Vu Minh Thanh Ms. Cross LA8 C October 22
I walked through the dark tunnel along with my teammates. I could see the light shining at the end of the tunnel and, once I will pass the blinding light, my fans cheering for us and the game that could give us, The Pirates, a World title. The huge pressure pressed on my chest as I believed that we’ll finally beat The Yankees. I walked out of the tunnel, and the first thing I saw were millions of fans screaming, yelling and cheering for both teams. Everybody took their places as we heard the commentator talking to the crowd “This is it! The decisive battle! The New York Yankees! The Bronx Bombers are heavily favoured to prevail on their quest for yet another title! As for the Pirates, their last world title was 35 years ago.” The match started and all the spectators roared. It was time to get started. The New York Yankees started to hustle and take their positions all over the field. “Hey, Clemente! Break your leg!” said Hal Smith, my teammate, waiting for his chance to bat. I nodded and replied smiling “You too.” I could see our first two players knocked out by the Yankee’s Bob Turley, their pitcher. Seeing them walk away sadly made me extremely stressed knowing that this game
won’t be easy. But it started fading away as I saw Bob Skinner and Rocky Nelson giving us two points. And at the end I could almost feel it disappearing when I saw the opposing team changing their pitcher to Bill Stafford; they knew that they were in big trouble. Even after the change we scored two more points which lead to 4-0. We had a pretty good score for the start but it was time for us to switch. I saw Rocky stand up and started cheering us on “Good job guys!” said Nelson as everyone jogged to their positions. The ball flew back and forth through the field, the opponents sprinted through the bases and our teammates ran around trying to catch the falling baseballs. It all sounded like a normal game of baseball, but it wasn’t. Every moment was breath taking, every tiny mistake and it could lead to loss and every point could lead to victory. Every second I sat on the bench, waiting for my turn, looking at my teammates running from base to base was exciting but the fact that if something would go wrong it could make us lose, was terrifying. When the Pirates came out the field, the Yankees didn’t let them win that easily. I watched the New Yorkers fight as they gave their best. Rushing through the bases and winning points, the team ended up with 4-5 for Yankees. I knew it was a disaster but our team still didn’t want to lose our hope… until the score was 6-7. Some of us started slowly losing hope but some of us didn’t. Whatever they did, they still end up one point less. But then Hal spoke up, “This is not the end. The game didn’t finish. If we give our best, I’m sure we’ll win.” I knew he was right so I stepped up and told them, “He’s right. We still have time. So let’s give it our best.” The determinated Pirates walked up, the game started and showed the crowd what they had. I could feel the adrenaline all over my body. With our determination and hope, Smith hit an amazing three ball home run giving us three points followed by
Yankee’s two runs that made 9-9 for both teams. I felt like it was the most intense game our team ever had. Ralph Terry came out as the pitcher for the Yanks and waiting for the ball was Bill Mazeroski. Focused and determinated by the team and fans, he held his bat tight and was ready to swing as hard as he could. Terry pulled his arm back and with all his force he threw the baseball. Aiming for the ball, Bill swung his arm and hit the baseball. It was a high ball flying through the air and above the stadium. I saw the ball shooting through the air, high in the sky and over the fence. It was a homerun. The Pirates all sprinted to Bill as the commentator howled “HOMERUN!!! THE PIRATES WIN!!!! THE PIRATES WIN!!!!! ” The spectators bellowed as they cheered on us, the Pirates. We became the World’s Best Team. I felt all the stress and pressure fall of my body and fall hard on the floor. We won.