Jack pitched today

Jack pitched today. He had talked about wanting to pitch basically for months, and his first audition a month or so back had been shaky, but we practiced some, and he auditioned for the coach again last week. And he aced it; threw a bunch of strikes, coach smiled at me and said, "We'll, I've seen enough," and indicated Jack would probably get an inning in today, our regular season finale. So naturally I thought about it all week and woke up for good at about 4:30 a.m. But game time finally rolled around, and after some uncertainty and anxiety (would he get a chance? Would he throw strikes if he did?) the fifth inning came up, and coach said to Jack, "You're on the mound."

Not sure Jack knew entirely what to do; which ball to take (game ball, on the mound), how to warm up. But he gradually figured it out, threw his warmups to the catcher, and the inning began. He threw some balls and some strikes, getting squeezed - I tell you! - on a 2-2 pitch and walking a batter, but ultimately getting the side down on a groundout, a popup, and a caught stealing. It was awesome. Pitching shouldn't be such a big deal, I guess, but it is, because everywhere else, you don't handle the ball as much. He caught all the throws back from the catcher, threw some strikes, walked two batters, gave up a hit and a dribbler, but finished the inning. Came off the mound happy, relieved, smiling, got a nice fist bump from coaches, teammates, and headed into the dugout. We were pretty happy for him, because he wanted to do it, worked at it, and did it. That's how life should work, right?

He was proud. Asked about strike to ball ratio. Heard from a couple of teammates about their first pitching outings. ("I walked 15 guys!" one said.) Got a game ball, which he juggled endlessly during the coach's postgame speech. Seemed relieved. And he wasn't alone.

Proud of him.