258 Game: @ Porterville HS 8 (1/2)

When Dave saw that we were ready, his frown turned to a grin. The kind where he looked happy beyond belief. The bottom of the fifth would start with Porterville's cleanup hitter, who had hit a fly ball to center field in the second inning. Maybe he could do it again and Noah would be able to see Zeke in action. Not that I hoped anything was wrong with him...I just worry since Mr. Atkins is very against lying and hiding potential injuries. I don't know if all parents were like that, but it wasn't a bad trait to have in my eyes.

I bent my knees a little and hit my hand into my glove a few times, not because I was ready for anything to come my way, but mostly just to imitate Noah so it looks like I know what I'm doing. Unfortunately, it acted like a summons. The cleanup hitter smacked a hard grounder towards my left side.

I tried to dive at it similar to Noah's earlier stop, but it bounced out of my glove. I scrambled for it and tried my best to throw it to Julian. Julian stretched out to the max and caught my sloppy throw just before the batter arrived at first.

”Out!” The first base ump pumped his fist.

I put a hand on my chest and let out a breath of air. Shoot. I almost messed that up. I dusted myself off and stood back up on my feet. That was the first time the ball came my way all game, and hopefully it would be the last.

”Nice stop! Good work!” Noah clapped his glove. I glanced to my right and saw him smiling with pride, which only made me feel more embarrassed. He only thought it was a good stop for a newbie player like me.

I turned my attention back to the mound, where Dave was already set on facing the next batter up. The fact that Dave didn't compliment my play like he did Noah's, spoke volumes. I wasn't even close to being satisfactory just yet. Dave started to pitch harder against the batter. Not necessarily faster, but he found some good locations in the strike zone causing the batter to strike out. One more out to go.

The third batter up this inning was sixth in the lineup. Not bad, but not the best. Supposedly. He had that fly out to right field in his one and only at bat. Is it too much to ask that he repeats? I didn't dare to clap my glove in case it summoned another grounder my way.

On a 2-2 count, Dave pitched a fastball to the outer edge of the strike zone and I prayed for a strike out to end the game so Dave would receive his perfect game. The batter didn't listen to my prayers though. The edge of his bat grazed the ball and pulled it forward between Julian and me. Julian must have had more confidence in me than I did myself, because he didn't hesitate to run to first base to cover the bag instead of going after the ball. I sprinted to my left and squatted so the ball could roll into my glove. I transitioned the ball from glove to my right hand so I could throw to Julian.

As I started to throw, my planting foot slid in the dirt and my throw was off. Again. Julian athletically jumped to catch my badly thrown ball and instead of tagging the base, he tagged the player who was trying to make it there. The third out! The game's over!

The head umpire called it and our team started to celebrate. Of course, they all tackled Dave at the mound. Kyle was one of the first to run out of the bullpen and jumped on his twin's back. The rest of the team was also crowding him.

”I guess it really does count as a perfect game!” Noah slapped me on the shoulder, smiling ear to ear.