Chapter 4

When the alarm went off, I discovered we had not moved all night long. Both girls groaned and moved to get out of bed. Mary sat up as she was on the outside and Jill pushed me to get up so she could get up too.

Jill handed me a towel as she and Betty wrapped one around their bodies. I grabbed my toothbrush and we headed to the bathrooms and showers. I was the only guy in the shower this morning with a dozen or so girls. They were all whistling and cutting up the whole time I was washing. I waved my semi hard-on at them on the way out for some more catcalls.

The day was a repeat with the closing words from the coach at practice telling us to be at the gym ready to get on the bus at seven. After supper, I think all of the ball players were walking around to each of their Prof.'s offices slipping their papers for the next three days under the door. I had turned in everything except for my late class.

Back at the dorm in Jill's room I said, "I have to get some clothes together for the trip. Do you want me to come back down later?"

Jill said, "That would be good. If we get done with our packing early, we might come up. We'll see you in a little while either way."

I was quick, as my clothes were clean and ready. I didn't have to take any fancy clothes so it was easy to pack a couple of pair of jeans and some pull over shirts, some extra underwear and socks and I was ready. I cleaned out my backpack so I had just what I needed to study ahead.

Mike wasn't in the room so I figured him to be with Jack. I wonder if he was going on the team bus or whether he was being disciplined for missing practice last Friday. In one way it didn't matter much since he was a sub. But it did matter, as we needed a good bench to back up the regular players.

I was getting ready to walk out when Jill came in and said, "Come down to our room tonight. We'll get to sleep early so we won't be late for the buses. To bad they won't let us mix and match on the buses. It sucks that you guys go on one bus and we go on the other."

We did get to bed early but both girls wanted attention and were after each other as much as I was after them. It was after eleven when we fell asleep.

The early up wasn't too bad and we were in the cafeteria very early. We all ate well and picked up a bunch of fruit for the bus ride. They had tubs of water bottles that everyone took several of and then the horde of ball players made their way to the buses at the gym.

As is usual, we didn't leave on time but twenty minutes late because we had to wait on late coaches. We did get to the far off school by almost eleven. We were supposed to begin playing at noon but the game had been postponed until one. As one of their players said, "Everything is an hour or two off here. We never start on time and we never get to supper on time."

All of us were hungry but we didn't want to eat too much and become lethargic so we all had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to help us get through to supper.

The game began at one forty-five much to the displeasure of the umpire staff. Our school had been out on the field practicing early as if we were going to begin at the noon originally scheduled time.

Today's line up had me leading off. That's one thing about the coach, he always had a surprise.

The pitcher was all over the place and gave me four straight balls not to swing at. As soon as I was on base, coach and the third base coach was flashing steal signs. I watched the pitcher check me out and not really care what kind of lead I took. When he pitched the first fast ball, it was a pitchout and the catcher fired down to first base. I was back in time but took note that the catcher not only had a good arm but was accurate.

I took another big lead but this time the pitcher held me by throwing back to first. When he turned his back to me, I figured he thought I would stick close so I took a big lead and when the pitcher's leg went up, I was running. I made the steal at least a second before the ball got to the second baseman's glove.

The activity now had three balls on the second hitter so the pitcher planted his foot and threw a strike. The hitter liked what he saw and drilled it to right center all the way to fence for a two base hit. I scored easily and the score was one to nothing.

Coach said to me as I came into the dug out, "You'll get a rep for stealing bases if you keep that up. You might want to take a little shorter lead off next time. I doubt he'll give you that much leeway."

I watched, as we were able to manufacture one more run before we took the field.

Our pitcher was cold, ice cold and walked the first two batters. I was playing deep; just before the grass of the outfield as the hitter was supposedly a right handed pull hitter. The second baseman was sort of holding the runner when a ball came screaming at me. I was lucky to scoop it on a short hop and shoveled it to the third baseman, who threw to second and the second baseman relayed the ball to first. Triple play. The home coach protested until the blue at first told him that one more word and he would be out of the park.

I kind of thought the runner was safe but the call went our way and was the first triple play that I had seen since pony league days.

