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“What? Me?” I said, trying to swallow past the lump in my throat.
I don’t know why Coach would pick me to take Eli’s place as pitcher. It’s not like I’m a great baseball player. Heck, I’m not even the player that can hit the ball occasionally. Instead, I’m the worst player on the team. Now, he wants me to pitch at the end of the most important game of the year!
“You can do it, Caleb. You’ve been practicing really hard,” Coach said, but I knew what he really meant. I’m the only one they can afford to take off the field.
But Coach was right. I have been practicing. I don’t think it has helped me get any better though. Every time the ball comes my way, I miss no matter what position I’m playing. He can’t really think that’s getting better.
I looked around the field. The other team is only down by two with one out, with bases loaded. The only hope we had was for Eli to strike them out, but he hurt his arm and can’t play. I’ll be lucky to get the ball to the batter.
I didn’t look for signals from the catcher before I pitched my first ball. I just took a deep breath, tried to stop my hands from shaking, and threw the ball hoping for the best.
“Ball!” the umpire called.
My pitch was so far off that the catcher had to chase the ball. This gave the player on third a chance to run home, and he took it.
I took another deep breath and threw the ball again. The ball actually got close enough for the batter to hit it, but he had to reach for it. Only hitting it with the end of the bat, the ball stayed low to the ground.
Everything happened so fast. The ball flew around the bases faster than I could keep up. I had no idea what was going on. I looked over at Eric for a sign, but he took his glove off and threw it on the ground. That was not what I wanted to see. Eric never took his glove off unless he was up to bat, or the game was over.
My eyes scanned the field. The other players were throwing their gloves in the air. We must have won, I thought. Not because of me, of course. I didn’t do anything.
“Great team work,” Coach said. “I knew you could do it, Caleb,” he added patting me on the back.
“That was some wild pitching,” Eric said, teasing. “Good thing the batter hit it though. I don’t think we could have had a triple play with any other pitch.”
“Yeah, the other team just couldn’t beat the ball to the bases.” Eli added. “At least we didn’t have to forfeit like I thought we were going to have too.”
“Why would we have to forfeit?” I asked.
“No pitcher,” Eli answered.
Right then I realized I did help them win. If I wouldn’t have pitched, they would have lost for sure. It didn’t even matter that I wasn’t very good. I was still an important player, and every player counted. I actually felt like part of the team now.
By next year, I should be better, I thought. And for the first time, I was sad the season was over.
“You want to practice tomorrow?” I asked Eric, and he looked at me confused. “Have to be ready for next year.”
Eric nodded in agreement and laughed.
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