It was a warm, humid Saturday night and it was the championship game. The field was located near the water so there was a nice breeze of air every now and then. The game was tied 4-4 in the 9th inning. Man on 1st and 3rd. I was playing first base and I was holding the runner with 1 out. Tensions were high. “One out, turn two!” Yells the shortstop. There wasn’t much hope of getting out of this jam because the other team had someone in scoring position but it seemed that our only way of getting out of this quickly and smoothly was if we managed to turn a double play. It is an 0-2 count on the batter. Zero balls, and two strikes. Our closing pitcher was on the mound and he threw a first-pitch fastball for a strike and a second-pitch curveball in the dirt that got him to chase. As the batter steps in the box for the third time, our pitcher looks at the 1st base runner. I wasn’t too sure whether the first base runner was gonna attempt to steal second or not but I kept my alertness up. Even if he did, it wouldn’t matter because it’s very risky to try to throw the runner out at second while there’s already a man on third because the man on third would run home while the ball is soaring in the air. The pitcher gets set and goes into his windup and throws the ball. “BANG!” A hard ground ball comes rolling at me at high speeds. I pick it and throw it as hard as I can to second base in order to turn a double play. It was a hard, accurate throw and I got the runner. I rushed to first base to complete the double play, as I was rushing back to the bag I could feel my heart racing. I was ready for anything. The second baseman whips the ball to me and it’s a lousy but hard throw. I had to stretch my legs and arms all the way out because the ball was thrown so inaccurately. The ball drops in the dirt before it reaches me and I attempt to pick it up but it hits an awkward part of my glove and it flies in the air for a second or two. Luckily, the ball doesn’t jump behind me. Instead, the ball jumps up in front of me and I snag it out of the air with my bare hand. “Out!” Says the umpire. My heart was beating so hard because I thought I missed the scoop and that would’ve blown the game if I missed it. But thankfully, I didn’t. As i’m walking back towards the dugout, I feel a pat on my shoulder and I hear my coach saying, “Nice save, you got lucky that ball didn’t jump away from you. We owe you one though. Nice job!” I turn my head around smiling and I respond with, “Thanks, I’m actually shocked that the ball didn’t go flying behind ‘cause that would’ve sent us all home.” My coach nods at me chuckling and saying “Yeah well, your a life saver if anything.” 

 

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After my little chat with my coach, I put my glove down and I sit on the bench. My heart was still pounding. “How did you even manage to recover from that Connor? I say to myself in my head. “I don’t even know how. Probably never ever gonna get that lucky again in my life when it comes to this sport. The fact that the ball didn’t fly behind me, instead, it somehow stayed infront of me, is a miracle to say the least.” After that play, I continued to move on with the pace of the game. I get my batting gloves on because soon, I’ll be batting, and I put my helmet on too. After a little more time goes by. I think about how fortunate I am. Never in my life, have I seen or experienced a more luckier play than that. Guess I got pretty good luck because if that play went south, me and my whole team woud’ve been driving back home already because the team wouldn’ve won due to the error that could have been made.