Grand Slam!
by Melanie Hemry
Twelve-year-old Jerry Savelle wiped sweaty hands on his Little League baseball uniform before stepping up to the plate. Gripping the bat, he squared his shoulders and planted his feet firmly in the rich Louisiana soil. He glanced once around the ballpark before locking his eyes on the pitcher. The boy on the pitching mound spat in the dirt, swung his arm in a wide circle and stared defiantly at the batter.
Jerry didn’t flinch. Through all the pitcher’s gyrations, he watched the ball. The moment it came flying toward him with a spin, Jerry tightened his grip and, at just the right second, arched to meet it.
The crack of ball meeting the bat echoed across the field. In one fluid movement, Jerry dropped the bat and lunged toward first base. Throwing his head back in delight, he grinned into the wind and ran.
Lightly touching first, he raced on toward second. Once there, he took a chance at third, then on to home plate. The ball whizzed past his head as he dove, sliding into home in a cloud of dust.
“Safe!” the umpire shouted.
Jerry picked himself up out of the dirt with a grin. He loved baseball. It wasn’t just his pleasure, it was his passion. It had been ever since the first time he’d seen his dad put on a uniform and step onto the field to play on a company team. That day, Jerry Savelle felt sure he’d met his destiny. Since then he’d never doubted or wavered—he would play professional baseball. He mapped out his life like a coach maps out a game.
He figured that later in life, after his baseball career had ended, he would fall back on his second love—tinkering with and repairing old cars. Someday, he imagined, he might even own his own automotive repair shop.
12 : BVOV
