Amber Sinamon
Mr. Jennings
Creative Writing 7th Hour
September 12, 2012
Disappointment
The pitching circle feels like an extremely lonely place. It is hot, sweat is dripping off of me and I am tired of being here. Every time the catcher lobs the ball back to me, I make as little effort as possible to catch it. Her throws absolutely suck and I am tired of bending over to scoop the ball. I work extremely hard inning after inning to get outs and throw strikes. Nobody in the field behind me wants to do a decent job fielding the ball, C personally I believe none of them care. After each pitch I take longer and longer to pitch again, I am exhausted. I am so annoyed and ticked off, all I can do is pace around the chalk circle. ß>COMBINE? The circle is almost suffocating. My glove is on my hip and my throwing arm is just hanging there like a noodle. I annoyingly tap my palm on my slippery white pants until I get another sign from the catcher. Error after error I just want to drop the ball onto the dirt and walk off of the field. Simple ground balls were C (VT) being booted, and perfect throws were tipping off of the fielders gloves. Finally, I decided that I am way too tired of standing in the field and I just need to strike this girl out. The sun is blazing and I feel miserable. Finally! Strike three goes by and of course our catcher drops the ball! If she does not tag her and get this girl out, I will leave. She throws the ball to first. Thank goodness our first baseman scooped the ball and she got out. Finally time to hit.
I hit third in the lineup, before my at bat I tell Coach Meyer that I am pretty ticked off, ßDIALOGUE? and that I want to get a hit more than anything to make up for all of the faults, even though they were not necessarily my fault. It is a 3-2 count and I have already fouled off three pitches. I am hoping that the pitcher will mess up and throw the ball into my hitting sweet spot, high and inside. After I fouled off three pitches, the pitcher snaps the ball. I instantly get excited because the seams are spinning towards my sweet spot. I unleash my load and crush the ball It is one of those amazing feelings, right off of the bat, I know the ball is going to go far. CS Eight steps to first base, then heading to second, after four steps I see the ball hit the ground, on the other side of the fence! My sprint slows down to a trot, and instantly my hands are thrown into the air with excitement! After I am on my way to third base, Coach Meyer does her signature low five and pat on the back as I jog by. On my way home I see my teammates crowding around the plate, waiting for me. They are all excited and making a tremendous amount of noise. I slow down even more and jump onto home plate. As soon as my feet touch the ground, I am bombarded. People are hitting my helmet, smacking my butt, patting me on the back, and high fiving me. I excitedly jog back to the dugout, I hang my helmet on the fence, take my batting gloves off, and sit down. The first at bat of my senior year, and I hit a homerun! What an amazing way to start off the season offensively! The feeling of accomplishment is awesome. I grab my glove and go over and sit on the bucket. I wait to go back into the field and pitch. The three outs happen fast and we are back on defense.
At some point this year I am just going to have to accept the fact that even with success, there is disappointment. Not yet have I found a way to accept that because I do not know how to. This happens anywhere in life, even if something extraordinary occurs there is always the chance that disappointment is around it, and will swallow it up.
AMBER: Some moments of vivid imagery carry you’re here. Staying in the present tense will help keep that strong voice and sense of immediacy. See if you can add even more imagery—specific sounds, etc. I still want you to examine what your purpose is for your audience. If the purpose of the writing was for you to come to grips with a moment and express your frustration, that’s okay, but your primary audience then is you. You should always write these pieces. For a publishable piece, however, you will need a bigger audience. Ask yourself what an audience who doesn’t know you and/or who isn’t in to softball will take from these events. You might be too close to the moment, but step back and reflect. Is the message that even if things are going great, expect things to start going downhill? If your last sentence is true, how are you going to deal with it? How are you dealing with the game you show? Does this event tell us something about softball? If this game is like life, develop this point more. Worth obsessively revising.