We arrived at the park and unloaded our bags.
"Hey, guys!" Bryce greeted us as he approached with his bag on his shoulders. "Looks like I'm right on time."
"Bryce!" Noah smiled. Then noticed his arms. "Woah! Look at you! Have you been lifting all summer??" He got closer to pinch his biceps. "Crazy! Dave, Kyle, come here! Let's compare!"
Kyle looked away. "No need to compare. Bigger muscles doesn't make him better than me."
"But it's pretty cool to look at." Dave admired, coming closer to look. "Has it messed up your pitching? You're not just lifting to get bigger, right?"
Bryce flexed his big arms. "Of course I've spent the summer pitching. I worked with this training facility in the Bay Area. Thankfully I got my license just in time. So I went on my own almost every day."
"Your parents let you drive to the city on your own?" Noah asked, amazed.
"They can check my location through my phone at all times. I also text them when I leave and when I arrive anywhere. It's a little annoying, but a small price to pay to have this kind of freedom before Junior year starts." Bryce explained.
Noah has stars in his eyes as he looked at me. "Let's start taking driving lessons."
"Jake isn't 15 yet." Kyle pointed out. "Plus, you have to be 15.5 to get your permit first."
Noah sighed in defeat.
Zeke nodded at Bryce, then headed for the park. The five of us followed him to the baseball field.
"It's a little rough." Noah sighed, looking at the beat up field. "We should have brought real bases at least."
The baseball field was for public use so it didn't have all the usual amenities. The mound looked to be in okay shape, but the batter's box was a little worse for wear.
"Don't worry, I called for backup." Zeke set his bag down.
"Backup?" Noah asked.
"Gotta be Mr. Miller then." Dave smiled. "He's the only one I know that can help fix this mess."
Kyle was skeptical. "You called Mr. Miller to come help clean up the field? And he agreed?"
Zeke nodded. "He's also going to be the umpire of the game."
Coincidently, Mr. Miller showed up next. With a familiar face: Stu. The pair brought over rakes and other stuff I couldn't recognize. They greeted us briefly and got to work on fixing up the field.
It wasn't long before the rest of the guys started to show up: Julian and Andy, Garret, Mahki, Sean, Brian, Mitchell, etc. They were all guys I knew, even if I didn't know them well, especially the pitchers like Theo. With the majority of the guys present, Zeke led us through some old warmups before letting us pair off to throw the ball. After that, he let us practice catching fly balls and fielding grounders as Mr. Miller and his friend finished working on the infield.
"Let's hurry and make the teams so I can start warming up properly." Kyle complained to Zeke.
"How are we making the teams?" Garret asked.
Everyone started to congregate around Zeke, expecting him to already have it decided.
Zeke pointed at the twins. "They'll pick. Old school style. One for one." He looked at the twins. "Start with catchers first to make it fair."
Dave looked around. "We have three catchers here...Mitchell, Alex, and Kelvin. Are we just going to leave one out? That's not really fair."
Kelvin raised his hand. "That would be me. I already told Zeke I wouldn't be catching today. It's good to give my knees a break."
"Then what position do you plan to play?" Kyle asked.
He shrugged. "Wherever. It's not like everyone can be picky. A few pitchers will have to play on the field too if you guys plan on hogging the mound all afternoon."
Kyle rubbed his chin. "It's going to be tricky then."
"Who gets to pick first?" Dave asked Zeke.
Zeke pulled out a coin from his back pocket. "Kyle is heads, Dave is tails. I'll toss it up and let it land on the grass, that way it's as fair as possible." He didn't wait for the twins to disagree or bicker and tossed the coin up, high into the air. It came down tails up.
Dave pumped his fists. "Yes!"
Kyle rolled his eyes. "Since he gets first pick, can I have first choice in catcher?"
Zeke nodded, agreeing to the terms.
"I'll take Alex then." Kyle pointed.
Dave shrugged. "I'll throw to Mitchell." Then he grinned. "And of course I'll take Zeke!"
"Well, I get Jake." Kyle smirked.
"Julian!" Dave shot back.