Their pitcher had settled down and threw strikes. He was consistent throwing low outside every ball. Before I went to the on deck circle, coach said, "Crowd the plate a little. He might brush you back but he'll probably throw outside. If he brings it in, swing away."

Sure enough, because I was up on the plate, the first two pitches were balls. Then he threw way inside that was also a ball but put me on my butt. I got right back up on the plate to have a fat one come at me. I hit it hard enough to have hit cars way out in our parking lot but here it just went into some brush behind the fence. As I passed the second baseman he said, "At least you didn't get a chance to steal."

Coach was trying to get the other batters to crowd the plate like I did but they wouldn't get up close enough. Baseball can be intimidating and the coach wanted to intimidate the pitcher. By the seventh inning, we were tied up at two each as our pitcher was serving up a lot of fly balls that were all the way to the fence.

When I came up the last time, there was a man on first and third. Coach was signaling bunt but the third base coach was waving him off for me to swing away. I backed out of the batter's box and let the two of them figure it out. Finally, the third base coach gave me the bunt and I set up just like the last two times at bat, I crowded the plate.

The first ball was inside but I was expecting that and got out of the way. The second was way outside and not hitable. The next pitch was just below the belt and a change up. I was able to guide the ball down the third base line fairly firmly but soft enough no one could reach it to throw the runner out at home. They did throw me out at first but I did what was asked. I advanced the runners and got an RBI.

Coach gave me a butt slap on the way by and said, "Good going to wait until we made up our minds on your call. We'll try to be more direct next time."

The game ended with us winning three to two that really wasn't bad. We could have hit better but we didn't do that terrible.

By the time we were showered and at their cafeteria, we were all starved. Their food wasn't as good as ours but to a bunch of kids, it was okay because there was a lot.

The girls had finished their game almost an hour before we finished so they were already through. We mixed it up while eating which meant that I had Jill and Mary near plus a lot of the other girls who had become friendly.

Our quarters were two floors in a dorm that are left empty for visiting athletes. The girls were assigned to one floor and guys to another. The rooms weren't anything special but they were clean.

The next morning I was up and jogging at seven. No one else wanted to run so I was chasing myself around the ball field so I could get a feel for it before today's game. I always use running the field before the game to get a feel for it and to let the field become my friend. Dumb huh? But it works for me.

When I had circled the field a dozen times or so I was exiting the gate when coach hollered at me. He asked, "Trying to get rid of your extra energy?"

I tried to explain that I needed the exercise but I like to run the field to learn what corners there was and what the grass looked like. He nodded and said that he had made arrangements for us to use their batting cages for a couple of hours and we could do some infield practice before eleven if we wanted.

"Call it coach. I'll run eat and we can get right on the field or hit the cages. A little extra time with the bat would be good. We'll have plenty of time to rest before a four o'clock game."

He said, "They confused that too. They want to start at two. They were working on getting the umpires early. I wonder why there is so much confusion."

I ate and bullied all the infield guys into some infield practice after the batting cages. All of us took fifty balls in two twenty-five-ball segments. The first run through was half bunts and half-directed grounders. The second segment was lofting the ball gently over the first and third with the last five swing away. I could have used another fifty balls but this wasn't my decision today.

Infield practice had us looking pretty sharp. We were fielding and throwing accurately and should avoid the blunders that usually befall you when you're away from home.

After an early lunch we were dressed out and doing our usual live batting practice and infield practice. When the warm ups were over and the ground crew was lining the field, I used that time to watch the starting pitcher warm up. He seemed smooth and had a nice flowing motion all the way through. From the sound of the ball hitting the glove, he was throwing hard early but from the distance I couldn't tell whether he had any movement on the ball.

Today coach had me hitting fourth. Like sure, I'm going to be the clean up guy. I've been lucky lately but not deadly. At least I made contact most of the time.

Our first batter couldn't catch up with the fast ball and swung at a ball way out of the strike zone for his third strike. The second batter paid attention and when the pitcher took a lot off a ball, he put it into short left field for a single. The third man up had the rhythm and planted a ball back in deep center field but there was a fielder under it.

