The Catch

The boy’s friend hit the ball well off the tee and it made a gentle arc through the air towards the gap between the first and second basemen. On any other night, the ball would have completed it’s journey back to earth and continued rolling to the fence. A couple of kids would have chased it down and fought over who could throw it back. His friend would run the bases and that would be the end of it.

But on this night, the boy was playing at second base. Inexplicably, he moved toward the ball and began sticking his glove out. He watched the ball and, as it fell, he adjusted his glove down. When the ball hit his glove, it was down around his shins and his arm was fully extended. The ball popped up out of his glove briefly. The boy held firm, maintaining his balance and keeping his glove open and the ball quietly fell into place. He stopped and stood up.

All the parents watching in the stands cheered for him. All the coaches cheered for him. I heard one parent yell “Holy cow! That looked like baseball!”

7 practices, 4 games, 1 catch.