The game of a
career
Every
athlete has their ups, and their downs in their sports career, including
me. All throughout my life, baseball has
been an almost everyday activity.
Through hard work and athletic ability, I have been fortunate in my
baseball career to be successful in the sport I love. Also, I have had many close games, and
magnificent plays that have helped me choose baseball as the sport I pursue. One of which was a do or die game in all-star
baseball 2011.
Many
people and organizations have provided support in my baseball career. One of which is the Cave Spring American REC
baseball league. Throughout the season,
18 baseball games are played among the league’s teams. At the end of the season, the coaches of all
the teams come together and pick an elite team of the league’s best players, or
“all-stars”. This elite team is then
challenged to practice and eventually challenge other leagues around the state. The team with the leading record in the
division gets to move on to states, which is a prestigious event.
In
2011 I was chosen as the 11 year old All-star captain. We had a great team, with many star studded
players. Our expectation through many
practices was to eventually advance to states.
Once games started, we won our first 5 games by slaughter rule, only 1
game was left. As we entered into our
final game, we were facing Franklin County, also undefeated. We were too confident and didn’t expect them
to be the opponent they were.
The
importance of the Franklin County baseball game was extreme. The winner of the game would be presented the
winning banner, and advance to the state baseball tournament. In the first 3 innings of the baseball game,
the two teams were at a stalemate. Then
quickly, Franklin County takes a lead of 7-0.
With only two innings left, everyone started to get down and we were
slipping the game even more. The coaches
gathered the players and said one of the most important speeches of my
life. Their speech fired up the players
to battle this game back. We entered the
field with the other team’s strongest hitters.
With 9 quick pitches we were done with that half inning in 3
strikeouts. We entered the dugout with
fire, and little time to make a comeback.
We had 3 outs, and 7 runs to score.
As
our first batter approached the plate, he knew his job. Get on base! The player
lined a hit in left center field which gave the team a man in scoring position
standing on 2nd base. The
next batter almost copied the 1st one and lined another hit in left
center field. 7-1 we were ecstatic! Our hitters kept hitting as the pitcher
became rattled, he began to walk people.
Soon it was 2 runs… 3 runs… 4 runs… 5 runs! With 2 outs and one of our
weaker hitters up and no one on base, he hits a bomb to right field giving us
another person on 2nd. Then
it was my turn. I approached the plate
with 2 outs, the last inning, and the other team had a 7-5 lead. I hit the 1st pitch thrown all the
way to the fence. The person on 2nd
easily scored making it 7-6. I was
standing on 1st. Our next
hitter hit yet another liner to left center field and as I was running to 2nd
base, I took a risk to try and advance to the next base. As I sharply rounded the base and made my way
to 3rd, I clumsily trip on the fielder’s foot. I quickly got back up and barely made It
sliding into 3rd. Our coaches
challenged the play of the fielder being in the base path and the game’s
umpires had a 5 minute discussion. As I
was standing on 3rd the umpire gave the signal that I got to advance
and score due to player interference. I
was ecstatic, I sprinted home and entered the dugout of my fellow players. Tears were streaming down everyone’s
face. We soon took the lead 9-7 and won
the game. We were awarded the winning
banner and advanced on to states.
This
became one of the most emotional, and inspirational moments of my life. It served as a confidence booster in the
years to come. Also, this moment proved
to be a perfect example as why to never give up, without that all-star year,
I’m not sure I would be playing for the Hidden Valley Titans today. All in all, through hard work and hope,
dedication can take you where you want to be.
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