"Be patient!" Mr. Miller said as he clapped his hands from the third base coaching box. It was a subtle reminder to make the pitcher work. I couldn't be like Noah and just hit the first pitch. Or maybe it's better to say that Noah couldn't be like me and work up the pitcher's count? That's kind of mean.
I stepped into the lefty's box, and got set. The pitcher adjusted himself and threw a breaking ball away for his first pitch. 1-0. The next pitch came in, making me jump out of the box. 2-0. The following pitch was low, yet I fouled it back. 2-1. I let another pitch pass for a ball. 3-1. Foul. 3-2. Foul. Foul. Foul. Foul. I made sure my fouls went down each baseline and bounced so I wouldn't accidentally hit a pop fly to somewhere that's catchable.
After a few more fouls, the pitcher was frowning. His next pitch was outside and could possibly be ball four. I didn't want to risk it being a called strikeout so I swung and connected. The ball went down the third baseline while I sprinted down the first baseline. I couldn't see the play, but it wasn't hard to see the incoming throw that the first baseman caught while tagging the base. Out. I slowed down and sighed.
Clapping came from the dugout and it grabbed my attention. I turn and found Noah grabbing my bat for me, off the dirt. He must have scored.
"Good work!" He told me as we headed back to the dugout together.
"That wasn't bad, but it could have been better." Coach spoke up when we came in.
I nodded and went back to my seat. I understood what he meant.
"Coach is such a perfectionist." Noah mumbled as we put our helmets away. "Don't bother about too much. You did great! An RBI groundout. We're already winning."
I shook my head. "Nah, it's okay, I got what Coach meant. I could have fouled that ball instead, and waited for a better pitch." I sighed. "I was just too committed on hitting this one in play because the pitcher looked frustrated. I gave them a freebie."
Noah laughed. "Wow. What a nice self-reflection."
We watched the rest of the inning end in a couple of minutes. Garret hit a fly ball to center field, and Zeke also grounded out to third. We were putting the ball in play, but...what can I say?
We took the field with the rest of the team, with Kyle on the mound. He's been having a great season, and had some good pitching stats among the league, according to Noah.
Kyle started off shaky today though. He gave up a single to the first batter, then walked the following two to load the bases. It was only the first inning so no one came to the mound to talk to him. If Jordan was catching, he might have just because he likes things to go his way.
With the bases loaded, Kyle didn't crumble under pressure. It was like he wasn't himself. Or maybe he just has more confidence lately. He was able to get their cleanup hitter to strikeout swinging. That was the best case scenario, because it helped keep the runners on their respective bases.
As the fifth batter stepped up, I started to get a little nervous. I wiped my sweating hand on my jersey to try and dry it out. The ideal play right now would be a double play. The most likely double play in baseball, involves the middle infielders. Me and Noah. Noah and I. One of us will have to field, and the other will have to tag second and make the throw to first. I wiped my hand some more and took a deep breath.
Kyle faced off with the fifth batter. On a 2-2 count, Kyle threw a pitch that came inside. The batter hesitated to swing or to get out of the way. The ball bounced off the thin part of the bat and came into play. Kyle sprinted off the mound to the ball, and all the runners started to move. Kyle barehanded the ball, and tossed it to Alex at the plate. He tagged the plate before the runner could slide, getting the first out. Then Alex stepped out of the base path, and threw a bullet to Julian at first. The batter had a late start so he was also out. A double play. A 1-2-3 double play. Wow.
My jaw dropped. And here I was, thinking that I had to do something, when I didn't do anything at all. I didn't even remember to backup a throw. It just happened too quickly.
"Hey, hey, whatcha thinking about?" Noah slapped my back. "It's time to go back to the dugout."
"I've never seen a double play like that before." I told him.
"Yea, it's an uncommon one." Noah explained as we got back in the dugout. "How many times will the bases be loaded, and the batter messes up his swing?" He laughed. "If he had just swung all the way through, it may have been difficult to defend our one run lead. A lot of that just worked out in our favor."
I nodded.
The top of the second inning was similar to the first, except we didn't score a run. Julian got a single, his first hit since his injury. But Jason and Mahki followed it up with back to back strikeouts. Alex ended the inning by grounding out to the shortstop. Anticlimactic.
The bottom of the second, Kyle got back on the mound. The sixth batter was up. Kyle started to pitch wild again, throwing two pitches way outside. The third pitch came in for a called strike. And the fourth pitch was fouled off. At 2-2, Kyle threw a fastball in the middle of the strike zone, yet slightly high.
The batter swung and crushed it. I didn't even need to turn around to know it would be a home run. The look on Kyle's face said it all. He was kicking the dirt on the mound and had his head hung low. The batter jogged the bases and returned to his cheering dugout, happy to tie the game at one. So much for our lead.
"Focus on the next batter!" Noah clapped his glove. "There's still a lot of game left to play."
I nodded in agreement. There was. It was only the second inning. We still have five more innings to take back the lead once more.
Kyle lifted his head, glanced at Noah, then straightened up. He faced Alex and got a new ball from the umpire. He still had to get three outs.
The seventh batter hit a grounder right to Noah. Noah had no trouble fielding it, getting the first out. The eighth batter smacked a grounder between Jason and Noah, but Noah was able to make a stab at it, and then from his knees, threw the guy out at first. Amazing. What an arm.
As Noah dusted himself off, I couldn't help but stare at him in awe. Not only did he stop the hit, but he got the out. I don't think I could throw that fast and far from that position on the field, let alone from the knees. This is why Noah is on varsity. His fielding is next to none. I didn't see Jason even having a shot at it.
The ninth batter had only hit a short pop up to me. I didn't get to make a spectacular play like Noah, but I was able to catch the ball for the third out of the inning. That's good enough for me.