| Saying Goodbye <Part 2> | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 17 2017, 06:53 AM (219 Views) | |
| Hunter Werth | Apr 17 2017, 06:53 AM Post #1 |
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February - 13 - 2012 Fullerton, California Opening day of the 2012 season. Putting his freshman season behind him, Hunter knew that things could only go up in his sophomore campaign. After platooning with his senior better all of 2011, it was now his turn in the limelight as he stepped in as the everyday catcher. He’d spent the whole offseason befriending all our starting pitchers for the next year to make sure that when he was behind the plate, they were comfortable with him calling the pitches. “Come on now, let’s close it out.” Hunter yelled from behind the plate as he threw the ball that had just been called a strike to the first batter of the 9th, back to the pitcher. It was a 3-1 game with the Sun Devils on top of Cal State Fullerton. At the least, 8 more strikes and the Sun Devils put their first win in the first game of the season behind them. The next pitch came fast and on the outside, but the hitter swung at it punching it out into right field. The right feilder backed up a few feet with his hands in the air and caught the first out of the inning. Hunter pulled his mask up walking forward on the infield grass towards the pitcher. He yelled to the outfield. “Nice catch Robertson!” Hunter put one finger up into the air. He yelled over at his pitcher. “Two more Collins. Two more. You got it.” Back in his position. Hunter sat down on his shin guards behind the plate taking a ball. He threw it back to Collins, nodding at him. Telling him it was alright. The next pitch came in right down the pipe for a strike. Hunter threw it back, before squatting back down in position. The 1-1 pitch was up in the strike zone as the batter stepped back, but it was painted the corner as the umpire called a second strike. The batter turned yapping at the umpire. “It was good man, get back in the box. You got tricked, get back to it.” The batter yapped at Hunter a bit too as he stepped one foot into the batters box before calming himself and putting his second foot in. Hunter signaled Collins for a ball down and away. Collins nodded at him before winding up. The ball came in looking like it would paint the bottom outside part of the strike zone, but the frustrated batter took the swing anyways. Struck him out swinging. Hunter threw the ball to third base and watched it go around the horn as he yelled out to Collins with two fingers in the air. “Two outs man. One more and it’s in the books! Iron nerves man. You got this.” Hunter sat back down behind the plate as the Fullerton batter stepped into the box. Hunter signaled for the pitch and he was nodded off by Collins. He signaled a second pitch and it was nodded off. Hunter shook his head, unsure what Collins was going for, but put down three fingers asking him if he was looking for his less controlled third pitch. Collins nodded at Hunter and Hunter got into position to block a ball in the dirt. Collins wound up throwing a huge sinker that looked like it would hit the dirt except the batter got a piece of it. But not enough as it dribbled a few feet up the first base line. “Mine! Mine!” Hunter yelled as he waved off the pitcher running at the ball. He scooped it up in his catcher's glove making a clean transition on his throw barely beating the batter with his throw to first. The call was out and Hunter pumped his fist in celebration running over to the first baseman and pounding his bicep against his friends. He walked the ball over the Collins and gave him some soft noogies on the head as the team made their way off the field triumphant to start the season. “Brilliant work Collins. Complete game to start the season? This is gonna be a great year!” March - 3 - 2012 Tempe, Arizona It’s the bottom of the seventh inning in the Arizona State Sun Devils home game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. The Sun Devils are down 6-4. Hunter stands in the on deck circle swinging his weighted bat around to keep himself warm. “Let’s go Robertson! Get us started.” Hunter sits waiting as the pitch comes in and is fouled. The ball zooms by Hunter’s feet as he jumps over it narrowly avoiding getting hit. The ball flies through the opening of the dugout hitting a gatorade cooler sending electrolytes everywhere. “Damn man, sorry! I’ll let you concentrate, all you gotta do is say so. But you better get on base for me after that.” Hunter waits as the next few pitches come in. Robertson is standing at the plate with a 2-2 count as he waits for the pitch. He nails the ball over the infield’s heads as it drops in the grass rolling between center and left field. “Go! Go!” Hunter calls for him to run to second base, but the first base coach stops him. And rightfully so as the left fielder gets the ball in fast hitting the shortstop before Robertson would have gotten there. He stands at first removing his helmet and gloves and handing them to the first base coach. Hunter taps the weight off his bat as he makes sure his gloves are tight. He turns to head towards the plate. “Werth! Werth, get over here. Rendon’s pinch hitting. Get out there Rendon.” Rendon grabs his bat and runs up the steps making his way past the Hunter as they slap hands. Hunter looks confused though heading back to the dugout. He puts his bat back in it’s slot and puts his helmet in it’s also before heading over to his coach. “Coach, what’s up?” “Hunter, go talk to coach Davidson. And know this, the team’s got your back. I’m