"Garret!" Kyle countered.
"Noah."
"Mahki."
It went on until all eighteen players were divided up on two teams. The twins and their catchers went off to warm up and set the signs, while the rest of us moved the bags to the appropriate dugouts. Dave was the home team in the third base dugout, while Kyle's team was stuck in the first base dugout.
"Settle on positioning." Zeke told Garret before going to his own team.
Noah waved to me when he caught me staring from afar.
I sighed.
Garret looked at all of us. "Well, what should we do?"
Mahki gestured to Kyle and Alex. "Two positions down, seven to go." He looked around. "Jake should play second base, since that's what he's used to. Jason can play third. I'll play out in center field. Garret, you'll do alright at shortstop, right?"
Garret nodded. "I used to play there all the time." He grinned at me. "You don't mind pairing up with me, don't ya?"
"I don't mind." I replied, feeling more at ease knowing that I got to stick with my original position.
Garret looked around. "Bryce, James, and Kelvin...what do you guys think? There's right and left field or first base."
"I should play first." Kelvin laughed. "There's no way I can play in the outfield and chase after all those fly balls."
James frowned. "It's not like I'm any faster than you are. And, you have a better arm than I do."
"We can take turns." Kelvin conceded.
"I don't mind playing in the outfield!" Bryce said. "I'll take right."
James sighed. "I'll start in left field for the first inning."
Kelvin patted his chest. "I'll play left field for the even-numbered innings."
"What about batting order?" Bryce asked.
"I've got this!" Garret claimed. He started to point. "Me. Jake. Mahki. Bryce. Jason. James. Kelvin. Alex. Kyle."
We all stared at him.
James rolled his eyes. "You're so lazy."
I stifled a laugh. Garret's decision was based on the circle we were standing in, starting with himself and going counter-clockwise, then ending with our catcher and pitcher.
Garret shrugged. "What? It's not like we have to be picky. Jake and I should obviously be near the top of the lineup since we get more hits. The rest of you are pretty much equal."
"Hey, I take offense to that." Jason pouted. "You think I bat the same as Bryce and James??"
Garret shrugged. "No need to think about it too hard. We can't just line up our worst hitters together for easy innings."
We discussed the lineup a little more, but no one was upset over it. The game was just for fun, after all.
Mr. Miller took charge eventually, calling for the game to start. He had brought his own umpiring gear and gave the atmosphere a more official vibe. It helped that he had chalked the foul lines and batter's box. It wasn't the best looking field, but it would do. Better than where it started as.
The twins came back with their catchers.
As the visitors, we got to bat first so I started to put on my helmet and grabbed one of the new bats I had gotten from Mr. Johnson.
"You guys already created a lineup?" Kyle asked, watching us move throughout the dugout.
"Yea, you're last." Garret told him. "Alex will bat second to last."
Kyle looked to me. "Are you batting cleanup?"
I shook my head. "Second."
Bryce gasped. "I'm batting cleanup?!"
"Bryce is batting fourth??" Kyle looked skeptical.
Garret waved his hands around. "Settle down. It's just numbers. They don't mean much."
Bryce looked down at his hands. "I don't think I've swung a bat all summer. I was solely focused on pitching."
"You're all muscled up now." Mahki gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Don't stress. Just make contact. I'm sure you can power the ball out of here."
"What if I don't make contact?" Bryce looked like a beaten puppy.
"Dude, it's just for fun." Garret cracked a smile. "So if you don't make contact, we'll just make fun of you. Having all those muscles just to show off."
Bryce was heartbroken. He grabbed onto Kyle. "Please let me pitch an inning!"
Kyle pushed him off. "No way!"
"So selfish!" Bryce sighed.
Kyle rolled his eyes. "If I let you do an inning, then Garret will want to do an inning. James too."
James spoke up. "No thanks. I don't want to pitch. My confidence is at an all-time high. What if I run into Zeke? Do you guys want to crush me before I go off to college?"
Bryce shivered. "So true."
"I don't mind!" Garret started to bounce. "It'd be nice to face him one more time before he goes off to school."