Sunday, June 11, 2000

Bode's pain eased with joyous slide

AUSTIN - For six long, wet, sloppy, torturous innings Saturday, Matt Bode felt like the loneliest person among the thousands at Disch-Falk Field.
   But if baseball really is a game of inches, then Bode now understands why.
   Because at precisely 6:46 p.m., by a matter of inches, Matt Bode's life changed.
   His slick slide in the ninth inning just inches under the tag of Port Neches Grove catcher Bo Wortham's tag changed Bode's state championship game story into a storybook.
   And you have to feel good about his final chapter.
   Reversal of fortune
   In the span of seconds, Bode - Calallen's sophomore second baseman and the only non-senior starter for the Wildcats - went from the guy who made two errors on the same play to the guy who delivered Calallen High School its first baseball state championship in six attempts.
   But Bode's day did not start out as grand.
   In the third inning, Port Neches Grove scored five runs to take the lead, in part because of Bode's two errors on what may have been a routine groundout on any other day.
   But Saturday was wet, and as Bode tried to cover second base, he slipped when he had to move to his right to field the ball. And then when he finally found the ball, he slipped again.
   Two errors. One play.
   No runs scored, but it did open things up for the Trojans' big inning. Bode knew the importance.
   "I was really down on myself," Bode said. "That opened up a really big inning."
   His Wildcat teammates, however, were supportive.
   "They said, 'Don't worry. This isn't gonna bother us at all,'" Bode said.
   He got pats on the back, words of encouragement. They didn't make him feel any better.
   "Not good. Not good at all," Bode said. "That's why after scoring that run, it made up for all of it."
   The winning slide
   This is how Bode transformed himself into the most popular Wildcat at Disch-Falk:
   His chopper to third base was good enough to land him safely at first base, though not without a collision with Trojans first baseman Cody Clark. Bode moved to second base on a wild throw.
   And then, when Brandon Wittner hit a single to shallow left-center, Bode was on his way.
   The next few moments will become blurs of memory, flashes of a story for Bode. Even before Wittner's shot landed, the crowd stood up. Bode already was well on his way, chugging toward a waiting Steve Chapman in the third-base coaching box, and toward his slide into the record books.
   "I knew it was a scoring play as soon as the ball was hit," Bode said.
   "Pick it up! Pick it up!" Chapman was yelling, his arm a frantic windmill, urging Bode home.
   So Bode ran faster. Even as Ryan Norton's throw came screaming back toward home plate, Bode heard the crowd, saw Wortham readying for the play, and continued to run.
   Slide. Catch. Tag.
   Too late.
   One for the ages
   The crowd roared. Bode never even saw umpire Paul Burnett give the "safe" sign. But he did hear the crowd. And he knew. As soon as teammate Derek Ruschhaupt hugged him, the rest of the Wildcats were on top of them.
   "I didn't see it coming in. All I saw was home plate," Bode said. "I just dove. I heard everything. I knew I was safe. But I don't remember anything after that. All I remember is the whole team on top of me."
   It is a memory that likely will never leave him. He has two years left to star at Calallen and make more memorable plays for the Wildcats, two more chances to win another championship and be the hero again.
   But can he top Saturday?
   He doesn't even have to.
  
  

 
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