Home Run

Chapter 1

I took my batting stance and locked my eyes on the pitcher, a girl my age, blonde hair and a determined look in her dark eyes. Taking a deep breath a scanned the field, committing to memory the positions of all the members of the opposite team. I could see an opening between second and third base, where a girl that was standing there had carelessly positioned herself in a way that would make it harder for her to catch the ball if i hit it correctly. 

"You can do it Lexi! one more point and we win!" yelled one of my team mates from the sidelines. Today was our last game, and if we won it would mean that we would win the overall five day competition. So as i heard my team cheering me on and silently praying that i would make my last hit count, i tried not to think about the pressure that i was under and tried to only think about the ball that ws about to head towards me.

The pitcher threw the ball towards me and i swung with all my might, hitting the ball in the direction that i wanted it to go. As soon as i saw the girl running after the ball i dropped the bat and ran as fast as i could towards first base, stepping on then off the base and running towards second i saw that the girl had picked up the ball and was ready to throw it towards third base. I stepped on and off the second base rushing towards third while still keeping my eye on the ball, as soon as i stepped off the third base i heard from behind me the sound of the ball getting caught and the yell from the catcher telling her team mate to throw her the ball. i ran faster, my team mates cheering me on but at the same time having worried looks on their faces. The home base was so close to me that i could almost touch it, but at that moment i saw the ball flying towards the catcher, so i did the only thing i could and jumped fowards, reaching out with my hand. At the same exact moment that my hand touched the base i saw the catcher catch the ball and touch me with it. 

The whole field stood silent holding their breaths, even the crowd watching from the bleachers had stopped their cheering and chanting for their favourite team. Standing up and dusting off my pants then taking the helmet off my head i began walking towards my team while reaching down to pick up my bat on the way. The game was over but no one knew who won, i glanced over towards my coach, who was in a heated discussion with the umpire and the other teams coach. I couldn't hear what the were saying but i could see hands flying about and what i thought were swear words. 

"attention everyone" yelled the umpire and everyone immediately turned to look in his direction. "i have come to a conclusion after talking to the two coaches, and my decision was that the winning team is" he pauses for dramatic effect but all i wanted to do at the moment was punch his smiling face, the umpire looks around the field, at all the players and then the crowd, taking his time. "is the... Roosevelt tigers!" i groaned in defeat, my team lost because of me. 

"Hey cheer up, its not the end of the world!" my best friend olivia said, coming up to me and draping her arm over my shoulder. i could hear the other team cheering, and it made me feel worse. i sighed and lifted my head and looking at my team mates, they were looking back at me but instead of seeing the dissapointed or angry expressions on their faces i saw small smiles. I was confused, not understanding why they would smile after i made them lose, and as one by one each of them came up to me and hugged me i was even more confused.

"Lexi you are a great captain, without you we wouldn't even be here, you believed in us when even our school didn't! so who cares if we lost there will be other games, but look at where we are! a five day state competition between all the best schools in the state and we almost won!" Amanda, another of my team mates grinned at me. after the words were out of her mouth, murmours of agreement were heard from the rest of the team which gradually turned into positive and cheerful agreements.