My first two pitches were balls, probably in honor of yesterday. I had been given a swing away sign but it had changed for the third throw. They wanted me to hit behind the runner, which meant something over the first baseman's head. The pitcher pitched another change up and I was able to put it into right field. The fielder was playing so shallow that the ball got past him and rolled into the corner. Our runner scored and I was stopped at third.

Our fifth man was really our best hitter and rarely didn't make good contact. The problem was that he always wanted to try to put the ball out of the park so he had a lot of pop ups and liners deep to a fielder. The third base coach was signing him to keep the ball in play, which meant for him to get it over the second baseman's head. The field was playing him deep so all he had to do was slap the ball.

He did slap it and I was able to score. The next man up didn't pay attention to the sign and tried to kill the ball. Making an easy out.

I had been drilled over and over to do what the coaches wanted. They may not be always right but it was their game to win or lose.

The second baseman twisted his ankle on the second play of our half of the inning. He ran to the bag for the toss to catch the lead runner and stepped on the bag wrong.

This brought in our young guy who would be a great shortstop one of these days. The one thing he wasn't doing was to participate in infield practice as much as he could.

He wanted to stick to close to second and watched a ball go through the hole. This let men on first and second. Now he could hold the runner if signaled but he still left a big hole because the first baseman should be around the bag. Because the second baseman was playing close, the first baseman was ranging to his right to try to cover the gap.

The new guy wouldn't respond to signals and stayed about ten feet off second with one hand on his hip. That pissed me off as even major leaguers got down with the gloves ready when the ball is pitched.

When the second ball went to the left of the second baseman, and the runners advanced, I could see the coach really get pissed. Coach was pointing at me and motioning me toward the kid. I went to him and told him the coach wanted him to play the gap. He said he was but he really didn't know second. I told him, "Play short, and not deep. The play is at the plate."

I positioned myself in the gap and motioned the first baseman toward his area of coverage while the coach was radically signaling to us. He didn't like my switch.

The next batter hit right up the middle. The pitcher missed it but I was able to field it, run across the base and fire home. Thank goodness the pitcher knelt down, as I would have beaned him. We were late to the plate but the catcher was sharp and faked throwing back to me as the first base runner was stretching for two. The man on third broke for the plate with the fake and the catcher ran toward him throwing the ball to the third baseman. They caught him in a run down.

The opposing coach was yelling that the catcher caused a dead ball because he held on to it. Dumb protest, as the ball is live until it's either out of bounds or everyone is on base and the pitcher has the ball. Even then if a runner wishes to run he could.

We were in better shape with two outs and only a man on second. The pitcher caught the batter looking and was out of the inning with only one run.

When we made it to the dugout, coach was really steamed. He had me up against the wall reading me out until he finally said, "That was probably the right move but you're not a coach, you play where I tell you. Now send that sack'o shit to me so I can ream his ass."

Before we went to the field again, the kid was in the showers. Our utility infielder that was best at third and short took short and I covered second. We played good together and were able to play all three balls hit to us for outs.

After a couple of hits and an out, I was up again. This time with a man on first and second with one out, they gave me a swing sign without qualifying it. No big sweep, no arm brush for direction of a pop. The first pitch was blistering down the middle. I didn't even see it well so I watched the strike. The next pitch looked like it was going to be the same so I was ready. I came right down the middle again but this time his ninety-mph plus fast ball went out as fast as it came in. Surprisingly the ball barely made it over the fence. The ball actually hurt my hands when the bat made contact.

In the dugout I told the hitting coach about it and he pulled the bat. There was a crack down the aluminum shaft. Sure glad I didn't use that bat again.

My hands were still stinging when we went to the field again. The first ball to me was an easy one with a short throw too first. The next guy up hit a ball to the fence and was on second. Coach wanted me to hold him, which meant a hole to right. I was playing just off the left shoulder of the pitcher when a ball came screaming up the middle. Defensively, I put the glove up and caught the ball. I stepped on second and threw to first. A triple play the easy way but we only needed two. I took a real ribbing about making four outs for the inning.

