I 'm Pretty Hungry Thanks

I walked up to home plate nervous because my grandfather was in the stands watching for the first time, but I took a deep breath, tightened my grip on the bat, and stepped into the batter’s box. The pitcher looked at me and smiled he had to think I was going to be easy, but I wasn’t going to give in without fight. He took a quick glance at the runner on second, and boom the fast ball came in so fast I didn’t even know he threw it. Now I was shaking. The pitcher had the upper hand, but I looked at my dad who with his eyes said to me “you can do this” so once again I took a deep breath, tightened my grip, and stepped back into the batter’s box. The pitcher throws the ball hard as I load up and swing hard, but the ball curves

This inning was the spark of our lead, for we scored a couple more runs, but the game was not even close to over. For they could easily make a comeback.. Their team was breaking down both physically and mentally. However one baseball game would not exhaust me, for I practiced hours of pitching, batting, and baserunning. With the game , and it’s natural whizzing by, I was actually startled while taking the mound in the bottom of the sixth inning, but then again, my hard work paid off, feeling as fresh and as controlled as the beginning. I was facing the top of the lineup, which means the best players on the other team. The first batter I struck out with a breeze. The second, not so much. I had to bust out my wicked curveball on a full count to make him take a seat on the bench. Next up was their best player. I reared back and fired the ball as hard as I could. “Strike one!” called the ump, the sound muffled by the sound of the glove. The next pitch, a curve was thrown, him chasing the ball which leads to strike two. The next pitch, I knew I had to give everything I had, and upon firing the ball at a high rate of fire, the glorious glove came in contact with the ball, ending the game then and there. After the ceremony we partied, using water instead of champagne. The whole team went to a burger restaurant, and laughed and ate

It took me three times to get use to riding a bike and after I got it down, we decided to head out down the block to Independence park on the bikes. This was the only park in the city that had a mix of a skate park and traditional park. We would usually hang out in the playground since we did not skate. When we got to front of the park we set our bikes down by a wooden fence that separated the grass area and parking lot. Isabel and Bianca had rushed out to the swings and I did some snooping around the park. I was always curious about my surroundings when I went out since I did not have that luxury to be out or play when I would have wanted to. I loved taking in the scenery, the beauty of the nature, and the flowers. They were my favorite thing about visiting Independence park. I was walking around this fence that surrounded the playground until I had reached the restrooms. I noticed this huge brown paper bag sitting on this phone booth. I was secretly freaking out cause I was curious to what was inside. My mom had always told me not be a traviesa (naughty) and that I should never touch what doesn’t belong to me so I rushed off to Isabel and Bianca to tell them about the bag. I figured I needed some partners in crime for this. When I got to the swings I was very out of breath I was a pretty chubby kid growing up, but that still did not stop me from running, I enjoyed it a lot actually. As gathered myself together and took in a deep breath Isabel yelled, “What is it? Why are you running so fast?” I looked up to her and said, “There is a brown on phone booth just sitting there. It’s so strange no one is here at the park and it is just there. Why?” She gave me a look as if I had said the most uninteresting thing on the planet and continued to say, “Okay? Why does this

In between high season and travel ball season my dad has been trying to build up my confidence. Which back to the story in Alabama, something is tugging on my arm. It’s not going to well but I’m trying. New team, new coach, and new competition. Explosion are half way into the season, it’s July 16, 2016. The tournament was at Clearmont, IN. I get to the field and heard that we were playing the team that my friend from my high school team, Ellie Hulwager, a girl that is short with dirty blonde hair, with noticeable blue eyes. She plays for the Aftershock, a team that I tried out for that didn’t give me a second look, Ellie pitches for the team and also plays center field. It’s game time I get to the field, all the teams go out for the coin toss. Aftershock calls heads, it lands on heads, after conversation with the coach the player says,”We’ll take home.” The teams run back into their dugouts and we grab our helmets and bats. Looking at the lineup, I look for my spot, fourth. I sit on the bench and talk to my teammates, not paying attention to the game, I heard someone yell,”Katie, your up.” I shoot up and throw my gloves and helmet on and grab my black and red, thirty-three inch bat. I step in the batters box, I look around, bases loaded. I didn’t think anything of it. The pitcher isn’t Ellie, she winds up and the pitch comes, it’s low and out side, I hit the ball and I’m at a dead sprint to first. I looked at my

“Yea, I know. I love that I can probably fall on the floor in this place and no will seem to even notice or care for that matter.”

lukas k//After school I hung around with my friends until baseball practice at 4:30. until baseball practice. At baseball practice we practice and fielding and hitting.after baseball practice me and my friend Max walked back to his house, after baseball practice me and my friend Max Walked back to his house, because it's only five blocks away.we hung out and rode bike for a couple hours until my dad pick me up. When my dad picked me up, he informed me that I could babysit. my dad picked me up, he informed me that I could babysit. After thinking about it, I said “yes”. He brought me to McDonald's, then to Shanes. The person I babysit for. After babysitting until 330. I went home, took a shower and went to bed. The next morning I got up at

I told myself, "come on Lina you can do it," next thing I knew it was two strikes and three balls. it's now or never Lina strike three the ball was over the fence and into the street but it was as if it turned around and headed right for me I put my glove up and felt something hard hit my hand I caught the ball but it was already too late the girl already hit a grand slam(she got four people in including herself)my eyes started burning I tried to hold them back some very strange back but I felt something sliding down my cheek I ran into the dugout and I could not stop my feet. I got to my mom I held her like there was no going back, all I felt was a warm body hugging me. I slowly looked up and cried "I don't want to play I disappointed my hole team."

