05/03/2026
There is a motivational quote that says "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." - Norman Vincent Peale
Harlow was trying her best to combine all three factors--Fundamentals, Speed, and Accuracy. Her dad and I were encouraging her to be confident, to really go for it, not to hold back. "Don't worry about where it goes." I said. "Just give it 100%." And, so she did! She burst off the mound, thinking hard about her fundamentals, just as I encouraged her to do. The only problem is that she forgot one very important thing--to RELEASE the ball! Her arm flew right past her hip, ball still in hand. By the time her body realized it, it was too late, the ball was headed up at a sharp angle, narrowly missing the first light, somehow sneaking under the board which is in place to protect the light during hitting lessons. We all stood there in shock as the ball never came back down. It was stuck! Stuck in the rafters, lodged between a piece of wood used to brace the ceiling joists and the electrical wire rod. We all burst out laughing! How could this have possibly happened!? Talk about a 'One in a million', 'Couldn't do it again, if you tried'--kind of pitch.
Harlow, slunk down along the back wall, initially shocked from the loud impact and mildly embarrassed. But after seeing my reaction, of "Wow, congratulations, that's amazing! No one has ever done that before! You are the first person to ever throw a pitch that hasn't come back down." her embarrassment faded. Her glove no longer hid her face as she made her way over for a closer look. Once she saw her unintended achievement, she became delighted in her feat--asking to keep the ball. Though I turned down her request, I immortalized it with these pictures.
These pictures truly show the process Harlow's emotions went through in the moments following the pitch. She could have continued comfortably throwing strikes at 60% effort, and the lesson would have appeared very successful. But, I know that athletes grow most when tested with opportunities where success isn't always guaranteed. Coaches/parents/mentors, there is no failure in trying. Each result, intended or unintended, provides feedback for future attempts. This pitch created a coachable moment--a chance to applaud the effort more than the result. By establishing a stable, predictable response, we give our athletes confidence to try without fear.
Harlow will always remember the time she threw a pitch that never came down. I'll remember her smile as she looked up at the ball. The basement is a safe place to fail, where there is no pressure to be perfect, and all are encouraged to try their best regardless of the result.
As a fun side note, let's do the math:
On average each pitcher throws about 160 pitches each lesson (drills & mound). If I have about 5 lessons a day, that's 800 pitches a day, which comes out to 4000 pitches a week (Monday-Friday). If I give lessons about 45 weeks a year, that's 180,000 pitches a year. I started Nucleus in 2020, so that's six years of lessons, giving a grand total of 1,080,000 pitches thrown!
Congratulations, Harlow, that's truly a One in a Million pitch!
Google has now updated the quote to read: "Shoot for the strike zone, even if you miss, you'll land among the rafters." - Linnea Utecht 😜
