The Mad Dash: A Little League Team’s Pursuit of Championship Glory by David Aretha

Author:David Aretha [Aretha, David]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Twisted Key Publishing, LLC
Published: 2017-11-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Slaughtered by United Bank & Trust

“I feel like jolly ol’ England,” Gary said, “right before the Germans dropped the bombs.”

It was 10 minutes before game time at Hickory Park, and eight of us sat shivering on the bench. It wasn’t just the chilly Saturday morning air that had us shaking in our cleats, but the team we were about to face. Our opponent was United Bank & Trust, the most talented, wealthy, spoiled, and dominating team Hickory Oak Little League had ever seen.

While Jeffrey warmed up with Gus behind our bench, the rest of us watched the spectacle unfold in front of us. Coach Jonathan K. Reynolds hit groundballs to his infielders. “Turn two,” the coach said. “Why, Dad?” asked his second baseman/son, who flawlessly executed the play. “They’ll never get a guy on first base.” The coach chuckled to himself. “Be a good sport, Morgan,” he said.

In the outfield, another coach swatted high fly balls, which fell softly into the players’ gloves. Behind the backstop, a third coach tossed balls to a menacing hitter, who drilled liner after liner into the fence. We cringed every time the ball crashed into the chain-linked metal. Smash!... Smash!... Smash!… Smash!

“It’s psychological warfare,” Riley said. “They’re trying to rattle our brains.”

“Don’t let ’em get to you guys,” said Coach Quinn, whose expression was filled with worry.

United Bank & Trust was no ordinary team. They had won the seven-, eight-, and nine-year-old Hickory Oak championships and were gunning for their fourth straight title. Jeffrey said they had never lost a game.

“There’s something not fair about this,” Tashia said. And there wasn’t. Mr. Reynolds, an executive with United Bank & Trust, wasn’t just the team’s coach. He was the commissioner of the entire Hickory Oak Little League! Dad had been grumbling about that for three years.

“If you’re the umpire, and the commissioner comes out and argues the call, what are you going to say?” Dad said. “You’re going to say, ‘Yes, sir, Mr. Commissioner. I’ll reverse my call right away, Mr. Commissioner. Please don’t fire me, Mr. Commissioner.’”

Coach Reynolds, with his slicked-back hair and confident posture, oozed wealth. In fact, all of UB&T’s players were from the wealthy Lovelton School. While our moms and dads sat on the bleachers, their parents brought their own foldout chairs—with double cup holders.

Jeffrey was the only Morey’s player to play Travel League ball, a summer league that you have to try out for. Almost every UB&T player, if not all of them, played Travel ball. Jeffrey said that most of them worked out at Frozen Ropes. That place is really expensive, but the kids get instruction from professional ballplayers—some of whom played in the major leagues.

Even their uniforms were a cut above. While our jerseys were just T-shirts, they wore button-down jerseys like the pros wear. UB&T’s uniforms were all white except for their team name on the left side of their jerseys. It was written in fancy blue script: United Bank & Trust. Not only that, but they were the only team to have their names on the backs of their jerseys.

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