The Last-Place Legends

Rainer Thomas #1

THE STORY

READ CHAPTER 1

How many times had eleven-year-old Rainer Thomas pretended this very situation in his backyard?

Championship game. Two outs. Bottom of the last inning. His team, the Grizzlies, trailed by two runs, but the bases were loaded. That meant the tying run was at second base and the go-ahead run led off first.

Rainer stepped into the right-handed batter’s box with his back foot and thought about the situation. A ball into the outfield scored a run and kept the inning going. A line drive into the gap scored the tying run – and possibly the go-ahead run from first if the other team couldn’t get the ball in quickly enough.

There was one way to guarantee the game-winning run scores, though. A home run. That’s usually the option Rainer chose in his backyard.

Of course, swinging for the fences was a bold move for most kids Rainer’s age. A recipe for disappointment that usually led to a pop-fly or a strikeout.

Now Rainer wasn’t your average little league baseball player. He lived baseball, breathed the sport and was the best player in the Grove Park league. Rainer led in home runs and RBIs. Still, swinging for the fences was a bad idea.

Objective in the at-bat: Hit a hard line drive into the outfield – maybe even hard enough to get the ball over the fence.

Rainer knew who he was facing on the mound. This kid was picked to close out the championship game for his team because he was fearless. Rainer had seen the kid pitch and play with reckless abandon since they were in tee ball together.

This kid wanted to strike out Rainer Thomas to win the championship. He was going to throw strikes – or at least try.

Rainer let the first pitch go by just to time the fastball. Even if it was a heater down the middle, Rainer knew he would see another.

“Ball,” said the home plate umpire as the first pitch pounded the catcher’s mitt. “High.”

Rainer had the kid timed now – and he had a 1-0 count. Advantage Rainer.

The next pitch came in at the same height. Ball two. The pitcher was excited and overthrowing his fastball. Rainer just needed one to come down a little bit and it would be easy to drive the ball back the other way into the outfield.

The pitcher wound up again. Another fastball – and this one was finally down low enough to possibly be a strike. Rainer would never find out if it was actually low enough, though.

Rainer let it rip with the bat and swung with all his might.

PING!

The contact was pure. Rainer knew that ball was gone. He dropped his bat and started running for first.

Rainer watched as the ball screamed for the left center gap, easily racing over the shortstop’s head. Up, up, up – this ball was gone!

Rainer had done it! A walk-off grand slam!

To Rainer’s surprise, though, as he rounded first and slowed to a jog, the ball slammed into the top of the chain link fence and dropped to the ground on the warning track.

Rainer immediately shifted back into gear and sprinted toward second base.

The outfielders were on the ball quickly. The left fielder grabbed the ball and threw it in toward the cut-off man.

Rainer peeked at the runners ahead of him as he coasted into second base.

Two of his teammates had already scored. The game was tied. Everett Jones had just raced past third, though, and was going to try to score.

Everett was fast. His speed was why he was the leadoff batter for the Grizzlies – they wanted his speed in front of Rainer’s bat.

Still, beating this relay was going to test Everett’s speed.

The shortstop caught the throw from the outfielder. With a shuffle-step, he kept the ball moving and fired it at home. Everett continued pumping his arms, flying toward home plate.

Rainer watched as Everett and the ball seemed to arrive at home at the same time.

The catcher reached out and grabbed the ball out of the air. Then he swung his arm toward home plate as fast as he could.

Everett slid headfirst on the opposite side of the plate. He reached out to the side with his left arm to touch home as he slid by.

Rainer could not see the tag as everything happened behind the catcher’s body from his point of view. With no clue on the call, Rainer’s eyes jumped to the home plate umpire.

Both the umpire’s arms shot out to the side.

“Safe!” yelled the umpire.

Rainer’s hands shot straight into the air. It wasn’t a walk-off grand slam – but it was a walk-off hit! The Grizzlies had won!

***

Dad let Rainer off the hook for carrying his baseball equipment bag. The bag was thrown onto Dad’s shoulder instead. Meanwhile, Rainer carried the MVP trophy he had been awarded in the championship postgame ceremony.

Everyone that walked by – especially the Grizzlies and their family members – congratulated Rainer as they passed.

“Thank you,” said Rainer with a smile every time.

“Such a great hit,” said some people.

“You came up so big,” said others.

“That must have been so fun,” said the rest.

Rainer was pleased with the hit. He was definitely happy being the one who got the game-winning RBI.

But he also couldn’t stop thinking about how close he had come to a walk-off grand slam. That’s the kind of hit that makes you a local legend. The kind of hit not just you but everyone remembers for the rest of their lives.

And he had only missed it by a foot if not just inches.

There was always next season, though. Rainer had another year in this age group. He vowed to do something next season that Grove Park would always remember.

For now, Rainer would enjoy the championship and his MVP trophy. Then next season, he would do something even bigger.

Of course, Rainer did not realize at that time that his family would be moving to Texas right before next season. His time in Grove Park Little League was actually finished. His next baseball story would be written with a new team in a new league with and against totally different players.