My Sports Story
When I applied for my Sports Editor position for my paper I wrote that I joined journalism initially to fuse my passion for writing and sports together and become a sports journalist. This assignment caught me off guard, however, by asking me about my connection to sports. It seemed like a simple question that I could answer in one sentence but it turned out to be more complex. Why do I really enjoy talking about sports and playing it all the time? It took some thought, but this assignment brought me back to a moment I will never forget.
I was always one of the better baseball players in my Burlingame Youth Baseball Association (BYBA) league. Even during tryouts for Sandlot — the first tier of the BYBA league that was based off age — , my future coach Ron Johnstone had to hit multiple hard ground balls towards me before I finally made an error. To put it into perspective I was eight, and a full grown man was blasting rockets at me that could potentially knock me out.
Ron was the father of my best friend at the time: Casey. BYBA divided players up differently each year, but Ron always requested to have me on the team. There was a tournament team each year that took the best players from each league and Casey and I made it every year. It stayed that way all the way up to the end of Mudville, the second tier of the BYBA league. Casey and I were able to stay on the same team for the two years of Mudville, but unknowingly we would not end up on the same team after.
Good thing I ended our last season together with a bang.
It was a windy and foggy Sunday evening at Bayside field in Burlingame when my team faced Rowan Bruno. A star tournament team player, Bruno carried his team. Since it was the last game of the season, and both Bruno’s team and my team had not made the playoffs, every player put in their all.
My team felt somewhat cocky going into the game. Every player on my team had the ability to put the ball into play, and Bruno’s teammates did not help him enough. But, of course, the game became closer than my team predicted.
I was not going to see my team lose on our final game of the year. My team became dependent on me as I blasted pitch after pitch to deep left field. The pitchers were throwing too slow so I swung early every time. My performance wasn’t enough to win us the game in regular time though, and the game went to extra innings tied at five apiece.
With pressure mounting, my team barely edged to keep Bruno’s team from scoring at the top of the inning. With a win on our minds, we all knew what time it was as we sprinted to the dugout: rally time.
Every kid flipped their hat upside down and squeezed it onto their head as to put on a ‘rally cap’. I was eager to hit but I was third on the batting order with our last two batters up first. The team cheered as Zack Amdursky, our 2nd to last batter, hit a clutch single to start the inning. However, stress soon filled the dugout as our last batter Brennan Mcdonald lined out to the third basemen. Some kids checked to see if their rally caps were on right and readjusted them to make sure they themselves weren’t ruining the magic. Our leadoff batter Murat Borluca was up, meaning this was the time where our team could really do some damage. The game liked to play with our emotions that inning though, and while Borluca struck out, Casey confidently walked to the batter’s box and hit a single with me on deck.
First I studied the pitcher. He was scrawny and weak, and I was easily the better player. Then I scanned the field. To adjust to my early swing, Bruno’s coach put Bruno out in left field. The pitcher had one of the slowest and consistent pitches I had ever seen though, so it would be difficult to try to swing later to get the ball away from Bruno. The adjustment barely fazed me. If anything it only made me more determined to win the game. However, the pitcher started to get in my head. I saw a strike and two balls pass me at the beginning. A ball headed straight toward me came next. The catcher was unable to reach the ball as I ducked away. Amdursky slid into third base with Casey safely behind him on second. I thought that I would get walked on the next pitch, so I ended up swinging awkwardly at a clean fastball down the middle. I stepped out of the batter’s box with a 3–2 count and looked at Ron. I was starting to get nervous that I would strike out and let my team down. A shake of the head and a “Cmon Ty let’s go” from Ron was able to put me in the right mindset.
Before I stepped back in the batter’s box, I scanned the field one more time. I saw Amdursky and Casey in scoring position, and then my eyes moved to left field where Bruno was pounding his hand in his mitt, ready to get a stop. I stared him down for a couple of seconds and knew my mission. With confidence, I tapped the top and bottom of the base with my metal bat and pointed my bat at the defense with my left hand. The pitch came and I swung as hard as I could. It was a clean pitch down the middle, and my eye was on the ball to the moment it made contact with my bat. I stopped, not even making an effort to run to first base as I watched my ball sky into left field. A pin dropped and the whole crowd went silent as Bruno tried to track the ball. Everything felt like it was in slow motion and I could only hear the sound of my breath. To my surprise, the ball went over Bruno’s head and bounced around 5 yards behind him.
Normal time resumed.
My teammates cheered the loudest they had all season. I jumped up and down on my way to first base watching as Amdursky and Casey both touched home plate. I stood in shock as my team flooded the field and mobbed me at first base.
That moment when you become the hero for your team is what defined my love for sports. Writing about the underdog or a player achieving their dreams has always been so enjoyable for me because I can understand how they feel to be able to achieve greatness in high-pressure situations. Although I stopped playing baseball during high school, writing about baseball and other sports is a way for me to capture a moment or a game that a player will remember for the rest of their life.
