C h a s i n g D r e a m s ➮ C a r r i s o n

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It was a 7:05 game. The temperature earlier in St. Louis steadily dropped into the low 40's. It was so cold Carrie ventured into the city to buy him hand warmers.

Carrie sat right behind the Cubs dugout with Kris Bryant's wife Jessica, and Anthony Rizzo's fiancée Emily. The two were her closet friends.

Kris, Anthony, and Harrison were very close friends and also make up the heart of the Chicago Cubs batting order. The three of them batting in the 3, 4, and 5 spot in the order combined for the highest batting average, most home runs, and most RBI in the MLB.

She wore a pair of heavy Nike sweatpants, his jersey and a blue Nike long sleeve shirt, a Cubs sweatshirt, and a Cubs jacket. To top the outfit off, Carrie added her Cubs winter hat.

The three ladies all sat next to each other with a Cubs blanket draped over their legs as the Cardinals took the field and the Cubs left fielder Kyle Schwarber stepped into the on deck circle.

He grounded out and the Cubs went down in order. As the Cardinals jogged off the field, she saw Harrison jog up the dugout stairs and almost trip on the top step.

She laughed and he turned around. From under his mask as they made eye contact, Carrie could see a small smile. Harrison jogged away and pulled his mask down.

There wasn't much action in the first inning as the Cardinals went down in order. Harrison was due up second in the top of the second inning.

After first baseman Anthony Rizzo flew out to deep right field, Carrie watched with excitement as her number 2 made his way to the left handed batters box.

Harrison was a switch hitter. He could hit very well from both sides of the plate. Since the Cardinals pitcher was right handed, he batted on the opposite side of the plate.

He took two strikes right away and Carrie couldn't help but roll her eyes. They talked about this before. Quite often the first pitch was the best pitch he'd seen in an entire at-bat. It certainly happened to her a lot in softball.

The next pitch was a bit inside. Harrison had a bit of a temper when he was hit, or very close to being hit. She smirked when she saw him stare at the pitcher for a few quick moments.

Harrison fouled off the fourth pitch of his at-bat right back. The ump called another pitch a ball outside.

He took his step and began to transfer his weight in his swing. Since the pitch was outside, he held up and let it go by. Carrie bit her lip when the ump called the same exact pitch a strike. Harrison shook his head. Before he crossed the plate and back to the dug out, he said something to the umpire before shaking his head once again.

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The first batter to lead off the bottom of the second was walked. Harrison called a fastball outside to his pitcher Jon Lester.

He clenched his fist before dropping his hand to the side of his leg. Jon kicked his leg up in the windup and Harrison eased his weight off the back of his calves.

He saw the Cardinals runner take off. The pitch hadn't even crossed the plate and he was popped up in the throwing position. The baseball reached his glove with a quick snap and he was taking his step and delivering a strong throw to second with the mentality it was Carrie trying to steal on him.

The throw beat the runner by a few feet and he had no choice but to slide right into the tag. He pumped his fist as the shortstop Addison Russell threw the ball around for the first out.

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The Cubs were able to get a groundout and a strikeout to end the inning. Harrison met up with Jon and discussed a few things at they made their way to the dugout.

Carrie waited for it. He always did it after a strikeout to end the inning. As he disappeared into the dugout, the ball came rolling over the dugout right to where she was sitting.

She had a collection of game used baseballs he threw to her. The collection turned into a basket of batting practice balls that she'd pitch to him when they were in the backyard of their home in Chicago.

That was how he asked her out. She was at the Florida baseball game on a day she surprisingly didn't have a softball game or practice. After the inning ending strikeout, a ball came rolling over the dugout with a note.

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It was the top of the 9th. They were down 4-1. In his previous three at-bats, he struck out, flew out, and singled to center. There were two outs and runners on second and third.

He must've taken her advice about the first pitch. Batting right handed this time, he sent a deep fly ball to left field. The left fielder kept going back and Carrie thought with the rest of the Cubs fans that it was going to get out.

The ball hit the top of the wall and bounced back in. He missed a home run by inches. If it wasn't 40 degrees, that ball would've been a home run. But Harrison's two run double was enough to put them within a run of tying the game.

However, the 9th inning comeback wasn't enough as the Cubs fell short to the Cardinals by a run.