What is frequently left unsaid, however, is the mental preparation necessary for hitting. These are all distractions from your purpose of the moment, which is hitting. If you aren't prepared beforehand, you aren't suddenly going to find yourself ready to participate once the game begins. The key to playing in the zone is to play in the moment, to ignore the distractions, to focus so intently on what you are doing, that nothing else in the world exists. Baseball players often describe hitting streaks as times when the ball looks as big as a watermelon as it wafts slowly to the plate.
Time slows perceptibly, the ball appears larger than normal.
And the reason is simple. Their focus is so fine, so pinpoint, that the object of their attention seems literally to grow. Because it doesn't matter. All that matters is seeing the ball. Similarly in softball, we all have these moments, standing on deck, or out in the field waiting for our next at-bat, when we know without question that when we step into the box something good will come of it.