It had been an unbelievable season so far, we were going into the championship game of junior league with only two losses. Of course, the only other team with a better record than us was the black team. We gave them their only loss on the second game of the regular season. Now, after defeating the better of the Mosinee teams in the semi finals, my dad, who was also the coach of our blue team, had stopped to watch the rest of the game between black and red. As we pulled into the parking lot, Andy Dunst ran up to our truck and said, “Black is losing in the sixth!” “Really?” I asked. “Yah, they’re down 9-6.” As we watched the rest of the game, black just couldn’t seem to get anything going, and the players on our team that were there watching were getting more and more excited. Finally, that last out was made, and we felt that the championship was a lock with our best pitcher going for the championship. All week, I was excited for the game, and finally it was the big day. As we were going through our warm-up routine, everybody was loose and confident. We were fooling around just like it was another game. Players were making jokes, throws were all over the place like always and it seemed like we had been there a thousand times… until the game started. Josh Heinrick was on the mound in the first inning, and red was able to string a couple of hits together and score a couple of runs. “Lets go guys, it’s still early and we can make up those runs,” encouraged my dad. So, we went up to the plate, I was batting sixth, and went down in order. The team morale had gone from high and confident to rather low and worried. The game dragged on into the fifth inning and we were still behind by three. Now it was time to bear d... ... middle of paper ... ...ssed it! Our team was going crazy. The outfielder was able to throw out the runner going to second and end the inning, but we had the lead going into the top of the final inning. All right, guys, let’s hold them, and we have this one. We control the game now, and it’s ours to lose,” encouraged my dad. Red was down, and they didn’t have anything in the seventh. They went down one, two, three. Our team all ran to the pitcher’s mound and celebrated. It was the best feeling I had ever experienced from baseball. The energy was awesome after the comeback win, and you could tell that red didn’t know what happened. They had us down and out in the second to last inning, but they couldn’t hold on. As they announced our names to get the trophies, we could hardly stand still. As I waited, I was thinking, I will never forget how it felt to win my first championship.
Top of the lineup now, Jackie’s up, then me, then Ashley. We have a chance. One out, no runners on, Jackie bunts and is called safe at first. My turn. Shaking and feeling like I’m gonna barf, I walk up to the plate. Six pitches
Thurman Munson would double home a run in the eighth tying the game. The controversial play in the sixth seemed to plague the Dodgers. New York plated a walk-off run in the bottom of the 10th inning to pull even at two games apiece.
Martin Perez came into this game struggling, getting absolutely roughed up in his last couple of outings. I for one was incredibly concerned with how he would show up now that the bright lights were on him, but boy did he respond well. Perez pitched seven masterful innings, allowing just one run on nine hits. Perez was in control all night,
My face was full of excitement when seeing him slowly make his way to the field to watch me. Every time he came I felt like I had to play the best game of my life, I loved it and it was a huge motivation. Whether it was me trying to strike everyone out when I was pitching or trying to hit a homerun every time I was batting, I wanted to show off my skills to my grandpa. My dad was the coach of my baseball team so I would always beg him to let me pitch when I knew that my grandpa was coming. Sometimes before I threw a pitch, I would glance over at the stands to make sure he was watching me, and he always was. His focus was on me the entire game. Every time I looked over at him he was in the same position, hunched over with a serious look on his face almost as if he was a scout that came to see me play. I loved when he could watch me pitch and my favorite part of the game was when it was over and he would tell me “great game!” (even if it wasn’t that
They were all feeling down; it would be hard not to. They were faced with adversity, but their team bond that they had formed through the season had prepared them. Some players were not ready to give up so easily. Outfielder Jason Heyward called a players only meeting and according to Epstein, “all 25 guys squeezed into a space designed for half that many.” Heyward himself was having a terrible offseason. Epstein says, “by far the worst of his career.” Continuing to elaborate after the game, Epstein also said, “Most players who are having seasons that rough detach from the team and isolate themselves.” But Heyward was not around a traditional team culture. All the players were in there making small comments, trying to pick each other up when Heyward began: “We are the best team in baseball.” He’d walked to the middle of the room and continued, “We’ve got to stay positive and fight for your brothers. Stick together and we’re going to win this game.” From there, other players chirped in agreeing. Next thing, the rain was gone and the Cubs were on the field again. The Cubs had two runs in the top of the 10th from the help of Ben Zobrist and Miguel Montero. They were winning. Bottom of the 10th with 2 outs and Martinez of the Indians has a ground hit to Bryant who caught the ball and threw it to Rizzo: The Cubs had
Our All-Star team made it to State which was held in the warm July sun down in Terre Haute, Indiana. Pete, a short red haired kid was my best friend at the time, he would play second base and I would be the shortstop, we were the best two players on the team and we always had each other’s back. Before our first game at State, Pete and I always did our handshake but this time it felt more special because we were both so hype and caught up in the moment that all I remember him saying was “It’s your world. Get on base and let me hit you in, let’s go!” I was always the number one hitter and Pete was number two, the best two baseball players, so we were the ones carrying the team. To start off the game, I hit a double off the wall, pointed at the dugout and my teammates went crazy. The families in the stands started chanting, and it felt like I was on top of the world. Next batter is Pete, he gets a fastball over the plate and belts it into right field, I score and start clapping and our team is going ballistic as we started the game off to a quick 1-0 start. We all thought we had this game in the bag. After the top of the first we were on defense. Our best pitcher was on the mound and everyone in
