Baseball was a love hate kind of sport for me. Mick was my best friend so I played because his Dad was the coach. Our team was called the Eagles. Mick was the pitcher and I eventually found myself at second base. I was the only girl on the team.

On this particular day I had hung out with Mick before practice. Mick and I played a few games of Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros. Kicked the ball to each other in the backyard. Played fetch with his poodle named Sam. I remember being nervous before practice and Mick trying to reassure me, “You’ll be fine. Besides, you play with the boys at recess all the time. It’ll be just like that.” He persuaded me. I bought it though because I really wanted to play. I was just plain scared because I had never played baseball before.

Today I was put in the outfield right behind the short-stop, my biggest crush Tyler. I was totally nervous because he was the one I would have to throw to if I got the ball. No balls came to me. The practice was slow. The left-fielder kept trying to talk to me and I thought but didn’t say, “Buddy, can’t you see I am trying to concentrate here!”

Then to all of my embarrassment Tyler suddenly moons me. Not once but multiple times and he thought it was the funniest thing. I told him to stop. But he wouldn’t. I remember thinking “Why do I have a crush on this kid anyway?” I was that mad. He even apologized later because he could tell I was not having it. I felt a little powerful after that.

When I was up at bat I got hit in the helmet by the ball Max pitched. He was a lefty pitcher and he scared me I was petrified to be on first base. Mike played first, he talked to me while I was on his base. He was really nice. I was ready to steal. Just like the coach taught us. I was a great slider and I knew that I was fast enough to make it. So as the next pitch was being thrown I went for it. I ran my little butt off. I was flying and they did a throw down but I was safe. They couldn’t catch me. I knew running the bases was my new favorite thing even though it gave me  butterflies. The next pitch I waited to see what would happen. The next one was a hit to right field so I booked it and made it all the way home.