Short Story

February 8th -Short Story “Special Post #1”
Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to tonight’s game. This is you’re game of the week in high school baseball presented by Comcast sportsnet. This week we are in Jacksonville, Florida at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Baseball Grounds is home to the Jacksonville Suns, which is a minor league team affiliated with the Florida Marlins of Major League Baseball. The schools that are facing each other tonight have had a bitter sweet rival for many years. Tonight they will go head to head in a tough divisional match-up. Englewood High school Home of the Rams, will be the home team in tonight’s match-up and they are 9-3 on the season led by Coach Hart and behind the arms of Doug Hester and John Hayes. Englewood offense has been hot since the loss to Bolles School of Jacksonville. The offense is led by Derrick Jackson, Josh Dowling, and Johnny Higgins. The opponent for tonight’s match-up will be Wolfson High School Home of the Wolfpack, they are 10-2 on the season led by Coach Marabell and behind the offense of Richard Lucas and Brian Gilson. The Wolfpack pitching has been outstanding led by Greg Fountain. Richard Lucas, most likely a first to second draft prospect for the Major league draft coming up in June, will have an opportunity to show what he has tonight in front of many scouts. For years both programs have battled in a fierce rival and many pro baseball players have come out of these schools. From each school two have made it to the MLB “the show” as most people call it. The smell of freshly cut grass, the aroma of clay in the air and the fans going crazy; it’s just a baseball night in late May. Some would call this game one of the biggest not only for the standings in the division but for bragging rights around town. We just got word that tonight’s pitching duel will be on, as John Hayes and Greg Fountain will go head to head under the big lights of the Jacksonville Baseball Grounds. The attendance tonight is unbelievable. Tonight’s official count of the attendance is over thirteen hundred. These two pitchers have been unstoppable this season both pitchers have perfect records. John Hayes is 6-0 on the season with 83 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.18. Greg Fountain is 7-0 on the season with 78 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.34. John Hayes has a very strong defense behind him and that will try to counteract the powerful offense of the Wolfpack. Hayes said to us after the game “my nerves were going crazy until that first pitch I just got in a groove and was ready to go”. The Rams took the field at 7:00pm start time. The first pitch was on the way by the senior right hander John Hayes. First pitch was a strike and the fans were ecstatic. It was a great start to the game for the Rams and Wolfpack. As the game progress the tension grew tighter for each team. Words Flying, cleat spikes up on every slide, players getting hit. This is what you except from a bitter rival as this was. Some compare the rival to a Boston versus Yankees rival, just plain nasty playing. The love, the passion, and the will to win can drive you into doing stupid stuff like that sometimes; but at the same time can drive you to win the game. Both pitchers on the night have been flawless with Hayes throwing a 2 hit shutout so far with 1 hit by pitch “some say intentionally” and Fountain has been great as well with a 4 hit shutout so far and also 1 hit by pitch. Going into the bottom of the sixth inning the game is scoreless. Due up for the Rams will be Higgins, Hester, and Hayes “The three H’s”. Higgins with a 0-2 count turns on a curveball down the line for a base hit to right field. Hester comes up and bunts it down the third base line to the star prospect, Lucas fields the ball throws it to first and it gets away from the first baseman and the ball goes down the line. This puts the runners on second and third with no outs. Hayes is up, he has the opportunity to help himself out and also win this ball game. The pitch from Fountain to Hayes comes to the plate. Higgins takes off towards home as the stands of Jacksonville Baseball Grounds hold their breath, you can literally drop a pin and hear it hit the ground that’s how quiet it was. Then fans from Wolfson side scream along with their Coaches SQUEZZE!! SQUEZZE!!. Lucas sprints in from third base. Hayes squares around puts the ball down perfectly. Higgins slides in to home untouched. The umpire behind the plate screaming SAFE SAFE!!! Around 600 hundred fans of Englewood some students, parents, alumni and faculty are going crazy. The fans of Wolfson hang their heads in disappointment. All that’s left to do for the Rams is to shut down the Wolfpack offense once again. The game came to an end with an outstanding diving catch by Johnny Higgins and also Josh Dowling. John Hayes threw a complete two hit shutout and the celebration begins for the Englewood Rams. The Englewood Rams improve to 10-3 on the season and Hayes improves to 7-0 on the season. Outstanding pitching performance by both pitchers but unfortunately