It was a warm sunny day in Fort Myers, Florida when I came running out of the bullpen. To be honest, I don’t even remember getting to the pitcher’s mound. This was my first ever pitching appearance as a college baseball player.
I had pitched a lot of games in the past, whether it be high school or travel ball, but have never been this nervous. I was standing on the pitcher’s mound looking around to assess the situation and see where the runners were. It turns out that there were runners on first and second base with only one out. As a pitcher, they always tell you to focus on the runners along with the batter, but at this point, all I could really control was my matchup with the batter.
We were playing a very talented Eastern Connecticut State team that could hit really well. We were down seven runs in the sixth inning and the game was all but over. I wanted to make a statement to my teammates, coaches, and most importantly, myself that I could pitch at this level. I got set to throw the first pitch of the at bat and I checked both runners. They took a step off the base but did not try to steal. As I reached the top of my pitching delivery, I let go of the baseball and fired a pitch.
“Strike One”, hollered the home plate umpire.“Okay” I said to myself, “I got ahead of the batter with strike one, now all I need to do is throw this pitch near the plate or on the outside corner”.
I did just that. This time however, the batter made solid contact. The ball was screaming right at me. Next, I heard a loud crack and looked down to see the baseball sitting in the webbing of my glove. Not knowing how the hell I caught the ball, I turned toward second base and hurled the ball at the shortstop who was standing on top of the base. I doubled off the runner and the inning was over!
I ran back to the dugout with my teammates and coaches waiting for me to give me high fives and fist bumps. I was told great job by numerous people and I felt a sense of accomplishment. I had only thrown two pitches but in the end, I did my job and did not allow the run to score.
As I sat down on the bench I could not stop smiling because I knew how hard I had worked to get to this point. I had been told by other college programs that I was too short or threw too slow to play for them, but deep down I knew I could do it. At this moment I thought to myself, “I just proved a ton of people wrong and I could not be happier.” Even though I had a nice bruise on my hand to remember the occasion, I could never forget that day because I had become a college baseball player.