With seconds to spare I arrived at batting practice and began to prepare for my game. I hear coach call out my name and as I he acknowledged that I was there he told me I was pitching. My brain shifted and went into a whole new mode, I was more focused and more determined than I have ever been. This was the biggest baseball game of my career and I 'm starting on the mound. Honestly it couldn 't have turned out any better, the fate of the pin and my team lied in my hands and I loved the pressure. The pressure made me thrive and before I knew it our team was marching onto the field for the national anthem. During the singing of the national anthem I peeked into the crowd and first row down the first base side was the little boy I met on the cart and his dad sitting right next to him. This game was for that little boy, I needed to impress him. I pitched six strong innings and my team ended up winning the game. It was the most exciting game of my career and the best part was being greeted with the best pin in the tournament after such a spectacular win. The little boy ran out into the middle of the field where we shook our opponents hands and in front of everyone in the stadium handed me the only thing I cared about besides winning. I was in the best mood for the rest of the day and I rewarded myself with a nice long sleep. I could only image what the next day had to
I felt as though I was watching a train barrelling towards me, an inevitable bullet that had come tumbling out of the opposing pitcher’s arm. But instead I stood immobilized, watching my team's only chance of winning whiz by me. Strike three. I heard my team from behind me shouting “SWING!” with my mind screaming the same. But my bat remained unmoving, the pop of the catcher's glove like the nail into the coffin that was our defeat. All I had to do to keep our hopes of winning hope alive was swing, and yet I couldn't. I stayed on the field afterwards, tossing the ball up in the air and swinging away, landing it on the thick maple barrel of the bat.
All we had to do was beat a team we had beat numerous times before and then we would be in the finals. Easy right? So we thought. Going into that game I did not expect to feel the heartbreak that I did when it ended. Finally, game day had arrived; in the first inning, things seemed to be going as planned, we were up five or six runs. By the fourth inning, we were down nine to five and it only went downhill from there. My heart started to ache and the feeling of frustration flew through my body. As the ninth inning rolled around we were still losing and we could not get it
I had not much time to think so I just acted! I swung the bat hard making contact with the ball and as I felt the adrenaline pumping through my veins I looked out to deep right field where the ball had sailed over the right fielder's head. When I seen the ball drop down the foul line and my teammate running home I knew I did it. I was as much emotional as I was proud for myself as I stood on the base and waited for my team to rush the field. I felt the best I had in a long time! Everything worked out just as I had wished and dreamed of it for so long.In all the midst of the cheering, yelling, and chaos I was at peace and felt the proudest of my life as I stood like a statue on that field looking like one of the joyful men on the face of the Earth that night. Everything had just happened so quickly it was almost hard to process it all at one time. I was almost shook with emotion that night and it took a lot of power to keep from going crazy because of all the happiness that night had brought
The fifth inning they went up on us three runs, and after that we returned scored one run. The following inning they added another run to the board then we struck back with a run. At that point the last inning came and we got three outs on them and we came fixing to make something happen. Our first runner got on base with a walk then the following hitter hit it into a double play. At that point our next runner gets on base with a single, and I come up and get a three-two count and I battle off another strike, then I see a curveball off the pitchers hand and I swing as hard as I could. At that point, "bam" went the ball down the first base line to the fence. Our lead runner comes in for a score and as im passing second I look back to where the ball was and the ball was getting thrown in. Sliding into third I hear the third baseman catch the ball, in a split second I slide off the base and he puts a tag on me for the ball game.
The announcer began announcing our team to start the introduction for the game. Since I was the lead-off batter, my name was echoed over the park first. It was at this time that the feeling elevated; the feeling that makes every baseball field so special. As my teammates yelled for me, while I ran to the nearest baseline and faced the crowd, the feeling gave me goose bumps and raised the hairs on the back of my neck. The feeling is so amazing that it will keep me playing baseball for as long as possible because it makes my love for the sport that much more. I can't even begin to explain the complex feeling I get when I walk on a baseball field, but that feeling will always be cherished and hopefully when I pass on my love of baseball to others, they will too understand what that special diamond makes me feel like.
The team was ready, we had been working extremely hard for the past seven months for this. We were all in great shape and very rested. A few of the returning players were meeting me at my house to carpool to the final game of the state championship tournament. Everyone knew that the hard work had paid off when we won the semi-final game the preceding day.
I am on deck. The time has ran out. Two outs. Lou, the girl in the batter's box, bunts and gets on. I am walking up to the plate. We are playing are rival, Victory, to get to the championship. The score is tied and bases are loaded. I watch the first pitch, like I always do. Ball. The next pitch was right down the middle. I step out of the box cursing at myself to swing the bat. The pitcher, Alana, was once a team mate of mine just last year. She threw me high knowing that was my weakness but I held back. I remember having difficulty deciding whether the ump was calling ball or strike because he wore a big mask in front of his mouth. The count is now 2-1. Before stepping into the box I took a deep breath with a quick prayer. There was a moment
The reason I want to watch the World Series with my dad so much is because I enjoy watching and playing the sport of baseball. The reason I enjoy playing baseball is because I like the adrenaline rush of the ball coming at you when you’re hitting. Another reason I enjoy playing baseball is because I like cheering on my teammates when they are up to bat. And I like watching baseball because it is entertaining, fun, and exciting to watch. But it’s not just about the game i’m watching it is also about the team that I am there to