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

• 22 •

At least she made the catch. That's all Carrie could think of as she yanked her glove off her left hand and held it up in the air to show the umpires she had caught the ball and not trapped it under herself.

Kirsten came running over. "Shit, I didn't think you were serious."

Carrie tossed the ball to her. "I just broke my f*cking wrist."

Kirsten threw the ball in before kneeling down beside her. "Let me see it."

Carrie turned her head and let go of her left wrist. "I don't want to see it."

"You're good, nothing looks bad. Nothing's out of place or anything."

She decided to look at it as the team trainer came running out. "Can you feel it?"

"No."

"Can you move your fingers?" Kirsten asked.

Carrie tried but couldn't. "I probably broke some bones in my hand too."

She had broken both her wrists before as well as her hands and some of her fingers. She'd become one of the best at base running and fielding where she often dove a lot. Even being a pro like she was, crazy things were going to happen. Carrie had made plays like this hundreds of times in her career, scooping balls off the grass and making awesome diving plays. The grass just ate her up on this one.

Carrie wasn't coming out of the game for this. Even though she couldn't feel her entire glove hand, she was finishing the game. This would probably be her last game with the team and she wanted to enjoy the final two outs and celebrate the championship win with her teammates. Then she would get her wrist looked at.

She convinced the trainer to let her stay in and wear a wrist brace to further prevent an injury. It wasn't needed though as their pitcher struck out the last two Pride hitters to bring home the Cowles Cup.

It was going to be party time tonight. Carrie and the other outfielders came running in as somebody shot off the confetti. It was the second time in two years they had won with both games coming against the Pride. For Carrie, this was the perfect way to go out, to go out on top. She would most likely inform the team of her NPF retirement in the coming days and focus all her softball efforts into Team USA.

The team took the trophy into the locker room and broke out the Champagne. For only playing professionally for four years, Carrie had herself a hell of a career. She had shattered quite a few records and had won the Cowles Cup three of her four years in Chicago. Unlike baseball, playing professionally wasn't the highest level. For softball, playing at the Olympic level was. She had proved in her college career and four years pro that she was one of the best in the country. Now it was time for her to show everyone that she was one of the best in the world.

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Not gonna lie guys, I'm really considering ending this story and retiring from writing, I just don't really know what to do with this book anymore😬