Noah was extremely focused on the pitcher. I wouldn't say that it was a good thing though. If it's his sole focus, he won't do well like how I didn't do well just focusing on getting a hit. His stance looked tight like he was too wound up. It was almost similar to his last at bat, with him not adjusting his stance. I couldn't find the words to say or figure out how to say them.
I also lacked time. Noah swing haphazardly, easily earning two strikes. On the third pitch, he made a lucky connection, only to hit a line drive right to the first baseman. I had no words of comfort as he hung his head and shuffled his feet, going back to the dugout. He's been in a slump, but besides going to the cages for practice, what else can I do?
I sighed to myself and moved to the batter's box. The pitcher by this point was drenched in sweat in the cool morning. Just looking at him made me feel tired. I know I should make him work, but...he already looks worn out. I let him push me to a full count before hitting a single to left field.
As I stood on first, proud for showing some mercy to the kid on the mound, I made eye contact with Zeke in the on deck circle. He tilted his head and I quickly dropped the smile. Sometimes it was like Zeke was a psychic and knew what I was thinking. He's like that with the twins and Noah too.
As I led off first base, preparing for a run just in case, I heard Coach Luis yell, "Back!"
Without thinking about it, I dove on first base, practically hugging the bag. Soon a pat on my back with the first baseman's glove let me know it really was a check throw.
"Safe." The umpire stated.
I peeked up and saw the first baseman throw the ball back to the pitcher. Then I slowly got up and dusted the dirt off. I went easy on him and this is how he repays me? Making me dive in the dirt? Rude. My lead off first base became shorter just in case he wanted to throw back again.
He didn't. He put his focus on the batter, Mahki. Mahki let a couple pass by for balls before swinging and connecting. He ripped one right to the shortstop and I took off sprinting.
The shortstop was smooth fielding the ball on a hop, then tossing it to his second baseman before I reached second. The second baseman then threw perfectly to the first baseman to complete the double play to end the fifth inning. Darn it.
I should have fouled every pitch till they pulled him and put somebody else in. Granted, another pitcher could probably still get the same result.
As we switched to defense, Coach came out and put Kyle in for the new pitcher. Kyle was just as efficient as Dave, but not nearly as impressive. The second batter in the lineup grounded out to Jason at third. The third batter hit a line drive to Mahki in left field. And the cleanup hitter smacked one to the outfield fence, but Zeke was able to catch it at the warning track.
Bottom of the sixth started with batters four, five, and six. Zeke was first up and first out, after hitting a high fly to center field. He steals a home run from the other team and gets one stolen. Such is life. Brian has also hit a fly ball to center field but it didn't have the distance. The center fielder sprinted in to catch the second out. Jason, who was 2-2 on the day and was looking sharp, ended the inning by striking out. Looking. The umpire was too generous to the pitcher if you ask me.
Top of the seventh brought about new pitching. Coach made Kyle sit just like he had with Dave, and then put James in. The junk thrower. Someone who didn't rely on fastballs like the twins. He would start with batters five, six, and seven.
The fifth batter was a righty, and stood and the very back of the box. I stand near the back too, but not on the line like him. It was like he wanted to be the furthest he could possibly get from James. I shared a questioning look with Noah but all he could do was shrug.
We soon found out what the other guy was trying to do. James threw a pitch, the batter had a delayed swing and just as it was about to get past home plate with kelvin reaching with his glove, the bat grazed the glove and whiffed the pitch. The ump called the play dead and pointed at first. Before I could even realize what was going on, the batter dropped his bat and headed to first while Kelvin popped out of his squat to speak with the ump.
Even Coach came out of the dugout to share some words.
I glanced over to Noah again and saw that he was walking my way, so I met him by the second base bag.
"What was that?" I asked, still feeling new to the game. I didn't know all the rules, but could a batter hit Kelvin's glove like that?
"Catcher interference." Noah sighed and kicked the dirt. "Basically, an error on Kelvin. The umpire thinks he extended his glove too close over the plate."
"Wasn't it the batter's fault though?" I glanced at first to see him beside Brian.
Noah shook his head. "He was still in the box. It was a slow swing but still a valid swing. If Kelvin didn't reach out so much, he probably wouldn't have had the chance to make contact."
"So he did it on purpose?" I frowned. "That doesn't sound fair."
Noah nodded his head to home plate where Coach and Kelvin were both still speaking with the ump. "They think so. I think so. It was odd as soon as he got in the batter's box. He didn't set up that way in his last at bat. But he took a gamble and it looks to have paid off. The ump believes him and that's the only thing that matters."
We both sighed in unison. Not a good start to the last inning of the game.
Coach couldn't change the umpire's mind and had to go back to the dugout. Kelvin settled down as well and got back into position for the game to resume.
Batter six stepped up, and James performed nicely, not letting Kelvin's error get to him. He got the batter to strikeout swinging for the first out. It didn't mean the end of his troubles though. Batter seven hit a bloop single over my head, allowing the runner from first advance to second safely.
Runners on first and second with only one out. A double play would be nice. Sadly, you can't always get what you want. Batter eight smacked a clean line drive just between Mahki and Zeke in the outfield. The runner on second was abled to score, but Zeke was great at getting the ball in and we were abled to hold the other runners at third and second. Score: 3-1.
Batter nine, who has two strikeouts on the day stepped up. No repeat performance from him as he connected with a curve and sent a grounder to third. Unfortunately the runners had already planned to go on contact so Jason was unable to try for a double play. He took the safe route, getting the batter out at first and allowed another run to score. 3-2.
The leadoff batter stepped up with the tying run on third. My heart started to pound, threatening to pop out of my chest. Meanwhile, James was unbothered with things that weren't the batter. He continued to throw a mix of curves and sliders before getting the batter to hit a grounder towards Jason as well. Jason easily fielded it and got him out at first, not allowing the run to score.
"Another win!" Noah threw his arms around my shoulder as the rest of our team joined us on the field for high fives and to shake hands with the other team.
I nodded, but didn't feel happy when I saw Coach's facial expression. "Coach doesn't look as happy as you...does that mean we're going to have practice after lunch?"
"Eh?" Noah looked to where I was looking. "No matter. It's just some more baseball. I'm okay with it." He beamed.
I wasn't on the same page as him. Or he wasn't on the same page with me. I like baseball too, but I prefer the cages. Practice time will ruin going to the cages or working on my own fielding. If anything, I'm scared that Zeke will make me run for that error at the beginning of the game. I couldn't sigh enough times to release my depression so I kept them to myself.