EASLEY — Braxton Patton turned in an MVP performance last season for the Easley High School baseball team. At press time, he’s off to another good start for his senior season.
Last week, several of you saw the article that his teammate Kaleb Owens wrote about his favorite baseball memory. Patton took some time out of his schedule for this week and traveled down memory lane to tell about his favorite baseball memory.
Here it goes …
Ted Williams told the New York Times: “I’ve always said hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports.”
I think it’s a statement most, including myself, would agree with.
Baseball, America’s favorite summer past time, is a humbling game. To maintain a positive expectation, every at bat, every pitch requires focus on the little successes, the silver linings, even in those temporary lack of success moments.
Each summer in Atlanta, the World Wood Bat Championship tournament is held with 85 teams from around the country. It’s the premier event of summer baseball for pre-college players and as the name implies, “Wood Bat” is all that’s allowed. Make no mistake, with their teeny tiny sweet spot, wood bats are hard to hit. Which of course is why High School and College Baseball allows us to use metal bats that have a similar weight to a wood bat, but with quadruple the sweet spot.
Last summer my Dirt Bags team was facing off against a Five Star team from Dallas, Texas. Their pitcher, also a rising senior and 93 MPH flame thrower committed to Texas Tech University, had a perfect game going, retiring all of us in humbling fashion.
As I was walking up to the plate, I thought, I’ve got to get on this guy quick this time, I will put a good swing on anything over the plate. My memorable baseball moment came with a perfect game ending double off the wall in right center field, with a wood bat.
No, we didn’t win, but I left with a silver lining memory of success playing a game I truly love.
Reach Jeff Holt at 864-855-0355.