121 Game Four: Paradise Preparatory 4 (2/2)

I wanted to tell him that he only almost beat it out, was because of their delayed response, but that wouldn't be nice. And I wasn't totally sure anyways. Maybe that guy wasn't sure if he should throw to third instead.

I started getting a headache from overthinking this. I leaned back and tilted my head back, just looking at the ceiling of the dugout.

”Uh...you okay Jake?” Noah asked.

I gave him a thumbs up. I'm fine. Just confused. Confused about things I shouldn't worry about.

”Well you don't have time to relax right now. Jordan just struck out. Again.” Noah sighed. I sat back up and watched as the teams started to switch. ”It's weird that he would strike out twice.”

I froze and glanced at Noah.

”I mean, this is the first time I'm officially playing with him in a game. But usually he does well at batting practice during the week.” Noah continued. He stood up and stretched. ”Okay. No slacking off. Let's go!” He ran onto the field to join the minute warmup.

I grabbed my glove and slowly followed. The bottom of the third would bring up Paradise Preparatory's batters seven, eight, and nine. I was on guard for something suspicious to happen again.

Garret kept up with the strike and got batter seven to fly out to left field. Nothing weird happened. But that's what I thought at the beginning of their offense each time so far. Batter eight would be the key. With a strike against him, he sent a long fly ball to Zeke in center field for our number two. My eyes narrowed at their last batter, who was also their pitcher. If he flew out to right field, then something wrong was really happening. I watched as Garret's first pitch to him was quickly sent to Sean in right field. End of the third. Still 5-0.

So they all hit fly balls this time. Maybe not with all the same counts, but it was too much to be a coincidence. Once in the dugout, I walked straight up to Zeke.

”Jake? What are you doing?” Noah asked from behind. ”You need to get your bat and glove. You'll be coming up again this inning.”

I ignored him and stopped in front of Zeke, who was standing next to Coach. I jerked my thumb to the field so he could understand what I want. And what I wanted, was answers.

Zeke sighed. ”I told you not to worry. Just play like normal. Don't overthink. Get hits, get on base. Field properly, get outs.”

A snort came from five feet away. Jordan was sitting there with his catcher gear still on. ”You're too naive if you think that we can win against them with just that.”

My jaw dropped. Noah gasped from beside me. Zeke and coach frowned, but neither of them had any disputes.