444 Game @ Servite (4) (2/2)

I furrowed my eyebrows. What happened afterwards?

"About how much you stepped off the bag for your lead. Or your lack thereof." Coach crossed his arms over his chest. "You should take a minimum lead off the base of, at least, three feet." He untangled his arms to hold up three fingers to emphasize his point. "Do any less and I'll pull you."

I gulped. "I was...playing it safe..." I stuttered out.

Coach shook his head. "No, you were playing scared." He sighed. "I let you get away with these little things, but they add up, Jake."

I fiddled with my glove. "Garret got to the shortstop anyways. No matter what, I'd be out and the inning would be over."

Coach narrowed his eyes. "That kind of thinking is dangerous, son." He opened his mouth to say more, but was cut off by a surprise appearance from James. James came jogging in from the bullpen, drawing attention from Coach, pushing me out of the danger zone. "Jake, go play." He patted my shoulder.

I tugged on my baseball cap, thankful that's James saved me from a scolding. Coach seemed upset. It wouldn't be good if he pulled me so early. Especially for something so small. I jogged to my position before peeking back at our dugout. Coach and James were in a deep conversation, and then I saw Coach motion for Coach Luis and Mr. Miller to join them. Something must be going on.

"Jake?" Noah called out, making me jump.

I looked around and saw that the whole infield was looking at me, including Kyle up on the mound. I waved my hand a little to signal that I was ready before putting my attention on the batter. Inside, I was cursing myself for getting distracted so soon after a scolding. I don't need to invite anymore trouble my way.

Kyle's pitching didn't look as sharp as it did in the first inning. Not that he was doing poorly; he was getting the pitches to land in the strike zone. The problem is that they were also being put into play. The first batter up was eighth in the order, and he hit a nice long fly to right field. It was high though so Mahki had the time to get under it and make the catch for the first out.

Batter nine was Sanchez. The last time Kyle pitched against Servite, it was only the cleanup hitter that was abled to get a hit off of him. Not today though. Batter three had a double, and now, so did Sanchez. He rocketed one to the left field fence and reached second base quickly. That brought us back to the top of the lineup.

Kyle got the first batter to groundout to Jason at third, which helped keep Sanchez at second. With two outs, the second batter in the lineup order sent one of the pitches back up the middle, catching Kyle off guard. I was scooted over though, playing closer to second base in order to keep Sanchez closer to the bag as well. I fielded the ball and threw to Julian at first to end the inning.

"Good work!" Noah was the first to congratulate me as we jogged to our dugout. The rest of the guys sang similar tunes, but I wasn't feeling too proud. Coach's scolding was still fresh.

I looked over to see what Coach and James was doing now, only to find that James was running back to the bullpen. Whatever he had said, apparently didn't need him to stay with us in the dugout. My curiosity was growing. I looked to see what Coach was doing and found that he had walked over to Zeke, who was preparing to lead us off this inning.