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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#136: The Old College Try

Though its origins are debated, it looks likely that the phrase “the old college try” was first used in baseball. According to Babe Ruth, to “give something the old college try” is to keep going, even when the odds are stacked against you — like chasing a flyball out into foul territory, just in case you somehow make the impossible catch.

There’s a lot to be said for those who keep trying despite knowing that their chances are slim. This week’s prompts take a closer look at those determined (or perhaps foolhardy) folk among us. After all, as the saying goes, God loves a trier.

This week's prompts

Start or end your story with someone saying “You’ll never know unless you try.”

Dialogue – 57 stories

Write about somebody who knows they’re probably going to fail at something, but does it anyway.

Narrative – 32 stories

Write about a character giving something one last shot.

Narrative – 51 stories

Set your story on a baseball field.

Middle School – 39 stories

Write a story where hard work doesn’t pay off.

Angst – 28 stories

Stories

“To Phoenix is No Myth” by Amanda J Rounds

Submitted to Contest #136

Frantically I just kept pressing the “LIKE” button as though the more I hit it, the more it would come back to me. Isn’t that what they say? What you give, you get. Well, I was in need of being liked. Right now I was greasy and grimy and unshowered behind the computer screen, a pathetic unwashed dollop of depression. I could smell myself: morning breath mingling with the stale musk of 9 hours of sweating under sheets. I loathed myself. My tangled, dark hair was completely in my face, but somehow the agitation was needed. I felt brushing it a...

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“Limited Brotherhood.” by Kelvin Joseph

Submitted to Contest #136

Contains Abusive Language. “What do you take me for…” “What …” “Don’t bullshit me Ryan. What do you take me for?” “Bro … what’s … what’s this about?” “Was she worth it?” “Oh … um … you know how it goes man.” “No I don’t! In fact, I have no idea! What’s wrong with you!?” “… You know… sometimes things just happen… it’s never my fault.” “Was she worth it? Was that smile worth it? I mean how many times would you be doing the same thing expecting different results? See cute eyes, and be like oh bro, look at this one, I think she’s falling in lo...

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“Reanimating Irwin” by Bill Richter

Submitted to Contest #136

Harriet had broken up with me three months before and I still felt devastated. We’d only been going out for three or three and a half months, depending on how one looked at what our first date was. That’s been in dispute, but I’ve always gone with three and half and I thought I was in love and that we could have had a real future together and at least for a while, I thought she felt the same way. In hindsight, I can see how my disappearing and not telling her where I was for a day or two a few times started to wear on her, but the time we sp...

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“Recipe for Failure” by Timothy Cormack

Submitted to Contest #136

Sensitive Content Tags: Questionable porn mentioned "You don't need to make a folder. Just share the document." Ashley rubbed her forehead, closing her eyes tightly. The pressure sometimes helped with the headaches. “How do I do that?” Aidan asked, sounding annoyed and embarrassed. Ashley had only one Bluetooth earpiece in so that she could hear her show. Cowboy Bebop; the original anime, not the live-action remake. But she could still hear the slight whine in his typically cool, deep voice. “There is a big blu...

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“Goldy Locks” by L Parolini

Submitted to Contest #136

The concrete hit my skull hard, making an almost comical thump as I landed clumsily onto the cold floor. Dazed for a moment I lay quietly, looking up at the ceiling. I had never noticed how uneven it was, how many cracks were hidden under the thin layer of wallpaper. Each crack, a reason for the paint to chip. In the dark, I also could see a few spider webs, and I wondered where they went. I realized then that I had never seen a spider in its web. Not once. In 23 years. How odd. I examined the broken fibers scattered around me, shamelessly d...

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“Slough” by Victoria Luu

Submitted to Contest #136

**Contains some adult language.My hair may be touched by gray, and sure there's much less up top than there used to be, but I can darn well hold open a door. Beauty before age, my dear, so do go on. Unless you're meaning to flatter this here gentleman. In that case, I'll take the compliment, but I insist, after you. There's strength in these arms yet, but not so much to be standing in doorways all day. And at my age, you'll understand, I hardly have the time. Mind your step though; there's a bit of a dip.You mustn't have been here before; us...

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“"My Team"” by Patricia Striar Rohner

Submitted to Contest #136

MY TEAM The announcer brags that it’s a beautiful day at Fenway, seventy degrees, sun with scattered clouds, and a perfect time to be at the ballpark. The team wears red, and the crowd is noisy. The fans want a win, which is not anything new, but the Nation needs a lift. The big guy plans to hit at least one homer, and the slim black player named Buddy is aiming to steal a few bases. I watch as the team scatters and the bullpen pitchers walk across the field. They're a sturdy looking group, young, muscled, and strapping. My friend, Barbara, ...

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“Game 7” by Kit M

Submitted to Contest #136

Content warning: strong language and a touch of blood Weaver feels his middle finger tug familiarly against the seam of the practice baseball and a nauseating slickness bloom between the ball and his hand as he releases it. He forces himself to follow through completely before stopping to look at the bright red blood dripping like water from the ripped callous that had been healing and re-opening since a start in Chicago two months earlier. Dammit. Clark, having noticed both the stain on the ball and his starter unprepared to receive a...

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“The At-Bat” by Cody Cooper

Submitted to Contest #136

I still remember the plate appearance vividly. My last college at-bat. I still remember the crowds cheering louder than the half-filled stadium would suggest. I still remember my hands being so sweaty from nerves that it was a minor miracle that the sweat didn’t seep through my batting gloves and cause me to lose my grip on the bat. I still remember the pitcher, a closer for East Texas who ended up a fourth-round draft pick by the Pirates named Diablo Reed. I still remember how clean my uniform was because I had yet to get on base at any poi...

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“Whatever Happened to Joey "Yank" Yankovich” by Michael Pelepko

Submitted to Contest #136

It’s 2005 and the Houston Astros, with their rising star homerun hitter Carlos Beltran will finally be playing in their first World Series; back in 1969, they were called the Colt .45’s and they sat at home and watched on TV while their 1962 counterparts in the expansion of National League Baseball – “The Amazin’ New York Mets” – became World Series Champions…I knew the Mets were going to do what they did back then, and I predicted it. I woul have nothing really better to do with my life, because I was no longer a real baseball player...I ha...

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“I tried, I failed” by G W

Submitted to Contest #136

There’s something. I know there’s something. This can’t be it. It can’t be it. I have dreams, you know. I wanted things from life. This is the dream? The great life I was promised, where the hell is it? I promise, I swear, I’ve looked. Where did you find yours? I can’t keep looking forever. I’m too tired, I just can’t do it. I wanted to be an astronaut. I thought the planet was pretty. I don’t even believe that anymore. They all die, astronauts. Maybe that’s why I wanted to be one. I’ve cried so many times, you need to believe me. I never st...

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“The Necessary Frontier” by Cassidy Gray

Submitted to Contest #136

I climb the hard aluminum stairs with as much conviction as I can muster. People around me jeer and cry things out that seem to bounce off my ears. "You can’t do it!" "It's a suicide mission!" "Why are you doing this?!" I raise myself higher, step by step. Until I stand facing The sleek metal bulk of the spaceship. As I sink into the soft leathery seat. Wrapping myself in various belts and buckles designed to keep me from not dying, I freeze. For the first time I'm having second thoughts. Why AM I doing this? When I first volunteered to go ...

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$250

Prize money

207

Contest entries

100

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 11, 2022 EST

Won by Howard Halsall 🏆

Title: Cigarettes: A Romance

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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