Story #24: Down By One

Down by 1

     Today was the last game for our softball team for State in Peoria. We were all very

nervous so we got out our Ipod dock and started playing catch and jamming to music

to get us pumped up and ready. We were in the championship game of the 2012 NSA

State. Which means National Softball Association, which is really an exciting thing to

go to. I’m the pitcher on our team and my name is Caylee and I am the one who is

going to pitch in the last game so I was extra nervous. My best friend on the team is

named Emily and she is our shortstop.

     The game started and we were all played really good every pitch I threw I was

confident about except my rise ball. In the 5th inning I threw a rise ball and this big girl

took that one all the way over the fence, which made the score us 7 them 6. While she

was running around the bases Emily came up to me and said,

“Hey, it’s alright get the next one. You have a good defense behind you and we got

your back so you just do your thing.” When she said that I thought to myself, alright I

got this, we got this, just pitch just like in practice.

     I said back to her, “Alright thanks.”

     I absolutely hate it when people hit a home run off of me because that means I wasn’t

doing my job. The next pitch I threw the girl bunted it and our third baseman fielded it

and threw it to first and we got her out, but the girl at 3rd scored so it was a one point

game. In the process of throwing the ball our third baseman, liz twisted her ankle.

     Which wasn’t good we really needed her for hitting and fielding. It was the 6th inning

now and we had good hits they were just right to them so we were out in the field again.

I yelled, “two outs go one, outies go two.” So that everyone knew where they were

going with the ball. After I said that our coach came out to have a time out just to talk to

us and calm us down because we had a girl at third base and at second. The next

pitch I threw was a curveball and she hit it and our outfielder dove, and it ticked her

glove but she didn’t catch it. The two girls on second and third scored, but we did get

the girl at second that hit the ball so that was good. Now the score was 7 us 8 them.

This was our last chance to score since we were the visiting team. When everyone

was in the dugout to get ready to bat our coach came over.

     He said, “Girls this is our last chance to score, so let’s go and score some runs so we

can win this game!” We were all excited now, the only bad thing was that we were in

the bottom of our line up. The first girl hit a nice hit, but the center fielder caught it, it

was a really good catch though. So that was one our and all I could think in my head

was, just get on base and I kept thinking that over and over. The next girl struck out,

but she had a good at bat and fouled a lot of balls off. I was on deck now with one out

so I will bat no matter what. The girl in front of me walked so we finally have a girl on

base. Before I stepped in the box my coached yelled over at me.

     “Caylee find your pitch and rip it.”

      I was kind of nervous, but at the same time I was excited. So I stepped in the box and I

was shaking like crazy. The first pitch I swung at and missed it because it was a

change up so I was way in front of it. The next pitch I was ready for and had a line

drive right in between the center fielder and the left fielder. It went all the way to the

fence and the girl on first ran, and she got to third and started running home. The

outfielder threw it all the way home and got her out it was such a close call. We were

all really depressed that we lost, but we played a good game and we still got second.

So we all gave the other team high fives and told them good game. Then we all got

pictures with our trophy and coaches and did some funny pictures. Before we all left

we did a little powwow and our coach did a little speech he always does.

     He said, “you girls had a really good game and i’m so proud to be your coach. Just

never give up on anything and do your best always. Keep working and next year when

we come we are gonna beat that team, because I know we can.”

     The End