My Debut

“Hey Grandma, did you ever play T-ball?” asked an excited brown-eyed five year old.

            “When I was little they didn’t have T-ball.  All we had was little league softball,” answered her grandma.

            “Did you play softball?” asked her older sister.

            “Yes, I did.  Would you girls like to hear about the first time I pitched for a real game?” asked their grandma.

            “Yes!!” they both exclaimed and settled in for a story.

            When I was little everyone ages 9-12 played little league.  We didn’t have the age groupings that they have now.  That meant that you were stuck in the outfield until you were 11 or 12 years old unless you were really good.  I spent many games in the outfield until I was 11 years old.  I couldn’t catch very well, but I had a good arm.  One day during warm-ups my coaches noticed me pitching underhand to my fellow player.  I was pitching straight to my friend every single time.  My coach pulled me aside, made me stand the right distance for the pitcher’s mound from her, and asked me to pitch to her.  I hit her glove every single pitch.  She was completely shocked. 

They started working with me to learn how to play the position of pitcher during practices for the next several weeks.  Then the night finally came.  My coach told me that sometime during the game he was going to let me pitch.  I was beyond excited.   For the first four innings, however, I sat on the bench.  I was beginning to think he had forgotten about me.  Finally in the fifth inning when we took the field he put me in right field and said to me that during the inning he was going to let me pitch.

He only let the other girl pitch for one batter.  Then he came out of the dugout and signaled me to come to the pitcher’s mound.  The other team was rather amused at the prospect of me pitching.  We had played this team many times, and I never played anything but outfield.  The umpire let me have four warm-up pitches before the next batter, and I started what would become a ritual for me as a pitcher.  All four pitches were wild and no where near the strike zone.  It was my way of getting all the wild pitches out of my system.  However, the other team was laughing hysterically and my coaches were more than a little nervous when the next batter stepped up to the plate.

My first pitch was right down the middle hard and fast.  The batter was completely shocked as was the other team.  The laughing ceased and my team cheered.  The next two pitches were exactly like the first one.  That batter was out before she really knew what happened to her.  She didn’t even swing her bat once.  The next batter went down swinging but made no contact.  She was also out in three pitches.  By the third batter there was complete silence in the ballpark.  All the parents and spectators were in shock.  It didn’t matter that the catcher had to basically roll the ball back to me because I couldn’t catch.  As a pitcher, I had just established myself as a dangerous opponent.  The third batter also went down swinging in three pitches without making any contact.  It was three up, three down in nine pitches.  The other team never laughed at me again.

I eventually did learn to catch as the rest of that year progressed.  By the next year I was actually one of the star players playing both pitcher and third baseman.  I never had an inning as perfect as that first one, but I had many three up, three down innings in my little league career.