If you’re LG Goldin, the super soph middle infielder from Georgia, it’s pretty good to be you right now… and here are just a few reasons why in bullet list form:

• You come from a tight family of athletes as your older brother, Cannon, plays SEC baseball at Ole Miss and your older sister, Janie, a 2027 grad, is a softball commit to Oklahoma State,
• Last fall, you helped lead your Buford High team to a 36-0 record and the team’s 13^th state title at the Class 6A level,
• In that high school championship win, you hit a three-run home run that ended the game via the mercy rule… and you got to be met at home plate by a mob of your deliriously happy teammates!

Here’s a clip of that massive title-winning shot and the ensuing celebration at home plate courtesy of KZN Sports Films!

• You play for one of the most successful club softball programs in the country, the Birmingham Thunderbolts, and have won multiple titles playing for esteemed head coach Rock Thompson,
• Your mentor and personal coach is Lincoln Martin, one of the most reputable player development experts in the game who runs the Top Tier Sports facility in Atlanta and is a coach in the USA Softball program.,
• You and your sister have impressive NIL deals with top sportswear companies such as Bruce Bolt and Mizuno,
• And, last but not least, you were just announced two weeks ago as the No. 1-ranked player in the Line Drive Media 2029 HOT 100… for the third straight year.

A pretty darn good list of accomplishments for an athlete who still has three years to go of high school and yet is already high on the “Must Get” list of just about every top Power 4 collegiate softball program.

So, yes, it’s good to be LG right now, but would it surprise you to learn that her great track record of successes is due in large part in how she’s been able to process her failures?

In a sport where going 1-for-3 is a good thing, the Peach State product leans heavily on a quote from a superstar in another sport, Michael Jordan, who famously said:

“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life… and that is why I succeed!”

Echoing that theme, LG attributes her impressive lineup of accomplishments to putting everything in perspective and trusting in herself.

“My battle I look to win each day,” she explains, “is the ability to stay confident after failing multiple times.”

Ironic, isn’t it, that the better you are able to process your losses, the better you’ll be at reducing them?

Here’s a quick video clip of LG getting a double in recent action with her Bolts team competing against a top 18U club opponent:

As a freshman last fall for the Buford High Lady Wolves, LG showed that she’s a true 5-tool player and that her game is at the top of the class in all categories.

She smashed 23 home runs (power), batted .512 (high average), stole 59 bases (speed), played excellent defense (Defensive Player of the Year for Buford High) and brings college size and physical tools at 5-9 ½, 155 pounds… even though she’s three years away from even graduating from high school.

LG really upped her game at the end of the season, too, as she hit that three-run walk-off homer that brought the season to an exhilarating close but that wasn’t an isolated stroke of good luck.

In the state semis and title game combined, she went 5-for-6 with two home runs, a double, a steal and eight RBIs culminating in that 16-1 finale over East Coweta High in the Class 6A championship game.

Perhaps the final piece of the puzzle for the three-time No. 1 player of her class is that she’s been able to watch her older siblings succeed—and, yes, fail at times—but learn what it takes to rise after not always getting the desired result, be it individually or with a team.

“Seeing them compete at a young age,” the athletes’ father, Ryan Goldin, believes, “has only helped her work ethic and mental development around the game.”

Everything has to line up perfectly to get the results LG has achieved in her young, but very accomplished sports career so far, but there’s one thing that certainly factors in as much as anything—her enjoyment at what she does.

The teen’s perpetual smile reflects the sheer joy she gets from being a softball player… which makes the great successes she’s earned that much sweeter after progressing through the bitter defeats.

“I just love the competition and friendships you get from playing this game!” she adds enthusiastically.

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Media