94 Game Two: Pleasant Valley 2 (2/2)

I pointed at James who began pitching to the other team.

”James? Are you wondering why coach picked him over Dave and Garret?” His mood lightened up as I gave a nod. ”James is a junk pitcher.”

I raised an eyebrow.

”It means he can throw a lot of junk. He can mix in all kinds of pitches. His fastball isn't very fast, but he has a change up, slider, curve, splitter and sinker.”

Can one guy really throw that many different pitches? This is just high school baseball right?

”The price of throwing all that junk when your body is still developing is too high. James doesn't care though. He likes to mess around with his pitches, trying for more movement than speed.”

I didn't really get it. Why do it, if he knows it's bad for him? I studied the guy on the mound as he made batter one groundout. Then batter two pop out. And batter three groundout. As the team jogged back to the dugout, I watched as James walked back with his head held high, smiling. Then it hit me. We were similar. He pitches the way he wants, knowing the consequences, the same reason why I would still hit baseball in the batting cages even though playing baseball would make my mom angry: because we like it. He likes the way he pitches and he's just enjoying the moment. I found solace in the cages and enjoyed the comfort it gave me.

As I was lost in my thoughts, our guys had started their offense. Jason was the lead off man this time around with Noah sitting on the bench.

”Earlier, he went 0-2 with a sac bunt.” Noah sighed. ”And now he's taking my spot. The injustice.”

I thought back to game one. Jason was batting sixth; he had grounded out, struck out, and did that bunt that allowed Zeke to score. ”Shouldn't that be 0-3?” I mumbled, unsure.

”A successful sacrifice bunt does not count as an at bat, nor does it impact a player's batting average.” Noah informed me. ”If Zeke was unable to score at that moment, then Jason would be 0-3.”

I nodded. Okay. That's understandable I guess. I looked to see how Jason was doing. He was fairing pretty well at the plate compared to game one. He connected on a pitch, and it turned into a bloop single just over the shortstops head. The center fielder was quick to react and returned it to the pitcher just as Jason reached first. Our team clapped in the dugout.

”That's Jason's first varsity hit.” Noah smiled. ”Not bad.”

We clapped as well. Julian got up to bat next.

”He went 1-3 last game. His hit was a double.” Noah reminded me.

I gave him a side eye and said in a low voice. ”Double. Fly out to outfield. Groundout. No runs batted in, no runs scored.”

Noah looked at me, impressed. ”So you remember these details too. Good. It helps to have a good memory in baseball.”

We watched as Julian smacked a hard grounder between the legs of the pitcher and sneak past between the shortstop and second baseman. Jason sprinted and safely made it to third, and Julian stopped at first base as the ball was returned to the infield.

Mahki came up to bat next. 2-3 last game, with one RBI, and one run scored. In terms of hitting, I would say he's only second to Zeke. Unfortunately, at this at bat, he hit a Nice grounder to the shortstop, who threw to second, to first. A 6-4-3 double play. Two outs. But thankfully Jason made it home as the fielders were focused on getting the two outs.

”Why did they ignore Jason?” I asked Noah, confused on why you would ignore a runner that would score. Especially when it was a grounder to an infielder. He could have easily thrown it home so Jason would be tagged out.