Ball game

Extract

[...] We even had to come back from a 9-0 deficit because our starting pitcher walked 6 guys in a row with an unprecedented 26 balls thrown in a row. Obviously, my level of excitement does not compare to a home run to win the World Series, but I did get a sip from the cup those guys drank from. Could we still have won if I had missed that ball? Yes. Was this an important game? No. And even though the score would have only been tied if that ball bounced to the fence, I was still filled with the feeling that my game [...]

[...] Hey let's get in this dug-out!” The game started. Beula ballplayers were not quite of the same caliber we had seen before playing Elmore County or Trinity (4A's). Chris Hussar was pitching a great game and in the third inning with the score tied I got a sacrifice fly to bring in Charlie. The game went along seemingly quickly. I also scored on a passed ball in the fifth, getting a ‘Atta boy Keith!” from coach and high fives from the team. [...]

[...] Ball game What is it about baseball? No other sport can get inside you the way it does. America's past-time is America's past-time because baseball just contains different aspects of strength, strategy, and excitement which other sports simply lack. What is it that lets this game get inside you? There's something about the grass, the feel of a glove, the crisp sound made after perfect contact is made with the perfect swing, the game's history, the game's genius and magnitude that makes a unnamed emotion in everyone. [...]