It was a hot humid June day. The sun illuminated the sky like a spotlight at night. I had a baseball game. It was June 29th a day after my cousin Jimmy had committed suicide. I was very depressed and sad. The score was 6-4 and my team was losing. The pressure that I put on myself made it way worse than the 95% humidity we had that day!

I started to have the worst game of my life. All I had on my mind was my cousin Jimmy. I already had three at bats. I was 0-3 with three strikeouts! I was very mad and wanted to just lie down and cry. Then we went out to the field and it got way worst. I made three errors, and got subbed in because my coach said that I needed to take a day off. That got me fired up!

It was the fourth inning and it was 6-4. I was not helping my team no matter what the situation was. I had to sit there and watch my team come back! Then it got to the bottom of the fifth and I said a prayer; “God please let me help my team towards the end so that I can prove that I can do this!” I had my dad, mom, aunt, uncle, and my other cousin in the stands. They were all cheering me on and I felt like a sports star for a little!

It was my turn to bat in the bottom of the fifth inning. I had been so mad if I got out I think I would have exploded! I stepped into the batter’s box and the first pitch came super fast, ZOOOMMM!! I watched it go for a strike. I heard the Umpire yell “STRIIIKKEKEEE ONEE!” The pitch after that was a ball. So now the count was 1-1. The next pitch came and TINNGGG!! I hit a grounder up the middle that scored a run!!! My smile lit up the feeling of my confidence for the rest of the game! My smile looked like I just won the World Series because I was so happy!!

The other team went three up and three down! It was the bottom of the sixth inning, and I was the sixth person up! We got our first three people on base. The next two struck out! It was all up to me! I was so nervous I thought I was going to pee my pants. To make matters worse, they switched pitchers. While the pitcher was warming up I made a sign of the cross and said another prayer. This time when I prayed I said “God please let me do this for Jimmy. You will help me so much and make me feel much better!” The new pitcher came in and threw complete gas. I was surprised that I even made contact with him! The first pitch was low. But the umpire in the background yelled “STRIKKEKEEEEEE ONNNEEEE!!” I was not happy about that call, but shook it off. The windup and the pitch was way outside and the umpire said “BALL 1!” Then the next two pitches were balls also. Then on the fifth pitch of the at bat there was a cookie served on a plate, but I did not swing! The umpire yells “STRIKEKEEEE TWWWOOO!!” I got down on myself because I did not swing, and I knew I should have. The next pitch comes and “CRACCKK!” I hit a deep fly ball to left center. Everyone was screaming “Get up, Get outta HERE!!!” When I touched first base I looked, and saw the ball land over the fence!! By the time I touched second base I had tears on my face! I just told myself in my head “I just won the game for my team!! That was for you cousin!!” When I went to touch home plate my family was there greeting me. They also had tears running down their face.

After being told congratulations and nice hit, I looked over to the scoreboard, and read Team Sharp 9 Hornets 6. I could not believe I just won the game!

A life lesson is that no matter how hard the time is one just has to fight through, and try one’s best no matter how one feels or what happen. I for sure did not want to play that day, but at the end I wanted to because I won the game for my team!
R.I.P Jimmy