Chapter 36: Game 5

Friday had come around again, so we had another game tonight. Karl had a twisted ankle so was out for at least a week, my replacement Rich from last week got to stand in again.

I was bizarrely please about that, I had heard through the gossip grapevine (Ben), that Jeff Nobel’s dad had been in to see the principal, wanting Jeff reinstated in the team, Coach though had held firm and left Rich in.

After the loss and the injury, I wasn’t sure that coach wouldn’t have capitulated under the pressure the principal may have been applying.

When we went out to warm up, we had a really nice surprise, the stands though not full would be the biggest crowd we had played in front of so far. Just shows that success will entice followers.

It had been Karl who had replaced me the week before at short stop, and in his efforts to perform well in that position, had been the cause of his injury.

Dan now would move in from the outfield to take over Karl’s normal 3rd base, Rich would take over the centerfield position.

Our first innings in the field didn’t go so well, Tim was having an off day, his fastball didn’t have as much zip on it as usual, his trick balls also didn’t move as much as he wanted.

We tried our best in the field to make up for it, but still had to give them two runs, when there 3rd batsman caught all of the ball, it went high and long, Rich went back to try and catch it, but it was too long going over the boundary for a homerun.

Tim dug in and stuck at it, managing to stop them scoring again in the innings, but we were three runs down.

Jerry got a nice double to start us off, Rich managed to get a hit, but not enough was on it to stop him being thrown out at first.

Dan got a break, when a loose pitch caught him on the upper arm for a walk, it would leave a bruise, but getting to base was worth it in my opinion. Alan struck out, so it was back to me and Ben to try and hit us back into the game again, we couldn’t make any mistakes though as we were already two down. Ben went for the first ball, but hit a foul, the second he left, the third fell short for a ball. At least he was working the pitcher, tiring him out a bit for later. The fourth ball, a curveball, Ben finally got his good hit, it cleared the infield and everyone was off running.

When I came to the plate, we still hadn’t scored a run, but the bases were filled.

The first two pitches I had to watch go by, the first had surprised me with its speed, the second had been so low I would have been lucky to hit it more than ten yards along the ground, even worse, the umpire still called it a strike.

That meant I had to go after this pitch regardless, if I didn’t think I could get a good hit, I would bunt to hopefully allow Jerry to get in for a run.

His throw was the first that allowed me to go for it, it was a change up, but I had spotted that, I caught it in the middle, it went down the left foul line, but landed just inside and bounced straight luckily for me, the left fielder was after it, but it was good enough for everyone to move up to bases.

Raphael also got a big hit next, but it went a little high, dying before the fence for the last out of our innings.

I got a bunch of slaps to celebrate the two runs we brought in. We were still down but only by one run now.

For the first time Tim didn’t pitch the second innings, he had talked to Coach, so they just went to the next pitcher in the rotation.

I quirked an eye at him as he sat back down on the bench, “Got a twinge in my elbow, don’t want to risk making it worse by doing another inning.” I gave him a nod of understanding as I grabbed my mitt and headed out onto the field.

Harry managed to stop the bottom of their batting order from getting any runs, though he had been hit several times, the fielders had chased hard for every ball that went into the field, either grabbing it quick enough for a force out at first, or at least limiting any extra base gains.

Our second innings didn’t start well. Simon popped one up for an out, as Joe our third pitcher was in to take Tim’s place, due to his injury. He did well enough to hitting a single, Jerry for the first time in ages didn’t make to first base and Rich was struck out.

Joe’s pitching the next inning gave up a number of hits, but we managed to get two outs recorded, it was all about the next play, the bases were full, but they were on their last out. Their batter got a good hit, it headed towards me, I moved to cut it off as it was to my left, I caught it in my mitt after its first bounce, scooped the ball out and threw hard to Raphael at home, he caught my throw before there runner was half way down the line stepping on home plate for the force out.

Ben was the leadoff batter in our next inning, and he hit a low screamer to the opposite field it reached the right field fence, but not over, caroming back toward centerfield. It was good enough for him to make it to third base after some hard running. The right fielder had to hit the relay man to get the ball back in time to hold up Ben from making it all the way for in the park homerun.

I came up, any of us who could get a good enough hit to allow Ben to run home would tie up the game, but it would be even better if we got more to take the lead.

This time I went after the first pitch, it looked inviting, but slid away from me at the end, I got enough on it to make first base, Ben also got home, but a better hit would have put more pressure on them. Raphael got a big hit on the ball, but it was high and got picked off, I waited for the catch and tagged up before I rushed to second for a stolen base. Simon was up, I took a couple of steps lead being right behind the pitcher, as it would be hard for him to turn and try and throw me out before I got back. Simon got a hit that went to right field so I was off hard to third. They played it well and held us at first and third base. Joe took the plate, any good hit and I would head for home, but I didn’t need to risk it, since the bases were not full, if it was only a hit in the infield it would reach home before I would.