Ryan Kirkbride

   When I woke up in the morning I was freezing like a bunch of ice cubes. It was cold because it was still early in the morning. I had to get up around 8 am to get ready for my baseball tournament. The first game was at 9 am, and I could see the sun coming over the mountains still. I could smell the leather of my baseball glove. I went downstairs with all my gear in my hands. I saw my dad outside already in the car ready to take me to my game.

 I was so tired when I went to get in the car it felt like it was miles high for me to lift my legs to get in. My dad hit the gas pedal so fast I thought the tires fell off the car. We shortly arrived at the field where we were playing, and the game started in 30 minutes.  We starting warming up by doing stretches and throwing to each other. I was not ready to start throwing and my arm felt like it fell off me. I could smell the grass on the field that they had just cut.

We finally finished getting warmed up and we headed into the dugout. I sat down on the bench in the dugout and it was cold like an ice cream cone. The game started and we were in the field first. I was pitching so I ran out to the pitching mound.

I faced the very first batter of the game. I reared back to throw the ball and I let it go, I watched the kid take a hard swing and miss. My catcher threw me back the ball and I got back on the mound. I could feel a torn lace on the baseball but it didn’t bother me much. I took a big stride as I threw the ball in to the batter, he hit a hard groundball straight to our second basemen and he fielded it as crisp as possible and threw it to 1^st base like a rocket. That was the first out of the game and I was still a nervous wreck. I didn’t let it get to me though or show on my face. My sweat was a rain shower running down my face. I quickly struck out the next two batters as I threw the ball straight past them.

 Are team ran in to bat and went into the dugout as our metal cleats scraped the cement ground. I could hear are coaches yell “get ready to play boys”. I was on the fence leaning, getting ready to watch our team bat. I watched our first batter take a huge swing at the very first pitch he got and he hit it right in the gap passed the centerfielder. He was hustling around first base and kept running until he stopped in at second base for a double. A few batters later the score was 5-0 and we had two outs with our 8^th batter up. I watched as the pitcher wound up and threw the ball right over the plate. I watched as he took a very hard swing towards the ball but he hit it right to the third basemen who barely caught the hard line drive for the third out.

Two innings later it was the top of the fourth inning and I had given up no hits and we were up by a score of 10-0. I walked out to the pitching mound, still nervous because I had not given up a hit yet and if we won we went to the championship game. I was watching the batter walk up to the plate and I was confident I was going to get him out. So he stepped up to home plate and I winded up and threw it probably harder than any other pitch in the whole game, I watched him take a cut at it and foul it off straight back. I got the ball back and I was ready to get through this inning because I needed a break. My throwing hand was mountain of blisters from the baseball laces. I came set and lifted my leg and let the ball go and I threw this one even harder than the last pitch. He swung and hit a solid hit to our shortstop but he had to dive out for the groundball and he just barely got it and came up faster than anyone thought he would and he threw a bullet straight to first base to get the first out. The next two batters grounded out.

We were up by a score of 11-0 and it was the last inning and they were batting. I was really tired and sore from pitching so long but it was all worth it so far because I still had a no-hitter going. I walked out to the mound so relieved that it was the last inning, I was dripping sweat at this point.

The batter walked up to the plate and I was gripping a curveball. I strided forward and let go of the curveball. The ball seemed to dance over the plate, and he missed the first pitch. I threw my next two pitches as fastballs and this time he missed both of them and I had 1 down and 2 outs to go.

I faced the next batter and the count was 2-2 and I was ready to finally get two outs. I threw a fastball on the outside of the plate, and he hit a single right into the outfield. I was mad because I went that far with a no-hitter and gave it up so close to the end of the game. But I had to keep going and finish the game. So I threw to the second batter and he hit the very first pitch straight to the second basemen. He threw it to second base and that was one out, and then he threw it right to first base. We had turned a double play to win the game. I was so happy and relieved to pitch the whole game and take us to the championship game.

It was a special moment to pitch the whole game and throw a one-hitter and take us to the championship game.