The Comeback Trail

Hello, my name is Chris Chamberlain; I’m 13 years old. Ever since I could remember I’ve loved baseball and I’ve always been good at it. My team name is called the Great Lakes Dodgers and we are currently in third under the Valley Vipers at second and the best in the state, the Castleton Crusaders. We three teams are the best in the state, the state of Michigan. Our team is one of the best and we always are in third to those stupid teams, all teams in the top five despise each other. So there are more umpires at our games to keep peace but there are always little altercations. The season is starting tomorrow and that is where are story takes off.
We aren’t playing any teams we hate so that is a relief. We are playing in Bloomfield Acres today and the fields are basically crap but that doesn’t stop any of use, there are holes in the outfield, untidy bleachers, and the infield has too many flaws to count. I am playing 3RD base and my friend, Jack Michaels is playing 1ST. We’ve lived next to each other for 10 years and gone to the same school since kindergarten. The pitcher is Drew Sandburg and he is our best player besides Jack, our center fielder Alex Adams, and I. Our first team is the Bloomfield Battle Lions. The game went smoothly till about the fifth until Drew and I both hit home runs to make the game 6-2. So we ended up winning 10-5. “Good game Jack I’ll see you in an hour for our next game.” When my dad was driving down the road and about to turn, this driver who wasn’t paying attention and slammed right into us. I didn’t recollect what happened until I was in the hospital bed at Bloomfield Hospital. The room was mostly white with dark green paint on the lower half of the wall with a red bar, which I have no idea why that is there. Before I knew I went back to sleep and didn’t wake up till the next day. The doctors said I should not play baseball until I am fully healed which will take two months. The only baseball playing I will do is at the Michigan Finals and I might not be able to play then. My chances for playing high school ball have been cut in half. I asked my parents what I should do and they said nothing.
Two months have passed and I am pretty recovered, my muscles are just extremely stiff and tight. I almost finished physical therapy and I am ready for brief conditioning. My coach told me he would like me to start throwing after every workout session so I could start getting back into normal habits. Drew and Jack and the rest of my team have come to see me after every tournament and game we play in and give me the details. In two weeks we play in the state finals and I am ready, I’ll probably just be our designated hitter for the finals and play the field in our scrimmage against the Lower Valley Lightning.
Before the scrimmage I was ready to finally do what I love, and do it well. My first at-bat I hit a single to left and the inning was over because there were two outs already so I didn’t get the chance to run the bases or anything and that would be the case for the rest of the game because we only won 2-0. When the finals came around we were ready and the infamous top 2 teams were in the tournament along with 10 through 4 and they were also ready, the Castleton Crusaders won the finals last year against the Valley Vipers 9-4 and ever since then the Vipers have been the best team in the state. So they were placed in the one seed and we were the three seed for the third tournament in a row, we made it to the championship game two years ago but did nothing after that, we lost in the quarterfinals last year the Kettlewood Knights who are seeded 5. There are ten divisions in the tournament and the highest seed gets the weakest division, you have to be in the top ten to be the fifth and best team in your division. The other forty teams are some great teams too so there is always one team that comes out of nowhere and starts to win like crazy. That was basically us in our first year in the tournament. We started off killing our four teams in our division. In the social hall as we all waited our seeding for the top sixteen teams to make the playoffs. The Crusaders were first and we were second. I have to say I thought we’d be first but the Crusaders did about the same thing to the teams in their brackets so my team was not surprised. The first two rounds went great until the semi-finals. We played our rivals the Knights and they looked ready for baseball. They were up 2-1 in the first three innings until Drew hit and RBI single into center field to tie it at 2 but we each scored at least two runs each inning so that made it 14-14 in the tenth. We held the 4th seed at one run so we needed two to win. With one out and a runner in third I hit a single to tie the game and Jack hits a solo home run to left field and we win a shootout 16-15. Meanwhile in the other game the Crusaders beat the 3rd seed Vipers 8-0 to move on to the final game against us. I was starting so the pressure was on me. It was going on eight o’clock and the game was starting. The first two innings were scoreless and it was there best hitter who broke that streak, he hit a two run home run to lift them to a 3-0 lead. In the seventh I hit a three-run triple to tie it at 3 a piece. In the ninth with two outs no runner on with their closer on the mound and me up to bat. I worked the count to 2 balls and 2 strikes. The next pitch I hit the right field and I won the game for us and we walked out of the finals with our first finals win and a memory going into high school.