Chapter 9

Again, the next two years followed the pattern set by that first year. We did our classes as always. We put in the study time necessary to maintain "A" grades and had some extracurricular activities thrown in for good measure. We went to a few of the dances and other social gatherings, but mostly Tommy and I just enjoyed being together and doing the things that we both liked to do.

Each summer, we played baseball and played in the pool and the hot tub. The final summer before entering high school, we moved up a level in the baseball competition. Actually, this league was set up by the high school baseball coaches to see what kind of prospects they had for the coming years with the high school teams. Our city was large enough to have three high schools, and all three had a heavy emphasis on baseball.

Sure, football was the big attraction for most of the high school kids and for the average adult, but there was enough interest in baseball to warrant making sure that each high school fielded as strong a team as possible. Dad heard through the grapevine that Tommy and I were sure to make the junior varsity (JV) and varsity teams as long as we were interested and eligible.

I was unique with my flutterball, and my fastball was still good enough to function as my changeup. I could hardly wait to start work on my curve ball, but I had at least another year before I could take that seriously. By now, I was well enough known around town that I was thought of as an up and coming pitching prospect and not just as a girl who liked to play baseball.

Tommy, on the other hand, was known as an outstanding catcher who could hit with power without having a problem with striking out. He also could hit to all fields, so there was no way to gain an advantage by shifting the infielders and outfielders.

We would be going to Central High School because that was the school district we lived in, and the other two schools were definitely jealous. Jackson High School was known for its hitters, and Lowell High School was known for its fielding, but Central was known all over the state for its pitching. As anyone would predict, each school specialized in what the coaches were most skilled at teaching and were the most interested in. That was why I was so relieved that we lived in the school district that we did. I was looking forward to some expert coaching on throwing the curve ball.

We could always expect to have at least one college scout at each of our games, and there were often professional scouts there, too. If one were interested in baseball as a career, and Tommy and I both were, then there were two paths to the Major Leagues. One could go to college and be drafted from there after graduation, or one could skip college and sign a contract with a major league team to climb up through their minor league system. In any case, every player could expect to spend some time in the minors. Tommy and I were the cautious types, so we were going to college so that we would have something to fall back on when our professional playing days were over.

Of course, that was assuming that we could attract the attention of the colleges. Tommy should have no trouble because he was male, but I expected to be in a different situation because I was female. I didn't know how the college scouts would react to a female baseball pitcher. Most colleges had softball teams for their girls, but I did not know of a single one who had a female baseball pitcher. Well, that was something that I was going to fight for, and to do so, I had to be an outstanding high school pitcher.

We dug into our studies just the way we always did and were in the top level with "A" grades in all classes as usual. We were not going to let slacking off keep us from playing baseball or out of a suitable college or university. The first year was a drag for us until baseball season started, then we began to "live."

Tommy didn't need much special instruction, but I had the advantage of attracting the attention of one of the volunteer coaches who had once been a professional pitcher who specialized in the knuckleball. How lucky could I get!? Mr. Aston helped me to polish my delivery so that my windup looked even more like I was going to throw a fastball. Also, I had the problem that almost all beginning knuckleball pitchers had of inconsistency with the pitch. In other words, the ball did not always "bump and grind" when I threw it. That was because I would get too much spin on the ball. By the time I pitched in my first JV game, I had that problem pretty well under control.

Normally, I would have had the fate of the common knuckleball pitcher: being a relief pitcher. That was not going to get me the attention that I thought that I needed to get into a top ranked college, so I campaigned hard to be a starter. Fortunately, I had done so well in my previous leagues as a starter that I met willing ears in my manager, Mr. Ely. He agreed to let me start the second game of our JV season, and I got so lucky that it was unbelievable.

Of course, Tommy was my catcher, and he knew what I needed to keep my spot as a starter. We played three games a week, and the team needed all of the starters that it could get, so I had a leg up on that situation. Also, I agreed to relieve as necessary. Mr. Ely promised that I would not be stuck in the role of a reliever, but it would show that I could do either one very well.

Mr. Ely called most of my pitches during the first part of the game, but he let Tommy do that job from the 3^rd inning on. At first, Mr. Ely had me relying too much on my fastball, and I gave up two hits that inning before we convinced Mr. Ely to let me concentrate on the knuckleball. I had a no-hitter for the next five innings when Mr. Ely pulled me to give a prospective reliever a chance. Darn it, Joey gave up two homeruns, and we lost the game. Nevertheless, Mr. Ely was impressed with what I had done as a pitcher, so I still had my starter's job. Our league used the DH, and he batted for me because that was the traditional job of the DH. Oh, well, I could live with that.

I had three days off before I pitched again. Tommy did a great selling job and had me play as the DH who also happened to pitch. That way, if I had to be pulled as the pitcher, I could still bat as the DH. Our regular DH was a little pissed off at that, so I just avoided him as much as possible on the days that I was pitching.

I had to laugh at the gyrations that the school went through when it came to the locker room. Naturally, being a GIRL, I could not use the same dressing facilities that were used by the boys. Therefore, the school administration had me use the girls' locker room that the softball team used. On the days that I played a home game, I had the locker room to myself. That was not inconvenient, but I did find it to be funny.

The next time I pitched, I was the starter, and Mr. Ely let Tommy call all of my pitches. Darn it, we had an inexperienced umpire calling strikes, and he called some of my flutterball pitches as balls simply because he missed them. Therefore, I did have to pitch with runners on base.

Tommy had such a good throwing arm that none of them managed to steal second-base, but they kept trying. Tommy and I laughed at the situation when it was our team's turn to bat. I even managed to pick one runner off first-base, but I admit that I did catch him and his coach napping.

I also got two hits as the DH and drove in one run, so I managed to look good playing that position. Here was where I had another advantage: "just everybody knew" that GIRLS couldn't hit a baseball past second-base, so the fielders were not taking me seriously. The one time I was out was a fly ball into center-field that was over the head of the fielder, but he got lucky and caught up to it before it hit the ground.