The Great Catch
It all happened in slow motion. The pitcher took a breath, wound up his arm, and the whole stadium watched, on the edge of their seats, as the pitcher thew the ball, his hand outstretched, the ball sliding out of his fingers. It was a smooth, hard strait ball. Matt Holiday was up to bat, and as the ball glided, cutting the sky as it was hurled at him, squinted at it, then his bat was swung at the ball, crack! Matt dropped the bat and ran to first base, so fast he wasn't there when the bat clattered to the ground. He watched with the rest everyone, his team, the crowd, the other team, the coaches and the ump the ball fly in the air, over the gate between the crowd and the field, and I saw then the ball coming towards me, and I could hear in the back round everyone rise to their feet, screaming telling me it was coming my way, but I was focused on the ball. It sailed over to me, I rocked back and forth, trying to aim the ball into my glove. It finally landed in my glove with a satisfying clunk.