Chapter 30 - Game 1

The next week was to be our first game, and I also had plans to repay Rory for his help picking me up, beyond filling his truck with gas.

Rory was already happy, as he had been able to drive to and from school each day for the last two weeks, due to me financing his gas. I had explained that he and Chloe needed to start contributing, since I only really needed a lift home a few times a week.

That bought frowns from both of them, but they both knew their parents were on to them to get jobs, so they knew it was still an ongoing problem for them.

Monday practice went well, I was still in as shortstop, and Nobel was still down as first baseman which was still causing him to give me dirty looks and pointed remarks whenever he could do it without a coach hearing.

Tuesday I mentioned to Rory that his truck could do with a bit of work, he looked confused; I explained it would look a lot better with a better paint job done on it. His face fell, it was true and he knew it, but finding the cash to do it was more than he could afford. I offered to help him out as a loan if he wanted it.

I knew once he thought about it, he would love to have the truck painted, but even if he took me up on my offer, until he got a job, he couldn’t think about accepting as his allowance from his parents for the chores he did, wouldn’t be enough to pay me back, he also was still seeing April and he needed his allowance for the dates he could arrange.

Chloe was a strange situation, though she was cordial to me, but not friendly. She was really not happy about her parents demanding that she find a job, having one would make her life better having money of her own to spend, but it had dawned on me that she was pretty lazy, Rory did most of the chores, some which they were meant to share.

If she did manage to find a job, unless she could con a workmate into doing her work, it would be the first time she had to buckle down and actually work.

Wednesday practice I was sent to the bullpen, I spent the whole time rotating in and out with the other pitchers.

Thursday I was called out of a class to meet with Coach Stevens.

I went to his office as instructed, I knocked, was told to enter and to take a seat.

“Well Jack, you are causing me a bit of a conundrum!” He announced.

“Sorry Sir, is there a problem?” I was confused.

“I like the athleticism you show in the infield, I believe you are the best player we have at shortstop, your batting is better than most freshman achieve, but Coach Sharp is telling me that he needs you in the bullpen, so what do I do with you?” Coach asked me.

“I would love to play shortstop Sir, but will do whatever position in the team you think is best.”

“Good attitude Jack, to start with, that is what we will do, you start in the shortstop position, but I may change that as the season continues.” Coach stated.

“Coach there is just one thing. I have had something planned for months now, so I will need to miss one match in May to honor my previous commitment.”

“Is it really that important you have to miss a game Jack, you are looking like being one of our better players, losing you for a game could hurt the team” Coach wanted to know.

“Sorry Coach, I feel like I have to do this, it cost a lot of money to set up, I also need to do it to further my out of school activities.” I explained.

“Alright, I can understand that, please let me know the exact dates as soon as you can.”

Friday night soon came around, our first game was here. I was nervous, but also excited to actually play a game to see how we did as a team, rather than just practicing all the time.

Mom and Dad were coming, and Rory was also going to be in the crowd. That just spurred me on to do my best.

After the national anthem, we were ready to play. Being at home we had to field first.

Our best pitcher, Tim, was starting, and quickly proved why, he shut down the top of their batting order, getting one strike out, the other two hitting poor shots which I picked up and threw fast to first base to get them both out.

I was fourth in the lineup, not being seen as a big hitter, but a consistent one. Ben was at number three, so would hopefully be on a base when I came in, if I got a good hit he should be able to score.

Things didn’t start too well for us, our first batter struck out, the second got a hit but it popped up for an easy catch.

Ben headed for the plate and I gave him a slap of encouragement as he left the bench.

Ben missed the first ball for a strike, he then got a ball and a foul, watching the pitcher, he didn’t seem to have any ‘tells’ to give away what pitch he would use, he had a good fastball, faster than mine I judged, but his other pitches didn’t have much movement on them to be troubling, that was why he seemed to concentrate on fastballs, but directed in different areas of the plate.

Ben got hold of the next pitch, it was a grounder, so he wasn’t going to be caught for an out, just sneaking past the second baseman and out into center field. Ben was off and running fast, the first base coach waved him on to second. He got there a second before the outfielder’s throw reached the player covering second and was called safe by the umpire.

I was up, I went through my routine to focus myself and loosed my arms with a few practice swings of the bat, then entered the batter’s box, set my bat into position and waited for the first pitch. The pitcher glanced over his shoulder, checking to see how much lead if any Ben was making for third, in order to hold Ben closer to second base.

With Ben on second, it would be better for me to play the ball into right field, which meant a slightly later cut with my bat.

The first pitch came in, he was trying his curveball, it was coming close to me, I wasn’t sure if it would have enough curve on it to catch the plate, if I had swung for it, I was more likely to hit it into left field, which was just where I didn’t want it to go, so I leaned back and let it go.

The referee called it a ball, having not caught any of the plate. The pitcher took the ball back, checked Ben again and started his wind up, I was only guessing, but thought that this time he would try his fastball, as that was his go to pitch. I prepared myself specifically for that pitch, got a good sight on the ball coming in, I had guessed right, I got a good hit but it was in the air, I started off running, concentrating on my line, I was surprised when the coach waved me through to second, I tagged second comfortably as the fielders had thrown for home, trying to stop Ben from scoring, but he had made it easy. I didn’t progress any further though, our next batter fouled two, before hitting straight to the first baseman for the third out in the innings.