First Game Back

I wrote not too long ago about throwing my first bullpen since my injury. Today I'm going to write about my first outing since my injury. My last official outing was on July 1st in Holland, so it had been nearly four months since I pitched in a game. The Sydney Blue Sox had an exhibition game last week against the Manly Eagles who are a top grade team that play in the Sydney State League and I was on the roster to play against them.

I was scheduled to throw the 6th inning of the game. So I started to stretch and get ready around the end of the 4th inning. It was a nice warm day in Manly so it didn't take me too long at all to get ready. After about 12 pitches in the pen, I entered the game in the 6th inning. I had to face the 4, 5 and 6 hitters in the Manly line up.

The first pitch I threw was a strike pulled foul, so I was glad to start my first hitter off with a strike. The next pitch however was a slider that the hitter hit straight back at me that left me laying flat on the ground. Luckily the infielders up the middle made the play to get the out. As I got back up I was thinking to myself "Of course the first batter I face will hit the ball straight back at me". I still don't have full range of motion in my left arm, so fielding come backer's are still a small concern for me to field, but luckily I got out of the way of this one. I then struck out the next two batters I faced to end the inning. I'm not sure if I actually took a breath out there on the mound, but man it felt good to be back.