Zack Lingard: The Person Who Changed My Life

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

It was a hot summer day in Hammond, Louisiana and I was pouring down sweat like I had just jumped in a pool. The game was just about to begin, me and my team was eagle eyeing the bomb squad. It was so quiet that you could hear your own sweat hitting the bench. The umpire broke up everyone’s concentration by saying, “play ball”! The defense had ran out on the field and I started rolling ground balls from 2nd to short-stop to third base. They had all made good throws back to me and then I threw the ball into the dug-out because the game had begun.

It wasn’t that long ago when I became in love with the game of baseball. I still remember the day that my neighbor met me outside in the front yard just as we always did. It has been approximately two years ever since that Friday after school he asked me if I want to go to a Angel’s baseball game. I decided to go nothing better to do that day, when I got there it was such a rush seeing all the people that came to watch a baseball game. I followed my neighbor down the line, eagerly I waited to try to obtain a baseball players autograph. My friend gave me a baseball to try to get autographed, and later that day I luckily got my first baseball players autograph. His name was Dino Ebel the bench coach for the Angels,

Since the age of four my father has trained me to be the best baseball player I can be. Every single day my dad would practice with me. He would make me do drills and plays until I got them right. Due to my father’s commitment of making me a great baseball player, we won three championships: two in Little

Finally the time was here to play some Baseball. No one had seen how fast the pitcher pitched the ball because I was the only one at practice. Anyway I was the second one who was going up to bat but my team was in the field first so I kinda got some time to see how they play. But we had a really good pitcher so it was 1, 2, 3, strikes it was time for us to bat.

I came home one day to see both of my parents sad. As a third grader, I didn’t completely understand at the time, but my father had been laid off from the job he’d had since his teenage years. My father had started at the age of eighteen as a student worker at Southern Miss, and after years of hard work he had been promoted to the manager of shipping and receiving on campus. When the recession struck, the need to save money resulted in his position being terminated. My father was without a job. My father loved that job and when he lost it, he changed. He found a new love, alcohol. He let his love for alcohol become an addiction. He would do anything for alcohol; he even had secret stashes when my mom had removed all the prior alcohol from the house. Quickly my father became a violent drunk and began to routinely beat my mother and me. He became unstoppable; no person could get him back on track so my mother, in an attempt to keep me safe, removed him from the house. Even my mother’s best efforts weren’t always enough, as my father constantly broke into our house. One day my mother and I came home and my father was waiting in our den with a gun. We walked in, he pointed the gun at us, and then back at himself. He couldn’t decide to kill my mother, himself, or just all of us. He had more hatred in his eyes

I click my cleats with my bat and dig a hole in the batter's box and stair at the pitcher. The pitch comes in slow almost in slow motion. I swing as hard as can. I hear the crack of the bat and I see the ball fly over the fence. I can't believe it. I never thought in a million years I would ever hit a homerun. I hear my teammates screaming. I round first, I'm almost at second when the shock wears off and I realize that I just won the game. A huge smile crosses my face as I round third and head for home. I get closer and closer to home. I stomp on home. Then before I know it the lights go out.

Last time I talked about it’s about a boy, and his name is Terry. He is 14 years old and lives in Cleveland, Ohio. He lives in an old white house at the end of a cracked bumpy road and is the only home on that block. Terry’s parents didn’t really care about what he did. His dad is a mechanical and a carpenter. I really don’t know what Terry’s mom does, but all I know is they go on business trips in the U.S. He has a routine going to work mowing lawns, goes home to eat, and goes to bed. Except one day when he woke up it was quiet and his parents got in a

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

Nothing beat the overwhelming emotion of stepping up on the pitcher’s mound and hearing the chant of my name, my heart clawing its way out of my chest. Before throwing the first warmup pitch, my mind raced through the entire season. How, as a team, we have made history winning all three major tournaments in the high school level. We had beaten many top competitors and lost plenty crushing defeats as well. My mind pondered, which situation will I be in today, glorious victory or destructive loss. This is the feeling I lived for during high school, it was my sole purpose. However, this was merely one minute of that fateful day in which I played prodigiously trying to win a baseball game.

THE Mom was ready for New Year's in New York City then the phone started to ring . It was my best friend Zack and he said meet up at his house . I told my mom catch you later and she said be back here before New Year's then im' off . I'm pulling up at Zack house, then the entire gang was there . Zack the brains , Tyler the horrify , Jordan was the wise and martin, was the tools .Zack said the biggest dare ever is about to begin and I said yes and we're off. When we arrived there we were at the ancient house on Maple street. No one has been on this street for years . I told the gang what are we

The tigers have been playing a lot longer than we all have, we lined up, I was the first on to bat. He pitch STRIKE 1, he pitched again, I swung my hardest… and… SMACK the ball kept growing higher and longer HOMERUN!! The crowd went wild! We hit the first point of the game. Next it was Jimmy, Jimmy always hit higher and longer home runs than me. As Jimmy went up to bat, the pitcher pitch and.. SMACK! It went really high and came down right over the fence. The hooper redbirds were in the lead with two home runs and no outs. ¨man this going to be an easy game¨ I said while watching the game next up Johnpaul he was the bet batter and catcher on our team, every home run he gets he gets 5$ from his parents. As he walked up to bat I was thinking ¨we have to win this game so i can stay on the team¨ he pitch BAM! Flew into the outfield and out of the arena!

I was playing center field waiting for those flying balls to come straight at me so I could catch them to get the players out. The girl that was batting hit the ball so hard that it sounded like she broke the bat. The ball was about thirty feet in the air and I shuffled backwards to see if it was going behind me sure enough it was. I sped up my speed to keep in sync with the ball, I put my glove out in front of my face and with a lot of force the ball landed right in the glove. The crowds started to cheer, and so did my team mates. I threw the ball to second base and got the runner out on a double play. The crowds cheered and roared with excitement. The game passed quickly, and we were in the last inning. Our team was the last to bat. The bases were fully loaded. The crowd cheered for a beautiful hit. It was now my turn to bat. My chance to show everyone that I improved. As I was walking my team mate shouted, “You got this, Andre!”. Then all of a sudden everyone started to chant and scream my nick name. This brought tears to my eyes because they all believed in

That morning I woke up on the second week of summer, ready for my championship baseball game against Portsmouth. Our U11 all star team sat in second place in the tournament going into the championship against the number one seed Portsmouth Eagles. The whole day leading to the game, all I could think about was the game, not even the amazing apple pie my mom made because my sister begged for it.

It was a fun day in New York at Yankees stadium The Home team (My favorite baseball team) the New York Yankees were up against the Toronto Blue Jays. I was wearing my Aaron Judge shirt sitting in my seat when the game started the first two innings was scoreless. Second, Aaron Judge comes up with two guys on base and hits a double scoring both runs. Then, I look at the jumbotron and see Aaron’s calm smiling face. The next few innings was intense the Yankees and the Blue Jays battle for the lead. Next, the seventh inning stretch comes around and we all rise from our seats and sing.