Baseball Dream

By Robert Chauncey

 

The baseball season had officially begun. I walked up to the plate swinging my bat. I got into position and prepared for the pitch. The pitcher wound up and threw. As I swung, I thought I had hit a grand slam, which was impossible since there was no one on base.

            “Strike three,” the umpire bellowed as the ball landed in the catcher’s glove.

            I walked back to the bench, not in shame, but in disappointment and prepared to take the field. The inning was soon over and I walked onto the field. I stopped at my patch of dirt in right field and prepared to catch anything that came my way. Fortunately for me not much came my way and those that did, I found someway to mess them up. Luckily, despite my terrible fielding and my lack of hitting, we managed to beat the Cardinals, 2-0.

            The season went by, game by game, and believe it or not, we managed to beat everyone. I even got a few singles and even one double. We dreamed of going the season undefeated. Unfortunately that dream was ended by the Orioles.

            The game was a long and gruelling battle, but when it finally ended in the 12th inning, we had lost 13-12. We all were upset about losing, but we were determined not to lose again. Four games later, we were back against the Orioles. Once again it was a hard fought battle, but once again we lost. We lost in the 10th inning, 9-8. Once again we were heart broken about losing our second game.

            Games went by and as usual we won them all. We were training day by day, getting ready to face the Orioles. Soon the game came and we were prepared to beat them. Luckily for us, their star hitter was out with the flu. Without their star hitter, they were no match for us. We beat them in nine innings, 4-2.

            We were so happy that we had won, that we all went out to Pizza Hut, coaches treat. Although we were happy, we did not stray from our goal. We still had to play the Orioles one more time in the City Championship.

            We prepared and prepared to take on the Orioles one more time. Soon the game came and we were ready to beat the Orioles once and for all. Unfortunately their star hitter had returned and was hitting better than ever. He had gotten two homeruns in his first two at bats and he was coming up to bat again. Ben, our pitcher, wound up and pitched his famous fast ball. Their star hitter swung and rocketed it into right field and to me. I held up my glove and prayed. I felt the ball hit my glove and I closed my glove around the ball. After I heard the cheers, I knew I had caught it and I ran back to the bench.

            We quickly tied them, 3-3, in the 9th inning and it was my turn to bat. In the season, I had gotten a total of nine hits, none of which were against the Orioles, but now was my chance to prove myself. Paula, one of our best hitters and the only girl in the league, was on third, as I came up to bat.

            The first pitch was a ball and, as usual, I swung at it, which made it a strike. The next pitch was straight down the middle. I swung and knew I would get a homerun. I didn’t though, but something great happened. I made contact with the ball and it rocketed toward the pitcher’s head. Their pitcher ducked just in time to keep his head. The ball bounced in front of the second baseman. He picked it up, and threw it to first.

             I was out by a mile, but they had forgotten about Paula on third. She ran home. The first baseman threw home, but it was too late. Paula made it home standing and we won the game 4-3. I wasn’t exactly the hero, but I got a few “congratulations” and “way to go’s.”

            My first year of playing baseball turned out to be my last year due to other activities, but I’ll never forget how much fun it really was.