"Ding!"
A metal bat connecting with a ball always made me flinch, especially when I'm not paying attention. I wasn't able to see the ball come off the bat, but with Noah suddenly leaping to his right, with his left arm stretched out, I knew where it must have went.
I watched on as Noah snatched the line drive before it could bounce or even sneak pass him. He landed on his side, keeping his gloved hand in the air, showing off the ball.
The second base umpire pumped his fist. "Out!"
Even though we were the away team, a few claps could be heard from our side of the stands. I looked over and saw Mr. and Mrs. Atkins applauding, but they weren't the only ones. Some of the softball players had also clapped and I could hear a "Nice catch!" from somewhere.
Noah got on his knees and threw the ball back to Dave on the mound. "Nice pitching!"
Dave just grinned back at him. "Good one kiddo." He turned back to home plate to face the new batter.
Noah jumped up and brushed some of the infield dirt off his uniform. He caught me looking and smiled at me too. "One out! Two to go!" He got loud. Some of the teammates repeated after him.
For some reason, I started to smile too. That player had what should have been at least a single, but Noah just snatched it from the gap. Talk about being robbed...in my mind, that's worse then a non home run. At least I made it on base and drove in some runs.
With everyone back into position, Dave got back to work. The second batter hit a pitiful high fly to Mahki in left field. He got underneath with time to spare and caught the second out. The third out of the inning was a routine grounder to Noah, who easily fielded it to Julian. We jogged back to the dugout in high spirits.
Dave stayed in his bubble and didn't talk to anyone. It was a little strange not to hear his chatter throughout the course of the game. Even when he was in the bullpen, he would be jabbering away. The only words I really heard him say since warm ups was that compliment to Noah.
We would start the inning with Jason, Julian and Dave. The good vibes seem to be flowing as we started strong. Jason singled and Julian walked. As a new pitcher came in for Porterville, I saw how zoned out Dave looked. Maybe zoned out wasn't the right phrase. His eyes were focused on the mound, but not on the pitcher. It was like he couldn't wait to get back out there and work his way to his own perfect game.
"Is he going to be alright up there?" I asked Noah with a slight frown.
Noah shook his head and sighed. "He's not thinking about batting or offense at all. Chances are...he'll strike out. At least that would be better than a double play."
I guess. I just can't see what's so great about pitching. Hitting was more fun.
True to Noah's prediction, Dave struck out looking on three pitches. Not like he was looking at the pitches. He had something else on his mind.
Tony moved to the batter's box, Kelvin to the on deck circle, and Noah was in the hole. He had already put on his helmet and grabbed his bat. Now he was tightening his batting gloves as if they could be loose.
I also put on my helmet and grabbed my bat. I ran my fingers over it a few times and decided it would need some care tonight. I could feel a few splinters that needed to be sanded down in case they caused problems later on.
As I moved to stand beside Noah, he whispered to me. "Do you think Tony can get another hit? I really want to get an at bat with multiple runners on. Maybe I could push us to ten, and then Dave will shut them out. It would be a perfect mercy ruled game. Unique right?"
"Can it be considered a perfect game if he doesn't pitch all seven innings..?" I asked, not sure about the rules for classifications.
Noah paused. Blinked. Blinked again. His mouth opened, yet nothing came out. I guess he didn't know. Or at least, didn't even think about it.
Tony hit a big one to distract us from the question at hand. It went down the first baseline to the corner of the field, making the right fielder chase it down. Both Jason and Julian scored, making the score 9-0. Tony slid into second even though a throw didn't come to try and get him out. He stood up and smiled at the dugout that cheered for him.