Race to the Plate

The stadium was filled with people. The Braves were playing the Mets to decide who would dominate the National League East. In the clubhouse, the room was full of uncertainty.
“I’m so nervous!” exclaimed rookie Jeff Barber.
“Don’t worry,” the first baseman, Lawrence Slade said. “You’ll do fine.”
“I remember my first game,” recalled Garrett Flynn. “I came up with the bases loaded in the sixth. I got a great pitch and crushed it. It went into the gap and I got a triple out of it.”
“Okay guys,” the Braves skipper, Pat Moran said. The docile team turned toward Moran. “This is probably the most important game of your lives. All of you have the potential to be someone great. Prove it tonight. Winning this game will bring us closer to achieving our ultimate goal, winning the World Series. So let’s get out there and win us a ball game!”
“Yeah!” shouted the team in retaliation. With that the players ran out onto the field.
The first inning started with Jeff at second base.
“Okay,” he said to himself. “You can do this. It’s just like at Reading only here the players are less fickle.”
The first pitch was sharply hit to the third baseman, Merle Lovett. He fielded it cleanly, but then had a wild throw to first. The runner stayed where he was at first base. The next batter stepped up.
“You cover on a steal!” Jeff shouted to Sung-Hoo Shim, the shortstop. On the next pitch, the runner was off. Jeff ran to backup Shim. Wait, Jeff thought. Shim doesn’t speak English! Jeff started to run towards second. He caught the throw coming in from the catcher and dove for the bag. He put the tag on the runner.
“Yer out!” shouted the ump.
“Yeah!” shouted Jeff. That was close, he thought. The next batter struck out and the batter after him grounded out to Shim. Jeff grabbed a bat because he was leading off.
“Well if it isn’t the rookie,” the catcher said as he stepped up. “Don’t miss okay?”
“Don’t let him tamper with your mind!” shouted Slade from the on-deck circle. “Ignore him!”
The first pitch was way outside. The second and third pitches were strikes and the two after that were balls. The count was full and Jeff swung at the last pitch. He missed strike three.
“Forget it,” Slade said as he walked back to the dugout. “You’ll get it next time.” No one threatened to score until the fifth inning when the Mets had men at second and third with one out.
“Come on!” Jeff shouted at his second base position. “We can get out of this!” The first was hit sharply to him. He fielded it masterfully and gunned it towards home plate. The catcher caught it and put the tag on the runner.
“Yer out!” shouted the ump.
“Yeah!” Jeff shouted. “What a play!” The next batter grounded out and the inning was over.
In the bottom of sixth, Jeff had his third at-bat. In his second at-bat, he got a double. He crushed the first pitch to deep center. The centerfielder got a great jump on it and made a great shoestring catch near the wall. It was the last out.
“Aw!” Jeff whined. As the centerfielder jogged in, he said, “Nice catch.”
“Thanks,” the centerfielder replied. Jeff decided to be tactful to everyone while I played because that was the way the game should be played.
In the bottom of the ninth, the score was still tied, 0-0. He came up one last time with two outs and no one on. He was incredibly nervous.
“Okay, I can do this,” Jeff said over and over. He stepped up to the plate. The first pitch was a ball and the next, a strike. The third was in the dirt and the fourth wasn’t much better. The count was 3-1 and the fifth pitch looked good so he swung. He crushed it into the gap and took off for first.
As Jeff rounded first, he saw that the ball was still in the outfield. He put on the afterburners and slid head first into third. He was safe
“Oh yeah!” Jeff shouted. One run and the Braves would win! He looked at the pitcher’s delivery and found the error that he was looking for. On the second pitch, he took off for home. The pitcher was so shocked that he threw the ball too high. Instead off sliding, Jeff barreled into the catcher. The ball rolled out of the backstop’s glove.
“SAFE!” shouted the ump.
The other Braves charged out to meet Jeff at the plate. He helped win a substantial victory for the team by stealing home! The Braves were going to the playoffs!