426 Game VS Quincy HS (6) (2/2)

Zeke rolled his eyes. He looked at me. "Go watch the game."

I nodded and went back to my seat. I snuck glances at the two of them as I watched Julian's at-bat. Zeke has sat down next to Dave and they were talking to one another in low tones. No one else went over to them so it didn't feel right for me to go eavesdrop either.

Julian hit a fly ball to right field for the second out, then Noah followed up with a strike out. It wasn't until we switched to defense, that Zeke finally left Dave. Whatever they talked about must have been serious.

Like Coach told James, Kyle came out to close up the game. He jogged to the mound from the bullpen as Coach spoke with the head umpire. Alex gave Kyle the ball so he could get some pitches in.

Kyle's pitching was a little lackluster compared to Dave's. But unlike Tyler, he got the job done. He got his first batter to hit a foul fly ball that Julian caught with ease. The next batter struck out, swinging. The third out came from a line drive that Noah caught after diving in the dirt. It was a clean inning, yet...

Comparisons just weren't good for anybody.

The bottom of the sixth brought up the bottom three of our lineup. I sat down next to Noah near our bags, and put on my helmet.

"Dave has a blister." I told him. He was staring at the end of the dugout where Kyle went to go talk to Dave.

"Yea, I heard..." He pulled his eyes away from the twins to watch our teams offense. "Dave has had blisters before. Kyle too. Common pitching injury."

"What do you think they're talking about?" I glanced at the twins as they separated. Kyle was up after Alex so he had to get ready to bat too.

Noah shrugged. "Probably about the blister? About Dave's pitching? Anything really." Noah was brushing me off, but I couldn't tell why. I also didn't want to put him in a bad mood so I let it die.

We watched as Jason hit a long ball to center field, but the outfielder caught it for the first out. I grabbed my bat. Alex struck out so I walked to the on deck circle slowly, hoping for Kyle to do something. Unfortunately the curse was still alive. As I stood in the circle, I watched Kyle strike out to end the inning.

Now if Kyle closes out the seventh inning with us in the lead, we won't have to bat in the bottom of the seventh. It's not a bad thing, but I would have liked to have another at-bat...I pouted as I put my bat and helmet away.

"There's a game tomorrow." Noah tried to cheer me up.

I nodded, but wasn't feeling it. I grabbed my hat and glove, and hit the field. I would have liked to score more to cheer up the team.

Kyle didn't falter and closed it out cleanly. Pop up to left field. Strikeout. Fly out to right. No one sprinted to celebrate like before, but there were smiles of relief.

Coach gathered us for a postgame speech and to talk about tomorrow's game. "Good win, boys. It may not feel like it, but you played great. We got on the scoreboard early and our pitching held up. Tomorrow, we'll let Bryce get the start. Garret and Kyle will be reserved for Thursday against Golden West. As for Monday, everyone will be ready because of the three days off. We're going to be okay. Everyone should be focusing on doing their best for every game." He looked at Bryce. "Even against non-conference opponents. It's a tight race to first right now. Everything counts. Wins. Runs scored. Runs given up."

"So don't let up." Zeke added, standing tall. "Dave is okay. He'll be good to go for CIF." Dave nodded to show his agreement. "So don't let him heal up for no reason. Prove to him, that we'll need him back for playoffs."

"Yea!"

"Of course we'll need him back!"

"You better not slack off, Dave!"

That last comment came from Garret and earned a few laughs.

"Alright, get going." Coach waved us away. "Go home. Finish your homework, eat a big meal and get some rest. Tomorrow's game is at 4pm so we'll warmup after classes. No skipping!" He dismissed us.