Tonight was my first game of my professional career. I was so excited I could barely sit still. We left Bluefield today around 10 am and arrived in Elizabethton, Tennessee around 12:30. We checked into our hotel, which is like a 5 star luxury hotel compared to where we live in Bluefield, and then we were free to get something to eat.
The bus left the hotel at 3 with all the pitchers and the hitters bus left at 4. The pitchers got to the field and stretched, ran, and threw. Once the hitters got there, they stretched, threw and then took Batting Practice. The pitchers shagged BP. After I was done shagging, I went back into the locker room with all the other pitchers to change out of our Batting practice jerseys and into our game jerseys. We had to be out of the locker room 15 minutes prior to game time.
Our first round stud was pitching tonight and he was dominating to say the least. He sat 93-95 and hit 97 a handful of times. He is going to be in the big leagues in a couple years. He only threw 4 innings due to a pitch count and then we went to a lefty. The lefty threw 3 great innings, but scuffled in the third. We were ahead 5-1 going into his fourth inning and it looked like he just hit a wall. He allowed 4 runs in the eighth inning and then was taken out with runners on first and second with 1 out...
That's when I came in...I was not expecting to pitch, but when coach told me to get loose, my adrenaline started pumping. I took 5 warmup pitches in the bullpen and I was ready to go. They called me in and in I went..
After my warmup pitches on the game mound, I stepped back and took a deep breath. I gathered my thoughts and went to work. The first batter was a right handed hitter. I started him off with a fastball that was called a ball, but could have gone either way. The next pitch, I threw a fastball that the guy swung through. It was 1-1 and I threw another fastball away that he looked at for a strike. It was now 1-2...I threw a slider down and away that he had no chance of touching. He tried to check his swing, but it was too late. The umpire called him out which the batter did not agree with and let the umpire know it. The hitter was thrown out of the game in the blink of an eye!
The second hitter was a lefty. I started him off with a fastball away that was a called strike. The next pitch was a fastball in that he fouled off. The count was now 0-2. I threw a slider on his back foot that he swung threw for strike three. The catcher blocked it and it bounced right in front of the hitter. The hitter started running toward first and accidentally kicked the ball...I thought he should have been called out for interference, but he wasn't. He reached first safely and now the bases were loaded with 2 outs instead of the inning being over!
I could not control what had happened so I moved on to the next hitter. It was another right handed hitter. I threw a fastball that was too high for a ball. I then threw a fastball in that was a called strike. The count was 1-1. I threw another fastball that was by the hitter's letters and he swung at it....he fouled it off toward the first base line. It was 1-2 and I knew exactly what I wanted to throw, I was just hoping the catcher knew it too. He called a slider, exactly what I wanted. The hitter swung through it for strike three and I was out of the inning!
I was going to go out for another inning, but there was a delay due to lightning. Coach said he didn't want to send me back out after the long layoff. I wanted to go back out, but he wouldn't let me. The game was postponed due to weather and we have to finish it tomorrow before we start our second game. The score is tied at 5 in the top of the tenth.
Hopefully we can pull out the first win and then win the second one as well! Today was extremely exciting and I can't wait to get back out on the mound...Hopefully it will be tomorrow night, but I have no idea...
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