Article: Brush with Success; Natale able to laugh after taking Schilling's best pitch - in the head

Hamden's Jeff Natale couldn't help but feel a little star struck when he stepped into the batter's box for his first spring training at-bat last month in Fort Myers, Fla. He settled into his stance and looked out to see none other than Curt Schilling glaring down at him from the mound. "The guy's a legend," said Natale, a 32nd round draft pick of the Red Sox out of Trinity College last June. "It was awesome."

Natale grew up a Red Sox fan and watched Schilling countless times over the past few years. So he was well aware of Schilling's arsenal. The mid-90s fastball. The biting splitter. But the fuzzy feeling turned to brief terror when Natale got an up-close look at a new pitch Schilling ...

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