September, 19, 2011 Bledsoe Pd. 6
Title
It was the bottom of the sixth, game tied at 5, nobody on, nobody out, I was at the plate against the best Pitcher in the state of Texas in the 12 and under league. He pitched 65 mph! I had just made a diving catch at second to end the inning and kept them from going up by two runs. I was fired up to lead off the inning. It was the first time our team had made a championship game, so we were the underdog but we were ready to win the game and bring home a trophy.
I stepped up to the on deck circle to get my timing down on this rocket throwing pitcher. My coach came up to me and gave me a good pep- talk, he told me to take until I saw a strike he patted my back and said “ go get ‘em bud” and he walked to the coaches box and gave me the take sign just as a reminder.
I dug in to the worked in dirt of the Round Rock Dell field stared the pitcher down then got in my stance. I watched his hand as he let go of the ball. Changeup low and in. Ball one. Coach was dumbfounded that they would start me off with an off-speed pitch. I wasn’t too worried about it until he threw it again for the second pitch. Ball two. Now I was confused for the next pitch I would be looking fastball react changeup. Third pitch curveball low and away. Again coach and I were baffled that he hadn’t thrown a single fastball. As I stepped back in I was looking for a fastball down the middle and a little slower than usual. Wouldn’t you know it I was right. Fastball down the middle I watched until it hit the glove. Strike one. Now I was sure that I would get the same pitch but in a different spot probably middle away. Again I was right but this time I wasn’t taking I watched the ball all the way until it hit the bat. “Ting!” The ball flew off my bat like doves from a hunting dog. I took off like a speeding bullet rounding first as the ball fell in right center field coach told me to keep on trucking. I stopped on second to check the ball they still hadn’t got the ball yet so I took off to third as I see coach telling me to stay up instead of sliding. Stand up triple to lead off the inning. Perfect way to start the end of the third now all we would need to do is get a single and we would win the championship.
Our second batter was one for four today he was one of our weakest batters and was not very confident against this pitcher. One. Two. Three. First out of the inning on three pitches all 65 mph and up pitches and they were all inside. He walked back to the dugout with a small amount of dignity.
Next batter was our power hitter wasn’t really a contact hitter and he hadn’t had a hit all day against this guy not that he was afraid he just couldn’t make contact. So coach just told him to shorten up his swing and just make contact and he did he hit it right down the line but it was just barely foul down the left field line. He stepped back up to the plate with confidence he was ready to hit the cover off the ball which is not what we wanted but we would take it. The pitch was a low and away curveball he couldn’t resist but to swing. Strike two. He did not want to strike out again. The next pitch was right down the middle but he rolled right over it and sent it rolling to third so I held up just to be safe and the third baseman bobbled it but I still stayed I wasn’t going to risk this win by trying to be a hero. He was safe at first.
The next guy hadn’t got out all day and you could bet he wasn’t planning on ending that streak anytime soon. He stepped up. The first pitch was a low outside curveball this pitcher’s set up pitch for a fastball. Ball one. The next pitch was obvious. Fastball middle in. A swing and a miss. One ball, one strike. As he dug in coach gave the guy on first the steal sign in the hopes that they would throw to first and I would be able to get to home plate to win the game. The crowd was getting louder and louder as