Photo Credit: © Mrsash174 | Dreamstime.com
Our workload has increased a bit here at PRB lately, so to clear my head, I grabbed my lunch and headed up town to Regan Park for a short lunchtime stroll through the greening landscape that is spring here in Ohio.
As I walked, I found myself standing behind the backstop of Regan #3—a small baseball diamond geared towards kids just transitioning from T-ball to coach-pitch and kid-pitch teams. Instantly, I was drawn back to a humid August night, August 5 to be exact, and saw a little boy, sweat streaming down his face, dirt lining his finger nails, bat slung over his shoulder awaiting my next pitch and then my next.
Swing after swing, his grin and concentration narrowed, echoing his determination to hit one over the fence before he turned 12—the following day. As the light waned, I emptied my second bucket of balls—taking our tally to 50 pitches and 50 unsuccessful, but full-effort swings.