Pitch My Heart

1st-Intro

"Ball four!" The umpire calls.

I punch my glove as I watch the hitter walk to first base. The bases are loaded now and I can't afford to give the other team another walk or hit. We're ahead by 1 run so I can't screw this up.

My catcher, Jinni, throws me another ball then the next hitter steps into the batter's box. I adjust my hat then rub my throwing hand on my leg then I take three deep breaths. This is the routine that I do before every pitch.

I bend forward while placing my hand on my knee to try to read the signal the catcher is giving me.

She signals a fastball first but I don't like it. This hitter will expect a first pitch fastball so I shake it off. We agree on a slider so I straighten up and I make sure that my right foot is on the pitcher's rubber. I bring my glove and the ball in front of my face then I adjust my holding on the ball for the slider.

I take one last deep breath then I raise my left leg, then I throw the ball. 

"Ball 1" umpire calls since my throw wasn't in the strike zone and the batter didn't swing.

I go through my routine again then the catcher and I agree on a fastball now. It's a risk but I don't want to throw another ball right now. This needs to be a strike whether it's caused by a swing and a miss or a foul ball.

I throw my fastball in the top right corner of the strike zone and luckily he swings early causing it to be a foul ball.

I walk around the mound to kind of shake off some nerves. This game is big for me because I haven't been doing well the last few starts I had. Chaeryeong used to catch for me but she's injured right now and I'm having a hard time adjusting with the current catcher. Jinni is the backup catcher.

We just don't have good chemistry. She doesn't know my pitches well enough and I don't agree with her calls a lot. We also just haven't been working together enough to work well. It takes time for me to get used to a catcher. It's my weakness.

I step back on the mound and proceed to do my routine. I throw a change up and my heart stops when I see the batter swing but luckily she missed it.

Two strikes and one ball so I feel a bit more confident now. I'm ahead on the count so I can either throw a strike out or get her to hit an easy ground ball or get to pop up the ball for an easy catch.

I bend forward again as I go through the signals the catcher is showing me. We decide on a slider again to hopefully get the batter to chase the ball for a strike three.

I throw my slider but I miss my spot. The batter didn't try to swing because it was too obvious that it wasn't gonna be in the strike zone.

My slider hit the ground and had an awkward bounce so Jinni couldn't block it and it ends up reaching the backstop. With my mistake that's gonna go in my stats as a wild pitch, it caused two runners to score and the crowd boos again but louder this time.

I look over at the dugout and see my manager(coach) walking to me which means that I'm done for this game. They're gonna have a relief pitcher finish this inning for me to stop any more runs to happen. We're down one now and I hope that my team can make up for my mistake.

My manager sighs as he opens his hand so I can give him the ball, "You worked hard but its time to stop."

"I know" I hand him the ball then I take off my hat.

I walk back to the dugout while the crowd continues to boo me. Once in the dugout, my teammates doesn't say anything to me. I throw my hat on the wall then I sit on the bench, feeling miserable.