Tuesday's game was against Colussa High School. Because their school had strict rules regarding missed classes, they weren't able to leave for our school until they finished. If you add in their three hour drive time and time needed for warmups, the school had no choice but to have a night game.
After school, me and the Atkins went home and started on our homework. Mrs. Atkins prepared a healthy, yet light, dinner for us before we all went back to school.
Dave couldn't throw or play in the game, however he chose to warmup with the team and even spent the rest of the time running around the whole field. He looked like he was taking his training seriously. As the game started, he sat with Julian and Kelvin. Coach had chosen to put the three of them to work, handing them a clipboard to share. They were supposed to keep the pitching count for each of our players. Like he told Kyle on Saturday, Coach gave Bryce a similar talk and would only allow him 75 pitches.
Bryce did his best, and was able to pitch for five innings before hitting his limit set by Coach. He only gave up two runs off five hits. It was hard to believe he was only a year older than me, yet he could be so dominant on the mound already. I guess Garret was the same way last year and now he's our ace.
Kyle made a relief appearance, finishing off the last two innings, allowing one run...a solo homer. He didn't give up any other hits or walks either. Coach said he was going to work the other pitchers in, but it was hard to do when his first picks were doing so well.
For our offense...we had a fun and easy time, winning 9-3. Colussa High didn't have any good pitchers. Not in my eyes. And certainly not in Zeke's. I went 2-3 with two runs, one RBI, and a walk. It was nowhere near as impressive as Zeke's batting. He was intentionally walked twice after hitting home runs in his first and second at-bats. He batted in four runs, and scored twice. Noah was the only one to struggle, getting one hit in four at-bats. It was a single RBI, and he even ended up scoring so it was better than doing nothing. Like Mark Twain once said, 'comparison is the death of joy'.
I didnt want Noah to feel down about his only hit so I tried to make him happy, talking about he can get a hitting streak going now.
"Jake." He stared at me. "When it's coming from you, it sounds a little patronizing. There's only been one game where you didn't get a hit besides the games where you were only walked." He thought for a minute. "And the couple of games where you didn't play."
I tried thinking back. "Which game did I not get a hit in again?"
"The only game we lost..University Prep." Noah sighed at the memory. "Ugh. What a beatdown that was. I wish we could have a rematch."
My face twisted at the thought. "You want to play that team again even though we lost?"
"Yea! Of course! We have to redeem ourselves!" He shrugged. "Probably will have to wait until next year though."
As the conversation shifted to talking about how good University Prep was, Noah forgot about comparing hitting streaks and I relaxed.
Wednesday passed in a blur as it was just the same old classes followed by a tiring practice. Thursday was another home game for us against Elk Creek. They came from a further distance than Colussa, but they didn't have restrictions regarding missed classes. They left their school at noon in order to play us at 4pm. Which made sense to me...I wouldn't want to arrive back home past midnight, and then have to go to school the next morning. I wonder who comes up with the game schedule for each school.
Coach had picked Garret to start on the mound, allowing Tanner to play in right field, and Mahki back to left field. Garret kept his number two batting position though, making Tanner be the ninth. Tanner didn't seem mad about it; he was just happy to play in his first varsity game. He went 1-3 as did Noah.
Zeke and I were the only ones to get two hits each. I earned two singles and a walk, while scoring a run and driving a run in. Zeke had smacked two doubles and received an intentional walk, while also scoring in a run, and driving me home for his RBI. The highlight of the game didn't belong to us though despite being responsible for almost half the runs we scored.
Instead, player of the game went to Garret. For his pitching. He also hit a solo home run, but it paled in comparison to what he was able to do on the mound. Like the previous starters, Garret was given the 75 pitch limit. It didn't hinder him as much as it motivated him. Garret was able to complete all seven innings under the limit, and if that wasn't impressive enough, he also struck out ten opposing batters while only giving up three hits. He wasn't the ace for nothing.
We won the game 5-0 against Elk Creek. Coach didn't let us celebrate for too long as he reiterated the fact that these aren't important games compared to league matches.
After Friday's practice, Coach let Zeke make his announcement of signing onto Stanford. He explained that it wasn't final and that he was still looking forward to the draft, but he was set on this school as his backup plan. He also informed the team of the pizza party that his parents planned to throw on Sunday for lunch.
Mrs. Atkins had decided that they would just hold it at the park down the street to accommodate the large crowd they plan to invite. It was Zeke's job to get an estimate of how many kids would show up so he had to inform each team on his own. Of course our whole team raised their hands to show that they would be there.