His voice drops and he reaches for my fingers at the net, “I love you, Sherry.”
I smile, unable to speak and when he turns to walk out to the bull pen and warm up our pitcher I yell, “I love you, Rick!” He runs back to me and gives me a quick kiss through the net, before he kicks it into high gear and full baseball mode.
The ceremonial pregame hoopla starts and they announce I’m leading karaoke in the eighth inning. It sends a shock through me and a rush of adrenaline. I’m excited and can’t wait to find out what I’m singing. The big screen says:
Vote until the end of the sixth inning for the eighth inning karaoke song on social media using
#sealskaraoke and your pick
#LoveRunsOut #ComeHome
#ThinkingOutLoud #TheWarrior
I love it! Now I know what the options are. Which one do I want? I should vote! Leading karaoke on the field. I performed all of them in the competition. Don’t freak out. I have to wait and see what the social media world decides. I wonder who votes and how that’ll impact the results.
Rick is walking toward the plate and yells at me, “Get out of your head, my queen! You got this.” He does that thing where he points two fingers at his eyes and then at me a couple of times, like he’s telling me to focus because we got this.
“Woooooo! Make it a win, babe!”
He smiles and nods at me as the game gets underway. I knew Rick was on point with the bat, but he’s also right there calling the game and moving like a cat behind the plate. Nothing will stop him tonight. He’s in control of the whole game and it’s moving quickly, the top half of the first done in less than five minutes. Three strike outs in a row. I should be giving some of the credit to Rhett Clay, he has come far since his debut and his arm is a live wire. Bottom of the first, Cross leads off with a double. Mason walks. Martin strikes out. Seno is hitting fourth and connects on the second pitch. The ball bounces off the right field wall and the rookie in right field can’t come up with it, Rick turns it into a triple sending Cross and Mason home. 2-0 Seals. Lucky gets a single. Rock hits into a double play and onto the next inning. The next few innings are uneventful. Rick hits a ground ruled double, the ball bounced over the wall, but nobody brought him home. Colorado is still scoreless in the fifth, and the Seals are giving a hitting demonstration. The bases are loaded and they keep pushing each other around the bases with singles and doubles. Rick starts the inning with a single and I get a shiver, he’s a home run away from hitting for a cycle. When he runs across home plate and smiles at me, I yell, “Get a Homer!” He glares at me funny and continues into the dugout. The merry-go-round on the bases and with two out, my Rick is back in the batter’s box with bases loaded. Colorado brings in a new pitcher. Rick chokes up on his bat, turns to me and smiles before he focuses on the pitch. Strike, Rick swings and misses. Strike, right down the middle of the plate. The third pitch and I hear it smack, I jump out of my seat screaming because I know he hit it out of the park. Rick watches the ball fly out of the park as he drops his bat and turns to me as he pounds his fist into the air and runs the bases. 10-0 Seals. Lucky strikes out ending the inning.
Top of the sixth, the big screen is showing the current voting results with a few minutes left to vote for the karaoke song. It looks like the two OneRepublic songs have split their share of the vote and the other two are running close with “Thinking Out Loud” ahead by a small margin. I run up to use the ladies room before the seventh inning stretch, so I don’t have to pee when I’m on field. Mike with the Mic catches me on the concourse and tells me that I’m singing “Thinking Out Loud.”
Text from Rick - With you singing in the eighth, the win is a lock!
One out in the bottom of the seventh, no score change and a Seals representative escorts me from my seat to the field gate. We wait there for a few minutes and I watch Rock hit a solo home run. Colorado goes down one, two, three in the top of the eighth inning and I’m rushed onto the field near home plate as I hear Mike with the Mic over the PA, “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Batter Up Karaoke competition winner Sherry to lead your eighth inning karaoke tonight. You voted on the song and chose her wild card song, the final song she sang in competition. Please sing along to ‘Thinking Out Loud!’” I hear cheering from the Seals dugout and watch the karaoke start up on the big screen. I’m looking around to see where Rick is because I’ve never sung this song without him. I hear the crowd cheering me on from the section behind home plate and it makes me think of him, what he hears when I cheer for him. I’m singing the song and happy with myself for not freezing in front of this huge number of people. The baseball park has always been my happy place and I’m relaxed here. Rick is walking toward home plate in full gear about halfway through the song and I figure they’re going to cut the song short because of the game timing. But, none of the other players are on the field. As soon as I see him, my emotions flow and I hear the song
