97 Game Two: Pleasant Valley 5 (1/2)

As our rambunctious team started to settle down, the other team replaced their pitcher. A little too late in my opinion.

Noah returned to his seat next to me as the team congratulated Zeke. He raised an eyebrow at me, ”Why didn't you celebrate with us? That was a grand slam! Zeke's only done that two times now.”

Oh. It was something special. Like Kyle's perfect game. I turned my focus on the new pitcher, and mumbled, ”I don't like to be so close with others.”

”That doesn't make sense. We're around you all the time.” Noah argued.

”I don't like to feel trapped.” I admitted, more clearly.

Noah didn't reply. And I didn't look his way, effectively ending the conversation. It would be hard to explain that I always need an exit plan, in case I get hurt. Noah can think of these guys as teammates and friends, but for me, they're still strangers. They could have anger issues like my mom.

Back to the new pitcher on the mound, he was just what they needed. He got Tony and John to groundout for back to back outs. As we go in to the top of the fourth inning, the score changed to 6-2, with us in the lead. For a called game, we have to score six more runs and keep them from scoring anymore.

Like Pleasant Valley, we changed pitchers. I recognized the guy as Ryan, a senior like Zeke. They spoke frequently at practice so I knew of him even though we have never spoken personally.

Ryan looked relaxed on the mound, with the four run lead. He got the fifth and sixth batters to both groundout. Gave up a bloop single. Then struck out the eighth batter. Not bad. Exactly what we need to attempt for a called game.

Bottom of the fourth, brings up our weakest part of the lineup: batters seven, eight, nine. Daniel, Kelvin, and now Ryan. Daniel really didn't look good at the plate. He had an ugly strikeout that made me wonder if he needed glasses. No wonder Noah started over him in game one. Even though they're both weak in hitting, at least Noah didn't look as shameful.

Kelvin finally ended his hit-less streak by sending a grounder between third and shortstop. Unfortunately, Ryan ruined it by hitting a soft grounder to the pitcher, who threw to second, who threw to first. A 1-4-3 double play. The dugout seemed to be full of groans. Guess we might be playing the whole seven innings. Which isn't a problem for me. I really didn't mind sitting on the bench and watching them play.

At the top of the fifth, Ryan got back on the mound. No one seemed worried that we couldn't pull off a called game anymore. Unlike other pitchers, Ryan didn't give off a fierce vibe. He just took his time and didn't shake his head at Kelvin's signs. He was able to strikeout the ninth batter easily.