Space Debris

Clouds of brown dirt had been puffing up from the ground all afternoon. The sky was a perfect blue and picture clear, and I swear, if you wanted to you could have looked up and seen your reflection. It was the last game of the season, my Junior Varsity team was ten and six, and we really hoped to rack up one last win to end the season with a bang. We were good; I knew that we wanted this win more then anything, and by God we were gonna stop at nothing to get it.

Bottom of the ninth, we were down by one with five to six, and two outs. I gulped and tightened my gloves, I was up to bat. The air was tense despite the teams' attempts to try and remain calm, coach especially was smiling and encouraging, trying to keep spirits up and the pressure down. Let me tell you, her attempts in keeping the pressure down were futile. I was going to make or break this game, if I got a hit and got the girl in a third we could play another inning, but if I messed up somehow, our last game was lost. Needless to say, unless coach could change the scoreboard, the pressure wasn't anything less then me swimming at the bottom of the ocean.

I pushed down the helmet that was already on my head, desperate for anything to do with my hands. Then I leaned over ever so slightly and picked up my bat. That bat and I had made many a good hit and it had plenty of RBI's to its name. That name being Sharon, because yes, I did name it. I walked onto the field, the opposing team watching me and studying me. They too shifted on their feet because they knew what was at stake. I shuffled my feet a little, kicking some dirt up just to make myself feel better. Holding up my hand, I positioned myself at home, lining me up so that I could hit a line drive way into the outfield. My bat was swung up by my arms as I stood at the ready, eyeing down the pitcher daring her to send her best pitch at me.

She eyed me too, acting intimidating and daring me to hit it. We both stood, myself at the ready and she preparing herself. For what seemed like hours we both just stood and stared, no sound coming from anyone, all stands holding their breath. Finally the pitcher heaved her body upwards preparing to send that ball hurting to my body when a high pitched whirling sound echoed through the air. She stopped herself, mid pitch, concentration lost at the suddenness of the sound. The other team turned around to stare at a large meteor type thing hurtling towards us. The pitcher turned around too and the people in the stands stood up in bewilderment. I stared too, not even dropping my stance. I took a daring step forward as I saw it getting closer and closer.

It was in the back of the outfield now and I saw center field dive away to get out of it homicidal path. I then noticed it was headed strait for the pitcher. Then the crowd started to scream and I leapt forward. Suddenly, without realizing I had moved, I was at the pitchers mound. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" I yelled at her as she just gawked, entranced by the odd thing. I pushed her to the ground and swung my bat at it. It was like being shot in the arm, pain went shooting into my hands, up into my shoulder, and down my back. That thing, whatever it was, went away in the same path it had come it.

"Whoa," was all I heard the pitcher say as I turned to look down at her wide eyed. I nodded and she pointed to my bat; it was bent.

"Holy…" was all I managed to get out as I shook it and heard it rattle like a baby toy. My bat, my baby, was broke…ruined. I looked back longingly at my team, unsure of what had just happened and to try and get comfort from my newly busted bat. Surprisingly, they were ecstatic and came rushing out onto the field.

"Yeah, Amelia!" My friend Jess shouted throwing her arms triumphantly up into the air. I smiled, realizing that whatever I just did was pretty cool.

"Girl, you were bookin'!" A girl Karen from New York patted me on the back, sounding her approval in a heavy accent too. I cringed at every pat though; it would have been a lie if I said my back hadn't hurt anymore. Everyone seemed generally proud of my heroic actions, but I didn't know if I really deserved all this hype. Mainly because I have the world's largest ego and they were just feeding it and giving me fuel to tell this enormous fish tale later on to my family. The celebration was far from over when the umpire came over and ushered the twelve girls off the field threatening a disqualification.

I got a new bat and walked back to home plate. Winning didn't seem nearly as important as it did five minutes ago, the most exciting and bizarre thing had just happened and I had been right in the middle. My team had been the dominate presence in that ordeal because I swung my bat at it, broke my favorite bat in the whole world, and had to push a girl out of the way. The other team just ducked like a groundhog when it sees its shadow. My adrenaline was pumping as I got a new bat and walked back up at the plate. Everything was happening fast now, I couldn't even tell you specific details even if I wanted to. I saw the pitch thrown at me and bat cracked against it like a tree snapping in half. The softball went flying way over centerfields head and I knew with no doubt in my mind I had hit a homer.

Third base went flying into home and I skipped merrily across the bases, finally reaching home and smiling triumphantly at my team. They were basically jumping on the bench and screaming as loud as they possibly could. I beamed and sprinted to them, all fourteen of us embracing in a hug. We had won, and on top of that, that other really weird thing happened. Most importantly, we had won! Our team captain, Sam, started our classic team chant we did every time we did sometimes incredibly awesome. "Cougars got the beat, I said us cougars got the beat! We got it!" That was followed by a series of claps and stomps in a beat.

"Good Job girls!" Coach yelled over us. We all quieted down and looked over to her. "That was the most impressive game I have seen in a long time. Good season and I hope I see you all trying out next year. Bring it in!" We all cheered at her last speech of the season. She kept it short, sweet, and to the point, but her congratulations meant the world to us. It wasn't everyday that Coach Andrews told us we did a good job; she always had something to say on how we could improve. So, we all got in a circle and put our hands in for the last time of the season. "On three, Cougars! One two three…" Coach said and we all yelled, "COUGARS!" It was good day, I was the team hero for a while, we have an eleven and six record, the summer was less then a month away, and I was on top of the world.

Did I happen mention I am also Witch, I go to High School to learn magic, and that I am pretty average when it comes to learning spells? Ha ha, and now you're confused.