I remember my first year of High school sports I played football for the first time in my life. As a freshman, I did pretty well for a first timer. I didn’t start, but I might have if I learned my plays. Then one practice, Coach Woody told me I would be starting the next game, and I stepped it up at practice and I snapped my ankle the day before my first start. I was upset but I was just ready for baseball season. I hoped I would be back in time, and I returned a week before tryouts which made it rough because everyone knew the coaches and progressed because they had gone to the preseason workouts. I showed up and didn’t know who the Coaches were, but when it was my turn to pitch in there I tore it up I faced 4 batters and sat all 4 down I was untouchable. I made the team as the ace starting pitcher.

Then all of a sudden we start, and they make me a pitcher only A.K.A (P.O) I hated when they made me that I wasn’t allowed to hit and that’s what I loved to do I wasn’t in too pitching as much then. I went from always seeing the field to seeing it once or twice a week I hated it so one day I knew I wasn’t pitching and my girlfriend wanted to hangout, and I skipped the game….. It was one of the biggest mistakes I made that year. I returned the next day and he suspended me two games out of the dugout; I returned off the suspension and I was benched for two weeks. Mainly because I had been pitching like a five year old picking up the ball for his first time I was all over the place then I would get frustrated, and be even worse. Then out of nowhere after practice that day he said Hurst you ready to go Friday you’re starting against Princeton. I didn’t want to have an absolute crap shoot again. So I called up my pitching coach Richie Moody a former M.L.B pitcher I came and he helped me workout a few problems with my form then told me things I could do to fix it.

It was game day, time to see if the work of fixing my mechanics payed off. We showed up, and I go down to the bullpen to start warming up. As soon as I got there I was throwing and couldn’t hit a spot: I was thinking wow great here we go again. Then all of a sudden I was in the game and it just seemed like everything slowed to almost a stop the batter the fans and everything seemed to fade, I was zoned just me and the catcher; it was like playing toss and it felt like I was barely throwing, but after each inning when I walked in the dugout no one would talk to me. We were winning 11-0 going into the 5th inning enough for a run rule in High School. I walk out there and I start pitching and I strike the first two kids out like it was nothing; just like I had all that day. Then the last batter of the game came up; ball one I didn’t know then but that was the first ball I threw the whole game. Then ball two, ball three I also didn’t know that I was throwing a perfect game at this point it all hit me at once out there. I tried to get back to where I was before, but the next pitch I hit him in the back. He was the first and only person to reach the base the whole game, and ever since then I have hit at least one kid each time I have pitched. The next batter stepped up and I struck him out in three straight pitches. That was the game I threw a no hitter and was perfect for four and two thirds innings. I had done it I proved myself to the coaches from that point on I dominated in school ball, no one could touch what I was throwing. I continued on that year too throw one more no hitter and three one hit shutouts.

At the end of that season I finished with the best ERA on the team; I also pitched the most innings. I had an ERA of 1.21 and since that day I started fixing my mechanics and threw the no hitter I only gave up one more run the rest of the season. The little bit of work of two things to do every day got me to know my mechanics and repeat them over and over without fail. Before that game I didn’t really care and didn’t think I was into baseball as much but then I mad the Ohio Bulldogs as a starting pitcher we finished 3rd best in the state and 17th in the nation we were unstoppable we won a 17u tournament as 15 year olds all of our pitcher averaged mid 70s and I was averaging high 70s low 80s. This shows that hard work pays off I go from being a bench warmer to a starter for one of the best teams in my state and top 20 in the country.