Brian Henry

Unlucky play

                It was a bright sunny day outside with the smell of fresh made hot dogs and the feel of chilly bleachers. I was warming up along with my team and it was very warm and I felt a little breeze and it was the best feeling. Before the start of the game I had asked my mom to buy me a hot dog, sunflower-seeds and a water for my upcoming game where I would be pitching and hitting first in our lineup. I was warming up in the bullpen when she brought me the hot dog and it just hit the spot I felt so much better. The rest of my team was taking infield outfield for their warmups as I was munching down on my hot dog.

                The team was looking flawless as usual, but unlike normal my bullpen warmup was lacking consistency but had a little extra behind it. Their team took their warmups and was looking very talented so I knew I would have to pitch very well to win this game. My coach took me away from the team to talk to me about my plan for the game and how I was going to pitch against their big hitters. I was watching their pitcher warming up and he was very accurate with good speed which I reported back to my team. We had our meeting did our prayer before the game and we were set waiting for the umpires. They finally showed up and the coaches met at home plate to see who was hitting and who was in the field to start.

                We were in the field and my first warmup pitch was wild and almost hit the umpire behind the plate, so I was a little scared, but I settled in and got more accurate. The first batter came up and I recognized him because he was the catcher in the bullpen and I had heard that he hits tanks, so I tried to pitch around him. The first pitch was a fastball straight down the middle and I heard the loud ting of his bat and thinking it was gone I turned around and it was just foul so I decided not to throw that again. The count came to 3-2 and I knew I couldn’t give him anything to hit so I threw high and inside. I didn’t mean to but I felt it leave my hand a little too early and I hit him in the head. Feeling as bad as I did I ran up to him before he got to first and apologized for hitting him. He said he was okay so I felt better and pitched the rest of that inning.

                I watched the pitcher warm up and he was throwing a ton of fastballs and not a ton of off-speed. I hit the first pitch to left-center and I got a double out of the swing. The next batter I could see wasn’t going to hit it very far so I decided I couldn’t score. I was wrong. I heard the crack of the bat and the ball was hit to right field and I was rounding third when I saw the right fielder throw it in and I thought I better hurry up. I was running to the back half of the plate when the catcher jumped up I slid and my feet hit his and I looked up and saw him parallel to the ground and I felt like I was going to seriously hurt him. He landed on his neck and you could hear the gasps of every parent there from a mile away but over everyone else’s you could hear mine. Not only had I hurt him once but I was now going to hurt him for a second time.

                His mother came running out to be with her son and I was so scared I couldn’t even stand up. He was taken to the hospital and I came to meet him because I wanted to make sure he was okay. I got there and he was being tested to see if he had a concussion and my stomach hit the floor. I had a sick feeling in my stomach it kind of tasted like baby barf. He came out of the X-Ray and the doctor reported to the mother who then came to my family and I and she said he has a minor concussion and I was happy that I hadn’t caused anything seriously detrimental to his life but then again I might of just ruined his chances to play in the big leagues and that might have been his dreams ever since he was a little kid and I just destroyed those dreams. He came out and I was so sad and I made the most well thought out apology and he said that it was okay and we went on with our lives after that.