Districts Day One

The long loud bus ride seems to take ages. I sit quietly and watch out the window as the trees seem to go by faster than they ever have before. The music playing over the radio seems to drown out the loud voices of my teammates. We pull into the gravel paved parking lot. The other team is already starting their warm ups. The bus quiets down as the rest of the team starts to realize that we have arrived. The nerves set in and were ready to play.

We slowly jog in unison as the other team starts to arrive. Are feet sweeping the wet, freshly cut grass. We run the perimeter of the field. Our hair braided, with our visors on. Even though no one wants to admit it, we are all nervous , deep down in our stomach, just waiting for the game to begin. Coach watches us carefully as we finish the warm up and begin to do our daily stretches. No one says a word, no one speaks, just the noise of the song “We are the Champions” playing over the big loud speaker at the field. We watch as our opponents begin to enter the visitor dugout. We grab our mitts and anxiously toss the ball back  and forth being careful not to drop it for coach would be mad. The same people with the same coach with the same routine. My teammates join me for a drink back in the dugout. Even though we do this on a daily basis, we were nervous, but no one knew why.

As the sun blazes down on our backs, the smell of freshly cooked hot dogs wafts through the air. The breeze picks up sending a chill down my spine. I can hear the crowd in the background. A dog faintly barks in the distance. The grass leaves dew on my shoes, soaking my socks. The green stains reminded me of other identical times before this. When I get back onto the field, the dirt picks up on the water and makes my shoes dustier than they have ever been. The soft familiar leather comforts me as the throws come from my teammates. As I wind up to throw the ball back, my hand slips off of the ball causing it to fly in the opposite direction of my partners mitt. It lands in the grass with a “thump”. I watch as she slowly chases after the ball. As the score board counts down the minutes until game time, I start to feel the nerves rising in my stomach. It’s day number one of Districts.

I carefully watch as our lead off hitter, steps up to bat. The Monroe pitcher, fires in a fast ball for strike one. I drown out the noises and try to focus in on what i’m going to do differently when it’s my turn to bat. My teammates before me, are struggling with this pitcher, She throws some speed and she has a nasty curveball. I try to picture what might happen when it’s my turn. My friend Tevy strikes out. Four more batters step up to bat before it is finally my turn. We have two outs with runners on first and third. Excitement and nerves fill my stomach. I know my whole team is counting on me to get a hit.

The pitcher releases the ball, I watch as it flies into the catcher's mitt. “Strike one”, yells out the umpire. I step out and wait for the pitcher to reset. I step back in, my feet catching the dirt mounds that the other players had made. I watch one more time as the ball soars out of her hand into the mitt of the catcher. Reset again. This time I’m ready, I swing as hard as I possibly can, the bright yellow ball flies into the gap of the infield and outfield. My heart pounds as the gravel hits my shoes. I nearly trip, slowing down to look around and wonder what had just happened. Around me, there’s a lot of motion. People yelling, running, screaming. The motion slows down and I watch, wondering if I will make it any further. I turn around to glance at my dog, cheering for me on the sidelines. I glance straight ahead and catch my coach, her eyes are zeroed in on me. She gives me a head nod and I know exactly what I have to do. I take off in a dead sprint, while at the same time, watching my coach. My body hits the dirt as the yellow ball slides into the mitt of the opposing team at the same time. I pop up onto the platform and watch as the umpire throws me out. I slowly jog back to the dugout in shame. You can see the look of disappointment in coach’s eyes. I know that I had messed up big time.

As I watch the tape again and again, I review the errors and mistakes, but also the good plays I had accomplished. Playing in that game was one of the best moments of my life but also the most challenging. I know one thing for sure: I wouldn’t change any of it.