"Great, now Dave is going to be a brat if I don't get a hit." Garret mumbled, joining me by the on deck circle. He glanced towards the dugout, where we could hear Dave giving a breakdown of his first inning pitching. All nine pitches.
"At least if I get on base, I won't have to hear him bragging." Garret continued. He looked down at me. "It'll be better if you get on and let me get a RBI off my hit." He put his hand on top of my helmet. "Do your best to score."
I nodded earnestly. I will get on base. I will score. We will win.
With Quincy ready, and the umpire waiting, I made a move to the batter's box. There was a second of hesitation before choosing where to stand, but seeing the fresh clean lefty's box, I made my choice. Today, only Garret and I would stand in this box.
I stepped in the box and feeling the firm ground underneath, I was satisfied. This is the best. I faced the Quincy pitcher. He stood up, and started his motion. Very ordinary. I let the first pitch pass for a called strike. Fastball speed slightly below average...especially compared to Sanchez. The team won't struggle like we did against Servite.
I made him work only a little bit. I didn't want to scare him away so soon. If he gets too tired from just one batter, then they might replace him rather quickly. After reaching a full count, I aimed a hit for the space in right field, then dropped my bat to run. I safely reached first base on a single. Everything went smoothly.
Garret followed up with a double to left field, confirming my speculation that this pitcher isn't even close to Sanchez's level. As I stood on third, my eyes were glancing over the field, but then stopped on Garret. He was standing at second base with his hands on his hips, glaring at me. It was then that I remembered that he wanted a RBI.
Oops. I shifted my eyes away from him, feeling slightly guilty. In my defense, Mr. Miller held his hands up for me to stop at third. If he told me to run home, I would have!
Mahki walked up to the plate next. Our first righty in the lineup. He also made contact, a high fly to center field. But it was caught at the warning track. I easily tagged up and scored the first run of the game. Mahki and I were greeted with cheers and excitement in the dugout. The atmosphere hadn't dwindled at all, even though we had one out against us. Especially with Zeke up next.
Zeke didn't struggle at all against this pitcher either, blasting a line drive right into the center field fence. Garret scored without a problem, making it 2-0. Zeke legged it out and reached second base without needing to slide. A standup double!
A decent crowd had formed in the stands thanks to the game being held just an hour after school got out. Quincy wasn't as well-known as Servite, but with Zeke on the team, he could attract many people by himself. A good amount of scouts were still coming to games, not paying any mind to Zeke's 'commitment' to Stanford.
While the crowd and our own dugout got loud to celebrate the early lead, Quincy sent a coach to the mound to have a talk with the pitcher and catcher. The umpire gave them their allotted time and then had to walk up to break it up. The coach went back to his dugout while the catcher followed the umpire back to home plate.
Oddly, the catcher didn't squat as Julian stepped up to bat. He stayed standing. Then with Julian in the box, he stretched out his right hand and asked for an intentional ball. They were going to walk him.
I got up from my seat and stood up against the fence with some of the guys. I wanted to know why they were doing this.
"It's because Noah is up next." Garret scratched his cheek. "Noah is an inexperienced freshmen with a lower batting average than the senior Julian." He explained.
"So they think Noah's more likely to hit into a double play?" I asked.
Garret nodded.
The intentional walk took some excitement away from our dugout. The fans were still happy. I could hear Mr. and Mrs. Atkins cheer loudly after Julian was walked and Noah stepped up next.
I wanted to yell out too. 'Go!' or maybe, 'Get a hit!' But I just gulped it down. Speaking one on one and yelling out were two different things. I wasn't ready to express myself so openly.
"Make them pay!" Garret hollered.
The guys on the team yelled something similar, all in support of Noah. Mr. Miller dealt out the hand signs and Noah stepped in the box to face the pitcher. Noah had let two pitches pass for called strikes, making the dugout quiet down.
Noah took a practice swing before the third pitch, checking with Mr. Miller. He stepped back in. The third pitch passed for a ball. It was on the fourth pitch that Noah had swung. And connected. Zeke and Julian were already running on contact.
The ball was hit down the third baseline. The third baseman had to dive at it, just barely making the stop. Seeing that he couldn't beat Zeke to third because no one was covering just yet, he made the throw to second base. The second baseman stretched out to make the catch to at least get the forceout and maybe even turn a double play, but the ball bounced out of his glove and rolled in the dirt. He scrambled to pick it back up, but it was too late. Everyone was safe. Zeke on third, Julian at second, and Noah at first. One out.
The dugout woke up with that lucky break.
"Good run!"
"Nice hustle!"
"Clear the bases, Jason!"
The good vibes came back and Jason made his way to the plate. Alex was in the on deck circle and Dave was already holding a bat just inside the dugout. We could go through the whole lineup in just the first inning.
I wanted to go get my bat and put my helmet on too, but with already one out and bases loaded, there was a good chance of a double play still.
"They're having someone warm up." Garret mumbled, looking out further along the foul line on the other side of the field.
"Makes sense." Mahki said from nearby. "This pitcher has been struggling. He's got no velocity."
"Yet, he got you out." Garret snickered, making some of the guys laugh.
"I was going for a long hit." Mahki said defensively. "We score one run at a time. It wouldn't be good if I hit an infield grounder that doesn't even score a run."
I turned red at the remark. If someone faster was on third for Mahki's at-bat, then a grounder probably wouldn't have mattered.