At first Tracy Oldziejewski wasn’t sure if she’d be able to go to Game 5 of the National League Championship Series.
For the South Jersey native and her five girlfriends, it was a struggle to get playoff tickets.
“We just started dialing the ticket office for an hour straight,” Tracy Donohue, Oldziejewski’s friend, told NBC10.
Luckily they were able to get seats in home run alley, setting the stage for the biggest catch of Oldziejewski’s life and the biggest hit of Bryce Harper’s career.
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Oldziejewski and more than 45,000 fans at Citizens Bank Park watched as Harper stepped up to the plate in the 8th inning Sunday night as the Padres led the Phillies 3-2.
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With the fans on their feet, Harper worked the count to 2-2. He then got a fastball -- a mere 99 mph -- from reliever Robert Suarez.
The most important swing of Harper's life generated a line drive to left field that came off the bat at 109 mph.
“And then you just heard the pop from the bat and then we all looked and we all were cheering and then the ball was coming right towards us,” Oldziejewski said.
The ball bounced near Oldziejewski as she and other fans scrambled to pick it up. Finally, she got her hands on it.
“She’s like, ‘I got it! I got it!’ And then everyone from all over was on top of us,” Oldziejewski’s sister, Cheryl Oldziejewski, told NBC10.
Since grabbing the ball, Oldziejewski has rarely let it leave its ziplock bag.
“It’s been in hiding since. So I haven’t really seen much of it,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do with it to be honest.”
After becoming a part of Phillies history, Oldziejewski hopes to go to a World Series game where luck could possibly strike again.
“Just to be a part of this history, I’ll probably remember for the rest of my life,” she said.
Oldziejewski told NBC10 she’s unsure of what she’ll do with the ball at this point. But she’ll have plenty of time to think about it as she cheers the Phillies on.