It was a cold, windy afternoon a couple days before we were leaving to fly down to Florida. I was so thrilled to get away from the bitter Midwest. I was thinking in my room and thought about heading to Toronto Blue Jays game over the summer to see my favorite player, Jose Bautista. Jose Bautista has been one of my favorite players for a couple years, and I just really wanted to see him in person. I asked my mom about heading to one and she actually looked up a game to go to, but for Spring Training. It turns out that we found there Spring Training ballpark was just a little over two hours from where we were staying the Florida. My mom and I talked more and more about going to a game, and then it turned out that my mom purchased us each a ticket

I haven’t been able to sleep for the past month. I hear my door creak and I look at the door. I see someone open the door very slowly before coming in. I look to see Maria tiptoeing into my room. “What are you doing?” I ask “You know your mom would kill me if she saw us.”

It was 9 a.m. and my mom barged into my room. She turned on my light and told me to get ready. The light hit my face forcing me to wake up. I could hear my mom and dad packing and loading our luggage into our truck. Today’s the day, I thought, Today was my last softball tournament for at least 4 months. I got that same feeling that I get when you go down the first arch on a roller coaster in my stomach. This happens every time I have a tournament or game. My stomach flips and I get butterflies in my stomach. I get nervous to make a mistake, make everyone mad, and frustrate everyone, especially my family. My anxiety consumes me and I get so nervous when the ball comes to me that my heart starts racing. I don’t want to be the one to let everyone down. But I’ve been getting better at not being scared. I’ve been trying to believe in myself more and have been overcoming my fear. I put my thoughts aside and got up, brushed my teeth, put my contacts on, washed my face, and got my uniform on. I brushed my my hair, put it in a ponytail and got some gel to slick back my hair. The gel felt like slime as I slicked it back on my hair, and I put my bow on. I went to my room to get my sweatband and was debating on what color I should wear to match my uniform. I decided to bring both of my headbands and decide which one I should wear today on the ride over to the ballpark. I got my bag that I had packed yesterday, double checked that I had everything I

I was having a better than average game, throwing a few people out from centerfield, but nothing more than anyone expected out of me. While up to bat I had a couple hits and a few bunts. With extreme focus and excitement, my team and I found ourselves in the top of the seventh inning, tied ball game. At the end of our lineup, we were still excited especially after getting two girls on base. I was up next. This is the opportunity I had hoped for. The pitcher set up and began her windup… foul ball. And again, kicking her arm back and bringing it full circle delivered me an outside curve ball… ball one. Count of 1-1 and we were both feeling confident. Coach called me over to him for a quick pep talk he leaned over and said, “Shupe, how ‘bout you come up big this at bat, I want to see you go yard one more time.” The last ball ever thrown to me by the scary Albany Alexander pitcher, the sweet sound of the ball coming off the bat rang in my ears. I had hit the ball on the sweetest part of the bat and the sweetest feeling in the world was upon me. Going, going, gone! The ball soared over the left field fence. I began my homerun trot and could not help but wear an immense grin on my face. Rounding third, I saw my team jumping, screaming, cheering, and crying all waiting there at home plate to congratulate me. The most outstanding feeling in the world, making my team proud. I thrived under the pressure and it had never felt so good. But, we had to stay humble. We still had the bottom half of the inning to play. One, two, and three batters up, three batters out. We won! I felt so humbled by all the kind words my fellow teammates showered me with after the victory. It was as if I had won us the World Series. On the bus ride home we were lead back into West Portsmouth by fire trucks to help us celebrate the big win. Arriving back to the softball field where our cars were parked, I was

My mom said we were going to the game, but the way she looked at me just did not feel right. I did not think we were going watch his boss's daughter play softball. We got into the van and left the parking lot to our hotel. We were not even driving for ten minutes before we stopped again, and it was not at a softball field. They lied. It was another parking lot, but we had to pay to park in this one. After we paid for parking, we turned a curve, and a big, blue, black, and white sign caught all of our attention. The kids screamed , Timothy and I screamed, we all screamed. We pulled into Sea World. None of us had ever been to Sea World, and we could not wait. The parking lot was so packed you could barely find a spot, but we got lucky and found one open spot. We raced each other out of the van, and even got into trouble because, "That is not how you behaved in public!" Those were mom's favorite words to say to us, but we were truly excited

“Yeah, that’d be great. If you wanna sit on my lap, that’d be even better."

A month ago, the Desert Hot Springs High, Soccer Girls, and myself when on a hike. There were about fifteen girls. We all started hiking up the hills together, but there was a moment where a one of the girls was left behind. I noticed so I stopped, turned around, and walking over to where she was at to see if she was okay. When I got to her, I asked her if she was okay, and she said to me “I can’t do this anymore, it’s too much. My legs hurt. I’m very tired just leave without me. I’ll walk back down by myself”, but I didn’t leave her side. I stayed with her until she was ready to continue going up the hill. As we were walking up, I was motivating her, so she can making it to the top of the hill. I didn’t let her give up on herself. There were

When I rose from my deep slumber, we were halfway home and my dad was talking with my mom on the phone, so I decided that it would be amusing if I pretended that I was asleep and listened to their conversation. I deliberately realized that their conversation was about me. I gradually started to wonder what they could possibly be talking about that was so important, so I was still and listened as closely as possible. Then I heard it the only word that I didn’t want to hear. Sports. I started to become anxious and fearful as I started to wonder what they wanted to do with sports, and why they were talking specifically about me. My sister did plenty of sports too. My dad hung up the phone and I finally decided that it was time to open up my eyes. When I did open them up my dad glanced over at me and said, “Anna we need to talk.”