everyone can’t win. After the celebration at the Jacksonville Baseball Grounds, Englewood was outside the stadium talking to parents and friends. Jessica a long time friend of Hayes and many of the baseball players of Englewood got into a verbal argument with Brian Gilson one of the Wolfpack key players in the game. Gilson eventually pushed and made threats to Jessica and the boys of Englewood stood up. Hayes and catcher Eric Burney were the first to act on the situation. Hayes grabs Gilson by the throat and pushes him into a fence. Hayes was furious. Jessica was like a sister to Hayes and Gilson was actually a friend of Hayes as well. Gilson and Hayes grew up playing ball with each other at the local park in their neighborhood. Fans and parents br0ke up the little fight that was going and the boys of Englewood got onto their bus and drove back to their school. At this time Hayes gets a phone call from Jessica, she is screaming and yelling HELP!!! Please come HELP!!. The boys of Englewood rush to Jessica’s aid to find Gilson in front of her house throwing bottles and all kinds of stuff at the house and at Jessica’s car. Gilson runs into his car once he sees the multitudes of people coming after him. Hayes and many others punch or kick Gilson’s little Honda Accord. Glass shatters, dents are made to the car on the passenger and driving sides; making Gilson outraged. The next thing that comes up is very graphic and not suitable for all ages. Gilson calls for back up not just back up but for ABR which is one of Jacksonville’s most feared gangs. ABR stands for Albanian, Bosnian and Russian gang. The ABR members don’t care who they hurt or how they hurt them, as long as it gets done. The boys of Englewood decide to meet up with Gilson not knowing ABR was behind him. Around 11:30 at night after the win of the biggest game of the season for the Englewood Rams. The Rams experienced a night they won’t forget, as the boys of Englewood sit and wait for the arrival of Gilson. Gilson shows up with 20 cars full with at least 4 people in each. There were around 80 ABR members with bats, brass knuckles, lead pipes, beer bottles, knifes, and guns. Some Englewood boys got in their cars and sped off. Some were stuck by a truck driven by the girls. The girls were leaving when an ABR member jumped on their truck and distracted the driver making her swerve and hit a pole. Hitting the pole not only totaled her car but one of the ABR members was in critical condition and two Englewood boys were in critical condition as well. One member of the ABR was run over by an Englewood boy trying to leave the massacre behind. The damage was done to all the cars ABR destroyed every windshield smashing it with their feet and hands. Bullets were flying in the cool air until it found a home in the bodies of Josh Dowling and John Hayes. The two players from Englewood were hit and went straight to the ground. At this time Jacksonville Sheriff Officers (JSO) finally showed up after several calls to them were failed or thought of the Englewood boys were joking around. Jacksonville Sheriff Officers showed up right in time to stop the ABR from doing more damage. There was one cop that saved the lives of Josh Dowling and John Hayes until rescue was able to show up. The members of ABR were being apprehended down the road by ten to fifteen cops. When they finally got everyone in custody the gun was not found. There were tons of weapons that JSO found and accused Gilson for every one of them. At the hospital that night something changed Hayes, something his friends couldn’t describe or his family comprehend. Dowling was fine, his gunshot wound was a straight through shot right through his leg. Hayes’ gunshot wound was to the chest 5cm from his heart and 2cm from his main artillery. A near death experience shows a person that you have to thank God everyday for what you have and don’t take it for granted. John Hayes missed the rest of the season and Englewood lost in the playoffs to Gainesville in the opening round. Hayes tells us today “I don’t regret what happened to me, I don’t regret my past but I just look forward to what’s next and you just have to follow God.” In the interview with Hayes he says “he is not bitter at Gilson” but he even said “I would like to thank him for getting my life straight and I give him credit for helping me get there.” To the baseball celebration to the horror in one night the Englewood boys and the life of Hayes was unfolded and turned around. To this day ABR is strong within the Jacksonville community along with tons of other gangs. John Hayes plans to help the issue in Jacksonville by joining local charities and other organizations. To show young adults and kids that gangs are not the way to go and you could turn around and be set free. The main verse Hayes tells the kids is “to live is Christ, to die is gain.” What Hayes tries to get across to many young kids is that on the road of gang affiliation there’s only two options: six feet under the ground or in an 8 by 6 steel bar cell. Hayes tells them repeatedly “you choose not me, I have already chosen my course” What will you do?