I felt the hot sun dawning down on me from above, and the warm spring air filled my lungs. Swoosh, POP!!! The baseball slammed into the catcher's mitt. I was now up to bat, my hands became slippery with sweat, my baseball bat slowly became heavier, and all my bravery and confidence was fading away as my cleats dug into the light brown dirt. My body froze, I couldn’t move. I felt my insides twisting as the crowd cheered me on. “Hey, batter you’re up,” I walked up to the batter's box, it felt like the whole world was on my shoulders. I got in my batting stance and watched what looked like a 100 mph pitch fly by me. “Strike one,” said the umpire. The pitch went right down the middle but I couldn’t swing. I stayed in the batter's box, my body was frozen, another pitch was thrown, this one even faster, and the impact of the ball hitting the glove sounded like an explosion. At this point, I was sure I wasn’t going to get a hit, I was in so much doubt I wasn’t even making an effort to swing. I had 2 strikes and no balls, if I got another strike I would be out. I took a step out of the batter's box hoping maybe someone would comfort me, and then my friend, who was the only other 3rd grader on the 4th-grade team yelled at me, “C’mon Talon you got this,” after that everything changed. I thought to myself that it was stupid to be this much of a coward just because I was scared to disappoint the older kids. A whole new perspective came into my mind. I was now thinking that if I hit this ball the old kids would be proud of me and I could be a hero in our game, my heart started beating slower as I stepped back into the batter's box with a whole new mindset. I focused on the ball as it flew toward me, I lowered my head, and POP! The ball was ripped into the right field. As I ran to first base I felt like I was gliding with the wind, I rounded first base and slid into second. The crowd cheered me on as I got the first hit in the inning and it gave us momentum in our dry hitting streak. Standing on second base I couldn’t believe what I had just done, I had hit a double against the 4th-grade pitcher. Just a few minutes ago I thought getting a hit would be impossible, but it ended up happening. Now I don’t feel like the whole world is on my shoulder, I felt like I was on top of the world. When one of my teammates was up to bat, I took a two-step lead off, the bittersweet taste of scoring a run was on the tip of my tongue. The pitch was thrown and it was hit. I accelerated forward like a lightning bolt, the brown dirt was flying up behind me as I sprinted. Within what felt like seconds I slid into home and ran into the dugout where the whole team congratulated me with open arms. The next time I was up to bat that day I batted to win the game instead of batting to not mess up. I still reflect and think about this moment, that one at-bat will stay with me forever. If I am ever scared and am struggling with confidence I think of that moment and remind myself that if I go in with the right mindset and confidence I can overcome any fear or any adversity.