Charlie played his final baseball game of the regular season on Tuesday night in East Hartford, Connecticut.
The first chilly night of the season.
Charlie got to the plate three times:
He walked in the second inning.
He legged out a single in the fourth inning and stole two bases.
In the sixth inning, the bases were loaded. His team was leading by two runs and looking to add to its lead.
Baseball is such a challenging game for parents to watch. For critical moments in every game, your child is the focal point of the entire game.
Eighteen players play, but when your child is at the plate, the only two people at the center of the fray are the pitcher and the batter.
All eyes are on your child.
Charlie could get a hit and drive in a run. Maybe walk and accomplish the same goal.
Or he could pop out. Fly out. Line out. Ground out. Or strikeout.
Win or lose. Succeed or fail.
It happens constantly in baseball while everyone is watching.
I stood as close to the plate as possible — about 30 feet away behind the fence — as the pitcher threw his first pitch of the at-bat.
None of the things I thought might happen actually happened.
Instead, Charlie was hit in the head by the pitch.
Actually, he was hit in the head, then the ball ricocheted and hit his forearm.
As a parent, you don’t want to see your child get hit in the head with a baseball. He was wearing a helmet, of course, but still, it looked and sounded bad.
He dropped his bat, shook his head, and began running to first. As he ran by the dugout, filled with his coaches and teammates, he turned to them and shouted, “Let’s freakin’ go!”
So he was fine. It turns out that his forearm was hurt more than his head, though even that was ultimately fine.
Also, a run scored. He went on to steal two more bases before getting stranded at third.
His team won 13-7.
It’s been a good baseball season. I love sitting on the edge of the field, watching my boy play. I have lots of memories from this particular season of baseball, but the one I’ll remember most is watching Charlie get hit in the head, drop his bat, and run by his team, shouting, “Let’s freakin’ go!”
A homerun would’ve been great, but somehow, that was even better.