sorry.” “Coach?” “Just go talk to Coach Davidson, you’ll understand. Again, I’m sorry.” Hunter doesn’t move, staring at his manager. He doesn’t move for a second before turning back and looking down the bench. Coach Davidson is at the end on the dugout phone. He’s nodding his head and talking to someone as he turns and looks at Hunter motioning for him to come over to him. Hunter takes a deep breath making his way down the bench unsure what to feel. “Yeah, he’s here now. I’m going to let him know… thanks for calling us.” Hunter stops and looks at his coach for a second. “What’s up coach?” “Hunter, I just got a call from a doctor at Banner Desert Medical Center. He told me he was told by your mother how to get ahold of you.” “Is someone hurt? What’s up? What is this?” “Your mother told him to call Hunter. It seems she collapsed at home and had to be taken to the hospital via ambulance.” Hunter’s heart sunk in his chest. He almost felt as if he couldn’t breathe for a moment. He slowly sat down on the bench putting his hand out and his coach helped him sit. A few of his teammates noticed him in trouble and started to get up to come over but coach Davidson waved them off. Hunter opened his eyes wide trying to gain his bearings again. “Hunter, you alright? You need some water?” “I’m fine, I think. Well, I mean I’m not fine… I think my head is clearing up now. But I’m not fine… do you know what happened?” He looks up at his coach his eyes welling with fear. His coach looks as if he wished he had all the answers to give his young player, but he did not. He shook his head as he spoke. “They only told us that she had fallen and was taken to the hospital. I’m really sorry Hunter. But we have a team van out front of the stadium ready to take you to the hospital. Let us know if we can do anything else and keep us updated.” Hunter got to his feet. He leaned against a cooler for a second before he started making his way towards the exit of the dugout. “Thanks coach. Tell everyone I really appreciate it.” Hunter walked down the steps into the clubhouse to make his way to the team van. March - 3 - 2012 Mesa, Arizona Hunter walked through the lobby of the hospital. Making his way to the front desk. He stopped waiting for the woman behind the desk to notice him. She finally noticed Hunter, dressed in his baseball uniform standing in front of her. She waited for him to speak as she smiled. “Hi, I’m Hunter. I’m looking for my mom. Carol Werth.” He caught himself. “I’m sorry, Carol Fletcher.” “Just one second, hun.” She then began typing and looking at her computer monitor. After a few moments she looked up telling him she was still being treated in the Emergency Department. She pointed towards a long hallway that would take him to the area he was looking for. “Thank you.” Hunter turned and headed towards the hallway she had pointed him to. Once he got near it, it popped open. And there holding the door open for him was Peter Fletcher, Hunter’s step-father. He had an annoyed look on his face as Hunter walked through the door he held open. The two then made their way down the hallway towards the Emergency Department. “How’s my mom?” A few second of silence before Peter responded. “She’s not doing too well right now. She’s broken her wrist in the fall.” “Oh no. Is she doing okay? How’s her pain? They taping it up?” The rapid questions were too much for the already annoyed Peter. He stopped walking turning to Hunter. “No she’s not okay Hunter. She IS in pain, and they’re not taping it up because they have other worries.” “Other worries?” “Yeah, they wanted to know why she had fainted so they did some checks. And it turns out she’s got some lumps on her breast that they are checking out now.” Hunter’s face went from concern to pure anguish. He could barely make out words. “Wh-- W--- Wha-- What?” “She shouldn’t have been on that stool getting that stuff. She wouldn’t have been either had you been there. What the hell were you doing?” Hunter’s anguish turned to anger in a matter of seconds. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Actually he could, it was just like Peter to blame everything on Hunter. Hunter moved his hands up and down his body showing off his uniform. “I was at my game Peter. I was in the middle of it actually. I couldn’t have helped her.” “You should have helped her. You should have been home.” “Peter, are you serious? I play baseball to put myself through school. It’s the closest thing to a job that I have.” Peter shakes his head turning to walk back down the hallway towards the ED. Hunter runs catching up the Peter and putting his hand on his arm. Peter pulls away from Hunter giving him a look. “Peter, this isn’t my fault. It’s not your fault either.” “Of course it’s not my fault. I was at work, trying to provide for all of us while you were off playing a game.” Hunter wanted to punch him where he stood. This was a typical interaction between the two, but Hunter would never act on it. He loved his mom too much. So he endured Peter’s torture until the day he knew he would finally get out from under his roof. College was going to be that time, but his mom had decreased energy lately and Hunter was staying back at home and driving to school to help her around the house. “Let’s just go find my mom. Okay? I want to see her.” “Follow me.” Hunter shook his head as he followed behind Peter. Once in the Emergency Department, they made their way to his mother’s room. She wasn’t there, but Hunter’s step-sister Paige was. The two hugged as they waited for her or her doctor to return to the room. |
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