The Little League
Is demanding of
A ten year old

Doing something
For the first time
Without being told

Richie was a slugger
Enough to make
A pitcher shudder

Seeing him on deck
Was alarming for
A pitcher’s arm

Striking out
Richie Lopatto
Was his task at hand

With two men on
And a full count
He was in a jam

But he had a trick
Up his sleeve
A breaking roundhouse hook

He twisted his wrist
In the bottom of the sixth
Leaving Richie looking

Richie Lopatto was a great guy
Until he stepped to the plate
Then and there it was safe to say He was a big heartache

One stray pitch
That’s it
Out of here
Game over

The pitcher inhales
Right about now
And deliberates

Striking out Richie Lopatto
Was his task at hand
With two men on and a full count
He was in a jam

But his roundhouse hook
Tucked in tightly
Nicely in
The catcher’s mitt

Hearing the umpire
Call strike three
Was life as
It should be

Striking out Richie Lopatto
Was his task at hand
Nothing gets much cooler
Dressed in wool in the summer