by Matt Moore

Created on: May 24, 2009

Home Run Dream

Mitch steps up to plate and digs his feet in, gets into his batting stance, and waits for the pitch. He stairs the batter down focusing on what is to come. The pitcher winds up and throws a fast ball down the middle. Mitch swings hard. "Ssstttrrriiikkke One" the umpire yells. Mitch was sure his swing was at the right time to make contact. "Ok" he says to himself, "I will get the next one". "Ssstttrrriiikkke two". "Darn it I should have got that". The next pitch was high and outside, Mitch stayed set. "Good eye Mitch", his coach yells from the first base line. Mitch gets set for the next pitch, the pitcher winds up and fires another fastball right down the middle. Mitch is so focused on the ball that it seems like it is going in slow motion. He even sees the red stitching on the ball. Mitch clenches the bat hard with his hands and leans back to give him more power. The ball sails across the plate. Mitch swings as hard as he can, the bat coming around in one fast smooth motion. He is sure he is going to knock this out of the park. "Ssstttrrriiikkke three you're out" he hears from the umpire. Mitch cannot believe it; he walks back to the dug out with his head down. "You'll get it next time" his coach says. "Yea right, I'm the worst batter in little league", Mitch thinks to himself.

There was one more game left in the season. Evan though his team is in first place Mitch feels he has not contributed to his team's success. In his mind he thinks the rest of his team mates are mad at him for not playing better. His dad always tells him he needs to go out in the back yard and practice swinging. Like most kids, he thinks he can do it on his own with out being told what to do. But Mitch's dream was to hit a home run and win the game for his team. So he reluctantly decided to try what his dad told him.

Every day after school for the next week Mitch went out in the back yard and practiced swinging. First swinging with the bat in his right hand, and then switching to his left hand. He finished up swinging the bat with both hands 25 times each. As the week went on the bat felt lighter and lighter in his hands. He thought to himself that maybe he is getting stronger, "Could that be it, could my dad be right".

On Saturday, the day of the game, he asks his dad if they could go to the batting cages. Mitch put his token in and practiced hitting, or in Mitch's case swinging, only hitting a couple line drive here

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>