I feel like in everything I write, I bring up my high school baseball team. I do that for good reasons. Everyone goes through low moments in life, nobody can escape them. What is vital is how you handle those moments and what gets you through them. Personally, baseball has been my way of getting through the low points in recent years. Whether through watching a Mets game or being around my high school team, baseball has helped me through a lot.

I had seriously lost my passion for baseball in 11th grade. I couldn’t watch the Mets, I couldn’t continue being around the game. I remember wanting to quit the baseball team because I didn’t feel like I belonged there. I ended up sticking it out and I am thrilled that I did. Junior year changed my life for the better.

Junior year of high school stress levels were higher due to SATs and college prep for everyone, and I was no exception. So when baseball season finally rolled around, while it normally signaled the end of the year, a new team, a new chance at a county title, junior year, it was just another thing on my schedule in the beginning. I felt like I was going through the motions of doing the book on those cold March afternoons where we would all be in 2 sweatshirts and Under Armor. It didn’t feel right. On top of all that, I was struggling in school. I wasn’t motivated, I wasn’t caring about my grades and that negatively impacted me.

I’m sure everyone has that one memory or image that takes them back to when they were younger. I found mine junior year when something shifted the negativity into pure elation. The team was down by a run in the bottom of the 8th. We got a runner on and then a triple into right center. Before I knew it I was coming out of a pile of my teammates smiling from ear to ear. It was the third game of the season and a 9-8 comeback walk-off win meant there was something special about to happen. Everyone knew it. We had some serious momentum. In that moment I did not only realize the team was special, I also realized why I loved the game of baseball.

That year, nobody expected us to be good, but little did they know we had something special to play for. Our assistant coach had decided it was his final year after 30 years. Every player loved him and we felt we should win a county title for him. We had multiple come from behind wins and a few walk-off victories as well. We finished fourth in our conference, which was good enough to sneak into the playoffs as the 10th seed out of the 12 teams that made it. Needless to say, we weren’t heavily favored to win a county title. In order to win it all, we needed to win a one-game playoff, then the following three series. Being the lowest ranked team after hanging on to win the one game playoff meant we had to play the top seed. We won the first game on the road and had game 2 at home with a chance to win the series. With the game tied in the bottom of the 7th our leadoff hitter laid down a bunt and the pitcher threw it away, allowing the runner to come around to score and win the series. It was a wild way to end a game, but in the end, we were moving on and beat the top team. That’s what is so great about baseball, anyone can beat another team.

We had that “why not us” mentality, beating the #1 seed. Our next series was against the 5th seeded team, and again, we were the underdogs. As one of my teammates put it, “Its more fun when you’re the underdogs.” We hit the road and won at their place and then were more than ready to win the series at home again. May 21, 2014, we had the final home game of the year in any sport and we were excited to have everyone at our game to support us. That entire day, I couldn’t think of anything but reaching the county finals. It’s the ultimate goal. Classes were slower than ever that day. I couldn’t wait to get out to the field with my brothers and play the greatest game in the world.

It was late in the game and it was tied, nothing new for us, and our first baseman was at the plate with a runner on third and one out. Then, it was all a blur. The ball was in center field, the runner had crossed the plate, and once again I was in a celebration pile. We were heading to the county finals, a place we weren’t supposed to even sniff. We were the first double-digit seed in Class AA history to reach the county finals, we knew it and embraced the history. It made us want it even more.

We lost game 1 of the county finals but we still believed we could get it done. Game 2 was May 29. One of my teammates tweeted out, “Pressure makes diamonds,” and ended the tweet with inspiring words, “Season ain't ending today boys.” It was 8 days after our thrilling home win to get us to this point that we looked for another come from behind win. It was our last chance; we had our #4 hitter at the plate and runners on second and third with two outs, down 2. Suddenly, the ball was sailing into the night sky, headed towards the left field wall. The entire team jumps out of the dugout, hoping it would tie the game. At the last second, the left fielder dove, and……...made a sensational catch. It was all over. Some of us dropped to the ground in defeat, watching our rivals celebrate a championship in front of us. We got our second place medals, some of us kept them, others threw them out of the bus or into the woods. Tears flowed from everyone’s eyes. None of us wanted it to end. We got back to the school and many of us went to the field, the seniors leading the way. We sat there for a while, some still crying, their high school careers ending in the worst way possible. It was a tough night as we sat on the benches and bleachers, talking about the best parts of the season, talking about the great plays, stupid comments, the unforgettable wins, the walk-offs.

People often say a team of best friends is tough to beat. I can speak from experience; there is no truer statement than that in sports. My junior season of baseball helped me rediscover my passion for baseball, but it did a lot more than that. It gave me brothers. I am still friends with some of the guys from that team and many of us still look back on that season and think of what could have been if the ball wasn’t caught, if we had somehow gotten the 2 more wins. What if we reached the ultimate goal? The seniors would have gone out on top, and the rest of us, it would have left us hungry for more. We ended up going back to the county finals the next year with the same core group of kids who became family the year before. We instilled that sense of brotherhood in the younger kids and it got us back to the finals, unfortunately losing again in two games. But that 2014 season, it reminded me why I love baseball. It was the greatest season of my life.