strained relationship she shares with her mother, and the cherished friendships she has found in her teammates.

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Since its conception in my head a year ago, Sandy's has been a story that has never quite left my mind. Although I may not have ever tried to play baseball myself, I have been inspired by the stories of real-life and fictional sports heroes -- women -- like the great professional athlete and prodigy Mo’ne Davis and the fictional but still impactful first female pitcher in the MLB, TV character Ginny Baker. These strong young women have achieved greatness in places where the odds were stacked against them, and I wanted a chance to explore that idea on my own, in the same space of women in sports.

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I chose this story to be the one I continue telling because I feel it discusses conversations that are far from over that society needs to conduct. I feel like it's my responsibility to use my voice to tell real stories like Sandy's.

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Because hers is a story of struggle, it is relatable. It is a love letter to baseball, and the seemingly surprising -- sometimes small --things us humans find comfort in. It is a discussion of finding security in the chaos and mess of life. It's real. It's raw. It's true. 

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I hope you, too, can find truth in it.

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