499 CIF Finals: West Valley Prep 3 (1/2)

Our offense ended with Julian grounding out to third. He came back with his head down as well.

”Next person to put his head down or groan or even say something negative, will be benched.” Coach declared. ”You're all acting like we're losing and I'm not liking it. This isn't us. We never back down. We can be down by ten runs and I'll still believe that we can turn it around. Understand?!”

”Yes, Coach!”

We ran out and took our positions for the bottom of the third inning.

Garret used his anger and anxiety in his pitching, throwing fast and hard. His arm was like a whip; I don't think I would be able to hit against him, let alone the opposing team. He struck out the side, three up, three down. It was an magnificent display of power pitching and the crowd showed appreciation for it, clapping and chanting Garret's name as he came off the mound.

Garret pumped his fist in excitement.

”Showoff.” Noah snickered as we passed Garret by, going into the dugout.

”It's a pitcher's best trait.” Garret shot back as everyone got inside our dugout.

”I think a pitcher's best trait would be being humble.” Kelvin said.

”Hey! Whose side are you on?” Garret asked.

Kelvin shrugged. ”I called for the pitches and got no credit. Whose side are you on?”

Garret laughed and threw his arm around Kelvin's shoulders. ”You know I couldn't do this without you!”

”Yea, yea, let me go.” Kelvin pushed him away.

I hurried to grab my helmet and bat, meeting Zeke and Mahki by Coach.

Coach looked at the three of us. ”Okay boys, if they try and do something similar to the first inning, then we have to try and change things up a bit. Mahki, it'll be up to you to try and get it through the infield. Don't be afraid to strikeout. Zeke, if you see an opening to steal third, take the risk. Jake, as soon as that ball is in play, sprint to second and try to break up the double play. You know what I mean?”

I gave a sad smile and shrugged. ”I'm not Noah. My base running is the worse on the team. I think that's why they know it's okay to walk me.”

Mahki patted me on top of my helmet. ”Don't worry about that, kid. They probably planned this out. I'll try to go opposite field this time or maybe pop it up so you guys can tag up and advance.”