Our offense ended with Julian grounding out to third. He came back with his head down as well.
"Next person to put his head down or groan or even say something negative, will be benched." Coach declared. "You're all acting like we're losing and I'm not liking it. This isn't us. We never back down. We can be down by ten runs and I'll still believe that we can turn it around. Understand?!"
"Yes, Coach!"
We ran out and took our positions for the bottom of the third inning.
Garret used his anger and anxiety in his pitching, throwing fast and hard. His arm was like a whip; I don't think I would be able to hit against him, let alone the opposing team. He struck out the side, three up, three down. It was an magnificent display of power pitching and the crowd showed appreciation for it, clapping and chanting Garret's name as he came off the mound.
Garret pumped his fist in excitement.
"Showoff." Noah snickered as we passed Garret by, going into the dugout.
"It's a pitcher's best trait." Garret shot back as everyone got inside our dugout.
"I think a pitcher's best trait would be being humble." Kelvin said.
"Hey! Whose side are you on?" Garret asked.
Kelvin shrugged. "I called for the pitches and got no credit. Whose side are you on?"
Garret laughed and threw his arm around Kelvin's shoulders. "You know I couldn't do this without you!"
"Yea, yea, let me go." Kelvin pushed him away.
I hurried to grab my helmet and bat, meeting Zeke and Mahki by Coach.
Coach looked at the three of us. "Okay boys, if they try and do something similar to the first inning, then we have to try and change things up a bit. Mahki, it'll be up to you to try and get it through the infield. Don't be afraid to strikeout. Zeke, if you see an opening to steal third, take the risk. Jake, as soon as that ball is in play, sprint to second and try to break up the double play. You know what I mean?"
I gave a sad smile and shrugged. "I'm not Noah. My base running is the worse on the team. I think that's why they know it's okay to walk me."
Mahki patted me on top of my helmet. "Don't worry about that, kid. They probably planned this out. I'll try to go opposite field this time or maybe pop it up so you guys can tag up and advance."
"Good idea." Coach nodded. "Try and get under the pitch. A long fly to the outfield wouldn't be so bad."
Zeke went out first and I moved to the on deck circle as his name was called. He swung the bat back and forth a few times before getting into the batter's box. I could only watch as the catcher stayed standing and signaled for an intentional ball. After four balls, Zeke tossed his bat back towards the dugout and jogged to first.
I swallowed and stepped up to bat from the left side. The catcher continued to stand, arm outstretched. By this time, our fans had figured out that their game plan was to not allow me or Zeke to bat, so a few boo's started to rain down. I didn't know how the other team could stand it.
After four straight balls out of reach, I copied Zeke's movements, jogging to first as he jogged to second. Mahki came up to bat, earning a lot of cheers from our side of the bleachers. He clenched his bat as the catcher squatted behind home plate. The first pitch was a ball that missed outside. Then a ball inside. A called strike. Mahki fouled one back. On a 2-2 count, he swung his bat lower than normal, but he was unable to get under the pitch since it was a breaking ball. He made solid contact. Right to the shortstop. It was like the first inning was on repeat. The shortstop fielded the ball to the second baseman to get me out and then he threw it to first base to get Mahki out. A double play. Again.
The only difference was that Zeke made it to third, and with two outs, Sean was up to bat.
Mahki and I went back to the rather quiet dugout. Sean struck out before I could even sit down after switching my gear. The whole team took the field with a sense of dread. It was easy to say don't get down on yourselves, but it was harder to live it.
Garret had to start with the top of the lineup once more to begin the bottom of the fourth inning. He continued to pitch fast and hard like he was punishing them on behalf of me and Zeke. He struck out the first batter in three pitches, earning some applause. It was his sixth strikeout of the game.
As the second batter stepped up to the plate, I noticed Garret doing something odd: shaking out his pitching arm. I felt taken aback. Garret never wasted movement when he was on the mound. Feeling off about his movements, I watched closer as he faced the second batter. He kept up the pace, and nothing looked different in the moment, but after striking him out, he did it again: shake his arm out. Was it a new superstition? Or was his arm bothering him?
The third batter was up, but I was getting distracted. I continued to watch Garret pitch closely. So closely, that I was caught unprepared with the batter hit a fast one my way. I did a last minute dive, but I was caught flat-footed and let it slip pass. As West Valley fans clapped and cheered, it came to my attention that...it was...the first hit of the game. For either team.
Sean came in from right field and threw tha ball in, keeping the batter to a single. I felt the blood rush to my face as I stood up and got back into position.
"Don't mind!" I heard Noah say.
I didn't dare look his way. I kept my head lowered and tried to just focus on the next batter. It was the cleanup hitter with the beard. I gulped. Please don't hit my way. I could still remember the line drive that Noah had snatched. It was like a bullet.
Just like any bad premonition, it was a hundred times worse in reality. The cleanup batter was able to have a solid connection, but the ball wasn't in my reach. It was blasted to right field, flying like a bird. Sean chased it all the way back to the warning track before watching it fly over. A home run. A two-run home run.
The crowd's cheers for West Valley took over the stadium and it was all we could hear as the players ran the bases.
I looked to Garret, feeling bad for letting that previous batter get to first. I could have prevented at least one run. However, when I looked at Garret on the mound, I caught him shaking out his pitching arm again. This really wasn't normal.
Unsure of what to do, I glanced at Noah to see if he noticed.
"Next batter! Next batter! Two outs!" Noah was too absorbed into the game to catch my look.
Without him directing me, all I could do was get back into position for the next batter.