230 Stanford University: Friday 6 (1/2)

This is a real baseball stadium. I stared in amazement at the field surrounded be stadium seating. The furthest point in center field labeled the wall as 400'. 400 feet?!? The green grass looked to be freshly manicured and well taken care of. Our school had a nice field too, but our grass was nowhere near as green. And the stadium seating surrounding the field really made me feel small. There were rows and rows behind both dugouts and home plate. The only similarity I could find was there were no seating in the outfield. Here, beyond their outfield wall stood so many trees, it looked like a forest. If someone hits a home run, they must not get the ball back.

”How amazing!” Noah finally spoke up. I nodded in agreement. He looked up at Nick. ”Can we go out there? Please?” No longer the rebellious teen, Noah looked more like an obedient puppy, wagging his tail with excitement.

Nick ran his fingers through his hair. ”I don't know. Let's find your other brother and Shawn first. I don't see them out here so they must be in the bullpen or cages.”

Cages? I lit up.

”Bullpen then.” Noah sighed. ”Kyle's a pitcher. Plus, he sucks at batting.”

I sighed too.

Dave on the other hand, became excited. ”Yes! Let's check out your bullpen!”

Nick waved us on, and led us down to field level, passed the dugout, and towards a shaded area, fenced off. The fencing was intertwined with a dark colored tarp so you couldn't see in. Nick went to the gate and opened it for us. All four us walked in and found an interesting scene...

Both Shawn and Kyle were doing handstands. Like they were gymnasts or something. Their hands were shoulder length apart, fully extended, and their body was straight as can be. It's just...the two weren't on the same level.

Kyle was sweating like it was 100 degrees when it was barely 70. His sweat was rolling down his shaky arms as if they could snap any second. In fact, his whole body looked as if it was vibrating with his twitching.

Meanwhile, Shawn was smiling with ease. He saw us enter from the corner of his eye. ”Oh, hey guys. You're just in time to see Kyle lose in a mini competition with me.”

Nick shook his head, dismayed. ”Why are you even competing with a high schooler? Have you no shame?”

Shawn grinned. ”He wanted to. Turns out, we're both pitchers so I thought I would show him how different the college level is.” He looked at Kyle. ”Have you had enough yet? You've done well for someone who doesn't train like this normally.”

”N-n-no.” Kyle stuttered. ”I can s-s-still g-go.” His arms were no longer pencil straight as they wiggled.

”Then let's make it harder.” He pushed his hands out a little wider, then bent them slowly at the elbow, then pushed himself back up. He was doing handstand push-ups.

Kyle gritted his teeth, pushed his hands a little further apart, and tried one. That's all it took to send him sprawling in the dirt of the bullpen. He landed on his back with a 'thud.'

Dave and Noah started laughing at their brothers' pathetic face as he continued to sweat even when finally getting to relax his muscles.

Shawn was more graceful coming out of his handstand by setting one foot down, and flipping into a normal standing position. He checked his watch. ”About a minute and a half. Not bad.”

Dave went over to Kyle and poked his shaky arms. ”What a baby. Bet I could last longer.”

Kyle glared at his twin. ”20 dollars says otherwise.”

”I'll do it with you!” Shawn eagerly got into position. He shifted his hands to look at us three remaining. ”Come on and join us!”

We watched as Dave struggled to get straight and wobbled around.

”No thanks.” Noah replied.