R. Onayemi

As little boys we all dream of hitting that walk off homerun in the World Series or catching the game winning touchdown in the super bowl. We all imagine doing this for our favorite or home town team, putting you in the situation with the most pipe bursting pressure where we can succeed. Often times it’s against the bitter rival team which makes the win that much more satisfying. However what we don’t think about is what happens if we strike out to end the World Series or if we drop the pass that could win the super bowl.
Growing up with a love of sports, I naturally tried them all until I found a love for baseball. I went my whole childhood playing and getting better. So in my sophomore year I tried out for my high school team and made it past the cuts and earned a spot on the roster. As the year went on we started to win games and out playing any team that got in our way to our goal. Our regular season record was 27 wins, 3 ties and 0 losses. When the regular season ended, it was announced that we had the first seed in the eastern division. With that all we needed was to win two games to get to the PSL championship game. Our first game was against Southeastern High school. It was nice day out and the team energy and morale was sky high. All the starters got their assignments and went and did their jobs. After the first inning we were winning 5-0. Then my coach thought it was good for the backups to get some work in so he put us into finish the game and we took over! I finished the game going 2-2 with a 2 RBI double. After the third inning the game was called on a mercy rule. The final score was 15-2 in our favor. We were excited because we never beaten a team that bad before.
We were ready to have fun and celebrate but our coach kept us focused because we hadn’t won anything yet. We just made it to the next round. He didn’t want any celebrations until we won the PSL championship. We waited a few days to hear who our next opponent was going to be. We learned it was Cass Technical High School. This game was serious, not only because they were one of the teams we tied with, and not because they were the only team between us and getting to the championship game but because they were our rival high school, and to put it simply, we hated them.
I remember at the practice before the game, I pushed myself to a different level just so if I had the chance to play I could come in and do well. The day of the game had arrived and we were focused and determined to win. When we got to the field everyone looked sharp and ready to go the game started and the first pitch was at our leadoff hitters’ leg. We were ready to fight but our coached talked to us and said “beat them on the field” and we did. The final score was 10-4 and we punched our ticket to the PSL championship game. We were excited and looking forward to playing on the same field the Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera played on.
The very next day we found out we were going to play Western for the championship. I had heard that they were a complete team, strong in all phases, so our work was cut out for us. We didn’t take any days off our coaching staff and the rest of my teammates were all working harder than ever to win that game. I remember the day before the day we had practice and then we had a team meeting. And we were sat down and told what was expected of us and how proud of the progress we all made that year. The next day was game day and the school was buzzing “beat Western” was written everywhere from chalkboards to students cars. Even though all baseball players were excused from all classes that day I still went so I wouldn’t jinx anything.
When the day was over I went and got dressed