Read Aloud the Text Content

This audio was created by Woord's Text to Speech service by content creators from all around the world.

Text Content or SSML code:

Don’t Stop Believing Mattie was a thirteen year old girl who loved to play softball. She went to school at Deane Bozeman and had so many friends there. Mattie had long brown hair and pretty blue eyes that would catch your attention if she turned around and looked at you. She was the nicest girl you would ever meet. Mattie had the grades to get into a great school at her age. She also had an addiction to the ballpark, if you’d ask where she was, her response was always, “At the ballpark.” Mattie was such an athlete, but she wasn’t the only one in her family that played a sport. Her brother played baseball and flag football for the local recreation teams. Her mom coached volleyball for the high school that Mattie attended. Mattie’s dad was also into sports. He had played so many when he was younger that he had a lot of knowledge to share with the family. Her family was constantly in and out of the house every single day. Many times they would be all spread out at different parks. Besides her school softball team, Mattie would get offers to pick up with travel ball teams on the weekends and she would go play. When she did Mattie would have so much fun and make new friends every time. She loved all the laughs and everything else that would happen during the day. Even though she would get tired, sunburnt, or even soar. She would still have so much fun doing the thing she loves the most. One day Mattie saw that they were having tryouts for softball at school, so she thought that she would give it a shot. She practiced every night in the backyard with her dad. She worked on hitting, fielding, and base running. She felt prepared. The day finally arrived for tryouts. Mattie gathered all her equipment and got in the car with her mom to head to school. Her mother reminded her, “Now remember, Mattie, do your best. Work hard for your spot. No matter what, make sure you have fun!” “Yes, ma’am.” I replied. The day seemed to drag on, but finally the moment arrived. Ding! Ding! Ding! The bell rang and kids filled the halls. Mattie didn’t have time to talk to any of her friends. She went straight to the locker room and got all dressed out. It was time to start warming up. She thought practice would be easy, but she thought wrong. The sun was beaming down on her face. Mattie was breathing as hard as a dog on a hot summer day. She was sweating so bad it looked as if she had just got out of the pool. Mattie pushed through as hard as she could and gave it her all. Every throw, swing, and catch meant a lot to Mattie because she really wanted to make a spot on the team. One thing she liked was that the coaches were really nice and they would take the time to teach you something right. When the tryouts were over Mattie had never felt so exhausted in her life, but she had a lot of fun and that’s what mattered to her the most. “Rosters will be posted on the gym door in the morning,” the coach explained. “If your name is on the list you need to be at practice no later than 3:45 tomorrow.” The next morning, Mattie walked nervously to the gym. She was afraid her name would not be on the roster. However, when walking down the hall other students started congratulating her. “Good job!” Carl exclaimed. “Congratulations!” Allie shouted. All Mattie could think of to say was, “Thank you”. She kept walking. When she finally reached the gym she saw the roster. She went down the list one name at a time until she saw, “Mattie T.” Mattie was so happy that she had a bigger smile on her face than she ever had. Mattie couldn’t wait to tell her mom, so she texted her. “Mom, I made the team!!! I have practice today!” “Congratulations baby girl, I knew you had it in you!” her mother texted back. Mattie saw her friends on the way to first period and ran up to them to tell them her good news. Alyssa, Jane, and Stephanie acted super happy for her. They gave her hugs and high fives and then headed to class. During class, Mattie heard someone speaking and she turned around to see who it was. Strangely, there was no one there. She continued hearing the voices and it sounded like two of her friends, Alyssa and Stephanie. They had just congratulated in the hall, but now she was hearing their voices say rude things about her. “She shouldn’t have made it,” Alyssa’s voice said. “She’s horrible at softball. I could think of a million other players that should have made it,” Stephanie’s voice commented. Mattie instantly felt sad. What was going on? Could she be hearing their voices and how they truly thought about her? She knew she needed to confront them and find out the truth, but how would she do that? Would they really be honest with her? Mattie had always considered them her closest friends, but now she doesn’t know. This was all making her doubt her friendships and her softball abilities. Maybe she wasn’t a good player and the coaches felt bad for her. Maybe she needed to talk to the coaches too. “Mattie, what’s wrong? What are you thinking about? Jane asked. Jane sat next to Mattie in class. She was one of the friends that had talked to Mattie in the hall and now she didn’t know if she had been honest with her. Mattie told Jane about the voices she was hearing and Jane instantly told her the truth. Stephanie and Alyssa had mentioned to her that they didn’t think Mattie should have made the team. They thought she was awful at softball and should find something else to do. “Oh my goodness! I am hearing their thoughts! They do think I’m horrible! Mattie blurted out quickly. “I guess I’ll go talk to the coaches and tell them to cut me from the team. If my own friends feel that way, I’m sure everyone else does too” At 3:45 Mattie walked onto the field and went straight to the coaches. She told them what happened and said she understood if they didn’t really want her on the team. “Mattie, don’t be so foolish! We wouldn’t put you on the team if you were awful!” her coaches reassured her. “You will be fine. Quit listening to other people and believe in yourself!” When Mattie left practice, she felt better than she did before. She made up in her mind that she was going to work her butt off and prove her friends wrong. She did just that. Every single day she would practice with her team and then go home and hit off the tee, throw with her dad, and watch videos on softball. “Let’s play ball!” the umpire yelled. Mattie’s first game was about to begin. She was seventh in the line-up. When they made it to her, there were two outs and bases were loaded. Mattie slowly approached the batter’s box. She began hearing those voices again, but she quickly remembered what her coaches said. “Ball! Ball! Strike! Strike! Ball!” Mattie had a full count. One more pitch. She had to believe in herself! Pop!!! Mattie made contact and the ball soared through the air. She took off running to first base and as the coach motioned for her to keep going she saw her ball go over the fence!! Excitement filled Mattie! She started jumping up and down as she continued around the bases. Her teammates were waiting on her at home. They cheered, clapped, and screamed. Mattie had hit a homerun and they were happy for her! At that moment Mattie realized that she could not listen to the negative voices anymore. She had to believe in herself and never give up! During dinner that night with her family, Mattie received a phone call from Jane. However, when she answered it, she heard Jane, Alyssa, and Stephanie all congratulating her. Alyssa and Stephanie also apologized for all the mean thoughts. They promised to always believe in her and her dreams! Mattie slept well that night!