89 Game One: Villa Park 9 (1/2)
The next pitch was low and inside. I flinched back.
”Strike.” The ump called out. ”3-1.”
I looked where the catchers mitt was and realized it was framed really well. I frowned at the call. I turned back to the dugout and saw Zeke rubbing his nose. Guess I'm going to foul. The next pitch came, also looking to be on the borderline. It could easily be called a ball, but with a catcher framing it, it could be just like the last one: a called strike. What a risky pitcher. I swung and fouled along the first base line. 3-2, full count. I looked at Zeke, still rubbing his nose. Foul if it's in, I guess I'll only take a ball four if it's an obvious ball. I fouled three more times before getting the fourth ball. I lightly placed my bat down and jogged to first. Battery's sure are interesting. This pair definitely worked much better than the first pitcher.
I stayed on the base until the pitcher was set on the rubber, facing Mahki, then I started to inch off. Mahki got the same assortment of pitches, all on the border of being strikes or balls. With a 2-2 count, he swung and hit a grounder to the shortstop, who easily fielded the ball to the second baseman and got me for the third out on second base.
I sighed with relief that nothing embarrassing happened this time around.
”Nothing to get depressed over.” Mahki jogged with me back to the dugout as our teammates took the field. ”No one has a perfect batting average.”
I wasn't depressed. Just relieved. I gave a small smile to show that I was fine. We both changed out our gear and went to our own positions.
Top of the fifth inning brought the cleanup hitters for Villa Park, but Kyle easily shut them down. It was a simple fly out to left, pop up to me at second, and then a groundout to Noah. One, two, three. Kyle was on fire. He didn't waste a single pitch.
Everyone continued to stay away from him as our own cleanup batters went up. Zeke hit a stand up double. Julian grounded out, but Zeke was able to make it to third. Mr. Miller gave Jason a sign I hadn't memorized yet. I tugged on Noah's sleeve.
”Just watch. They'll be able to pull it off.” He replied.
The pitcher went through his motion, but at the end, Jason showed bunt. The pitch was a little high, but Jason was able to push it down and take off for first. I didn't even notice that Zeke had already taken off from third and was charging down the line to home plate. The third baseman was holding Zeke to the base so he wasn't ready to field the bunt, and the pitcher was caught off guard. Zeke slid home, feet first and popped right back up. The third baseman was able to still make a play at first and threw out Jason. Two outs, but now up 5-0.
Unfortunately the momentum stopped there and Tony popped out for the final out of the fifth inning.
Top of the sixth inning, Kyle completely shut out the bottom of their lineup. Which made sense since even their clean up hitter was struggling, then what good could they do. It was a complete annihilation. Kyle didn't throw one ball, all strikes.
At the bottom of the sixth Noah put on his helmet with complete seriousness. He glanced at me. ”Last at bat. Gotta make it a good one.” He left me without any further ado.