Chapter 783 - V3 ch18 (2/2)
Zeke glanced at him. ”I'm going to Stanford.”
”That's what they all say.” Connor nodded in a knowingly manner.
”I've already started classes and missed the report date.” Zeke added.
Connor scrunched up his nose. ”What does college have that the pros don't?”
”Time.”
”Education.”
Zeke and Parker spoke at the same time.
Zeke nodded at Parker. ”Yes, I need time too.”
”Your stats make you look pro-ready though.” Conner said.
Zeke cracked a smile. He gestured at me. ”If you're basing it on stats, I know a player with better numbers.”
Conner peered at me. ”You've got a point. I can't imagine such a small kid in the big leagues.”
”You should have seen him at the beginning of the year.” Dave laughed. ”He was like three inches shorter and twenty pounds lighter. Looked like a fifth grader.”
I felt my face heat up again.
”You act like you've never been short or small before.” Noah rolled his eyes. Then moved them to Conner. ”If you think school isn't any good, why are you in one right now?”
He looked to Parker. ”Went to kill some time with my family.”
”You go to the same school?” Kyle asked Parker.
He nodded. ”I took some time off for an injury then used community college to get back in the swing of things.”
Rhys nodded, understanding. ”I got hurt as well and had the same idea.” He grinned. ”But then Zeke here chose Stanford so I had an 'in' I could follow. Plus, getting a ring or two might be nice.”
Conner sat up straight and nodded in agreement. ”Yes! I wanted a ring too!”
”Did you get it?” Noah asked.
Conner grinned. He pulled out his phone, gave it a few taps, then showed us a picture of him and Parker posing with rings on and a championship hat of some sort on their heads. ”JUCO champs. Crazy tournament this past summer.”
”Wow.”
”That's nice!”
”You must have a crazy good team!”
We spent the rest of the time before the game listening to Conner recount the story of their championship run. He did all the talking, with Parker only adding corrections here and there. Once the game started though, Conner didn't keep up the chitchat and started to focus on the game.
Game six had the best pitcher from each team going tonight. It started tight, few hits, fewer walks, a couple of strikeouts and awesome dives, but in the sixth inning, Jeremy broke through, hitting a ground rule double. Maberry added onto that, hitting a double of his own, allowing Jeremy to score. The following batter also hit a double to score Maberry. 2-0. Pitcher got pulled and the offense stopped there.
The A's held their lead until the top of the ninth. A yankee hit a two run homer to tie it up. We could only groan in frustration. Luckily it was only a tied game. Unfortunately the A's came up empty in the bottom of the ninth. Extra innings, here we go.
Tenth inning was scoreless. So was the eleventh. In the twelfth, Jeremy was the lead off batter. Noah was standing the whole time, yelling his lungs out for the both of us. Jeremy came through, almost as if he could hear Noah's yell for him to hit it out of here. He smack the ball down the right field line. The right fielder tried to make a jump but came up empty. Home run!
”WE'RE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!” Noah jumped and hugged me with one arm, waving his free arm like crazy.