Leaving the Park In the spring of my seventh grade year, I exercised my final season of eligibility of little league baseball. Just avoiding the cutoff date by a week, I would be one of the few thirteen year olds to take the field. It would also be my first year of making the all – star team, a goal I had since I had first entered the major league division of Shaker Valley Little League three years prior. As a starting pitcher, I was pretty confident that I would finally get the chance to show the the league that I had deserved to make the roster. After a season of playing fairly well, I had earned my spot.…
I knew I had to play great this year if I wanted to play college ball somewhere. Coach Joe said he knew I was going to be able to play baseball on the next level and I started to believe him. The day before my first game I broke my ankle playing basketball in gym. I dropped to the floor in pain tears in my years. I had someone help me to the nurse’s office she called my mom and told her I need to go to the hospital right away.…
My Story “You wouldn’t believe you if I said it, but I’m looking in the mirror smiling at myself right now”. This was the remark I received from the head coach of Miami baseball when I committed to play baseball at Miami University. It was not an easy road for me to get to become a Division 1 athlete here at Miami. I have always dreamed of playing college baseball and hopefully professional baseball, but my story to get me this far is one that is quite complicated. Sophomore year of high school is where I will start “my story” on how I came to be a Redhawk.…
I would practice with my dad often so that I could get better. Then I continued with softball all the way through elementary school and middle school. Two summers ago the Stillwater softball team was starting to fall apart and more girls were deciding to leave and go to a different team or play a different sport. So all that was…
We make it to state in Appleton. Our first game we play is against Marathon. We didn’t hear much about this team other than they had a lefty pitcher who threw low to mid 80 miles per hour, which is relatively fast for high school baseball. We got into the 6th inning, and we are ahead 12-2. The coaches tell Alex that he needs to get ready to pitch, which also means that I need to get my arm loose to play second base.…
A field doesn’t care who you are or what you have done. It just wants you to play the game you love. And that was exactly what I planned to do for the rest of my life. I planned to play softball in college, and work my self up to the U.S.A. Team, but that dream ended my junior year of high school.…
The weekend before I had made a deal with my dad that if I got a honest home run I would be aloud to get my second ear piercing. As I glanced at my parents I was getting more nervous. When the batter in front of me got walked I asked myself, ‘What if you don’t get a pitch that you can hit?’ All my fate was resting in her hands. All my fate was resting in that pitchers hands.…
I was the one the team looked forward to scoring the runs and winning the games. Only being eight years old, and my teammates and our fans counting on me put more than enough pressure on me; so much I could not handle it sometimes. I remember being up to bat the bases were loaded, and there was two outs. We was down by one run, I had the chance to win the game. My daddy had pulled me to the side, and said, “You are going to have a chance to win this game, believe in yourself, and you can do it.” Getting in the box, I was scared to death.…
Jimmy Rutland, McCutchen AAU coach took him in as he was one of his sons because of financial difficulties at home. “Long time big leaguer LaTroy Hawkins said it directly: Baseball in the United States has become a sport for the rich” (Keown, Pg.2). What he means by that is if you want to be seen by college coaches and get that exposure to play at the next level like college ball. Pay to play what they call it, parents are willing to pay the price that 700-1000 dollars a year or extra so their child can get that exposure to colleges. That…
I found myself in a predicament during my junior year baseball season. I was the starting shortstop. One early May day our coach decided to bench his best player and start his backup. Consequently, we lost the game I waited to have a one-on-one talk with my coach. I questioned why he benched me.…