If Bryce felt nervous, he didn't show it. Which is surprising considering his debut performance yesterday. Noah said Bryce was similar to Garret, as in he could hit and pitch, but I have yet to see anything special about his pitching. Granted...I only saw him pitch to three people just yesterday.
Bryce stepped on the rubber up on the mound. The leadoff hitter had stepped up to the plate and looked more than ready to hit a pitch outta here. He came pretty close, hitting a long fly down the first baseline, but Sean was able to make the catch at the warning track. The first out. He's already off to a better start than James.
The second batter, the third best player in the state, stepped in the batter's box. With a glance at Noah, I took note how he hung back, practically on the grass. I followed suit.
Bryce faced him with determination, trying out his fastest pitch on the outside corner. Ball. He aimed for the same spot, but caught the corner or the strike zone for a called strike one. I watched on, in confusion, as he sent the third pitch to the same spot. It didn't make any sense to me why he would do that. Especially to one of the best high school players.
The batter punished Bryce for his mistake by hitting a stand-up double off the outfield wall. He stood proudly on second base as Noah and I exchanged looks. Bryce didn't inspire any confidence in me even though he's doing slightly better than James. I wiggled my shoulders, trying to stay loose.
The third batter, who reached on error last inning got ready to bat. On a 2-2 count, he smacked another grounder down the third baseline. Daniel didn't rush, fielded the ball, made sure the runner on second wasn't going, and was able to throw the batter out at first. The second out. For the first time this morning, instead of letting out a sigh of disappointment, I let out a sigh of relief.
The relief didn't last long. Bryce's pitches started to become wild and missed the strike zone. He walked batters four and five, loading up the bases.
"Just get it over the plate!" Noah clapped with his glove a few times, trying to encourage our sophomore pitcher on the mound. "Force out at any base. Plus you can get him to pop out."
Bryce glanced back at him, gave a nod, then put his focus back on the sixth batter in the box. I remembered the sixth's batter last at bat, since he snuck a bloop single over my head last time. Bryce was able to trap him into a 1-2 count, putting him on the defensive. Bryce aimed a fastball on the far side of the strike zone. The batter swung, hitting the ball near the end of his bat, sending a grounder between me and Julian. I moved to the ball as Julian moved to the base. I played the way I faced, fielding the ball and focused on throwing a perfect ball to Julian, not minding the runners.
"Out!" The umpire behind first made the call, signaling the end of their offensive, letting us escape without giving up another run.
We headed to the dugout, feeling a little more energized. Bryce, Noah, and I would get to start off the third inning.
As Bryce stepped into the box, Noah watched from the on deck circle, and I from just inside the dugout. Bryce swung at every pitch, and missed, causing the umpire to yell out "strike" multiple times. Which, in turn, made me flinch three times until Bryce struck out.
I felt on edge as I stepped in the on deck circle, trying to mentally prepare myself for my at bat. Noah started his at bat, not bothering to swing at the pitches he couldn't reach. Instead he focused on just trying to get a piece of what was close, pushing the count to 2-1. Then he fouled one back. 2-2. A high fastball. 3-2. Then one below the knees. 4-2. A walk. He tossed his bat to us as he jogged to first.
The bat landed near me and I started to imagine that it was the one from my dream. I avoided the bat by ten feet, no doubt looking a bit odd as I moved to the lefty's box. Someone from our dugout would have to grab that bat. I'm not even in the right frame of mind to think about it, let alone touch it.
Mr. Miller signed for me to swing and for Noah to run at the first sound of contact. A hit and run. We need it. I took a deep breath and faced one of the fastest pitchers I've ever come across. Touching the ball doesn't seem to be a problem, but trying to aim is. Last at bat, I was too much in a hurry to get away from the ump.
This time I tried to tune it out and focused on what the pitcher threw. His first pitch was right down the middle, urging me to swing, yet I held back the urge. "Strike!" I fixed my grip and waited for the next pitch. A ball near my knees. 1-1. The next pitch wasn't as fast, but it had some movement and look to drift to the far side of the strike zone for me. I didn't know what it was, but I swung, connecting perfectly with the barrel of my bat. He zoomed right back the way it came, just narrowly missing the pitcher. I sprinted to first and Noah was already half way to second.
The shortstop seemed to come out of nowhere as he gloved my grounder, touched second base, then threw a bullet to his first baseman. A double play to end the inning. I blinked in surprise. Where did he come from? Was he cheating towards second and I didn't notice?
I made my way back to the dugout and Noah soon caught up. We switched out our gear together as he spoke.
"That was just unlucky. Don't mind. It would have been on any other given day if we weren't playing one of the best shortstops in the state and nation. He's practically a pro." Noah tried to comfort me, but it just made me feel a little dumb.
That's right. I was already told he and the pitcher were the top two players in high school baseball. Even ranked higher than Zeke. Why didn't I hit anywhere else?
"You're not using your head out there." Zeke said as we headed on out to the field. I'm not surprised Zeke could read minds; he was pretty observant. "Transition to fielding. You can reflect on your at bats in the next inning." He sent us away as Bryce was ready to face the next few batters from University Prep.
Bryce was on point in the bottom of the third. The seventh batter hit a grounder right to Julian at first base for an easy out. The next batter hit a hard grounder my way, but I was completely focused and didn't stumble in what I needed to do, throwing him out at first for the second out. The last batter mimicked his first at bat, hitting a high fly to center field, hardly making Mahki work. Still 4-0, them, as we head to the forth.