682 V2 ch154 (1/2)

Landon didn't let me down. He hit a single to right field and stayed on first base with a smile. I can understand his happiness. He already has two hits in front of a few scouts and was performing well.

Batter eight came up again. He had previously hit a line drive to center so it showed that the order of the lineup didn't matter much. Any of these guys could hit. Our team is full of players that performed the best this past weekend.

The pitcher for team two led with two balls outside, then tried for something inside. He threw a curve that didn't break and ended up hitting the batter in the butt. Batter eight was fine, and jogged to first base without any problems. Landon moved to second base.

A coach for the other team came out and called for a pitching change. Rather rare in this camp because the coaches have been fair to let the pitchers complete their inning regardless of the score.

Coach Leroy also made a change, putting in a pinch hitter for the pitcher in the nine spot. We both went out of the dugout together to take practice swings. Though his were more aggressive. Almost like he wanted to win this game right now.

My lips twitched as I watched from the corner of my eye. This guy had the same idea as me, hitting a homerun, but his swing screamed that he won't be able to do it.

And I was right. During his at-bat, he was over swinging. Too focused on the speed of his bat over making solid contact. He did get a piece of a pitch, hitting a grounder between the first and second baseman. The first baseman got to it first, fielded the ball, and threw to the shortstop at second. The shortstop threw to the pitcher covering first, but it wasn't in time.

Landon made it to third and now the ninth batter was on first, while the eighth batter was sent back to the dugout.

I walked up to the plate. Two on. One out.

The pitcher got set and threw his first pitch. Normally I would like to study a pitcher and his movements, nitpicking at his motion, but he threw a fastball right down the middle. Too good to pass up. I swung and pulled it to left field. The ball carried as I started to jog. It cleared the fence for a three run homerun. Landon scored. The ninth batter scored. I tagged home plate, greeted by the pair.

We now had a 5-1 lead.

Coach Leroy had a giant smile on his face as I came back into the dugout with the other two. ”Knew you could do it kid.”

”I got lucky.” I stayed humble, knowing that a big part of my homerun came from the easy pitch I got. I glanced back to the field and saw that the other coach came out again, but just for a short chat on the mound.

Whatever was said, had calmed down the pitcher. He got the second batter to fly out to center field and then struck out the third batter to end the inning.

Team two sent out their eighth batter who pulled off a homerun shot of his own to make the score 5-2. The ninth batter also did some damage, hitting a double to the corner of right field. Back to the top of the lineup, the batter got under the ball but it was just a short pop up to me.

I made the catch and threw the ball back to the pitcher on the mound. ”One out.” I stated, trying to sound upbeat.

”One out!”

”One out, keep it going!”

”One out, two to go!”