My last time up at bat, I had three balls then two foul balls. The last throw was a nasty curve that I waved at. I was cussing myself as I went back to the dugout. The hitting coach came over to me and said, "If you hit every time you were up, you would be in the bigs. You have to stay patient and learn to hit those curves and sinkers. We'll work on it. I know you'll learn, you work at it."

We won but only five to four. The coach gave us a short lecture about watching for signals and further explained that they were the coaches and players shouldn't be swapping positions. Everyone knew what had happened but knew I had moved our new guy in order to keep us on top.

The new guy wasn't at supper and the girls were a little down because they had lost a close game. While we were relaxing after supper, a rumor went around the teams that the new guy had been picked up in town trying to steal a car. Man, that was really stupid. He was over eighteen so he was an adult and would be treated that way. Oh well, that just means the coach had a hole for another scholarship player. It also meant he needed to come up with another short stop in a year or two.

Friday was like Thursday but with the game starting at noon. Everyone had gotten up early and some of us took some batting cage practice. I stayed at second while our infield reserve did a decent job at short. I told our starting pitcher to throw low and outside to righties and low in inside to lefties so I would have more activity. I was kidding, "You don't want me to fall asleep out there do you?"

The suggestion worked as the first seven balls hit were to me. I mean right to me. One a liner but the rest lazy grounders that came up where they should and were easy throws for outs. It made a believer out of me. After the third inning the pitcher served up some fat pitches that put us behind six to two by the end of the sixth. Coach brought in a reliever who threw side arm and was a little wild when he was excited.

The first pitch was wild so when he got the ball I trotted up to him and joked with him a little. I told him, "Just settle down and throw that neat slider you throw. It's nice and slow and goes everywhere at once."

He laughed but threw the slider and the batter popped it up.

The next batter I did it again and settled the guy down. He was at two balls and a strike when the batter hit it straight to the third baseman.

The third batter I joked at him that he could try to take the guy's knees out or at least keep the ball down there so the ball would stay on the ground.

He took me literally and almost smacked the guy's knees. It would have been a ball but the guy swung the bat defensively. There was a lot of heckling going on so the batter tried to put the ball out of the park. It did what usually happens, the ball went straight up, hit a satellite and fell into the short stop's glove.

I was second up and before going to the on deck circle the coach said, "We need runs. I'll give you a swing away sign but if the pitcher is trying to pitch around you, put it in play over a corner. They're playing you shallow because you're not that big so if you have to, plug it to the fence. Now do it."

The first man up put the ball into left field for a single. The first pitch I saw was another rocket fast ball but out of the strike zone. I was really keyed for the fast ball so when he threw a change up, I was about two weeks early on the swing. I didn't see a change on his arm motion.

The next ball up I figured would be back to the fast ball. It was with some movement. I swung through the ball feeling it come off the bat very nice. I ran for first trying to find where the ball hit. The first base coach was pushing so I ran to second watching the third base coach waving at me to run. When I ran past third I just knew there would be a play at the plate. Instead the catcher was just standing there.

The ball had buried itself in the fence. The fielder couldn't get it out so they called it a double and the runner had to go back to third and me to second. Coach argued but that was a good call. The ball wasn't playable so it was only a double.

I watched as the pitcher played the same game with the batter he had with me. Since this was a good hitter, he got the rhythm and blasted the ball into the next country. We were now only one run down with no outs in the top of the seventh.

The guys manufactured a run with some small ball running and bunting. So we went into the eighth tied. The side arm reliever nervously threw his practice pitches so I went out to him and told him, "You know what, you were deadly when you threw low and inside. Aim at the knees and let it tail in. Your delivery has a ton of movement. Let's use it. I'll be right there with my glove ready for the grounder."

He did that and the ball came off the bat like a rocket right into my glove without ever touching the ground. The opposing coach kept saying it was a ground ball but no dust had come up in front of me. I tossed the ball to the first baseman and he danced on the bag before throwing it back to the pitcher.

The pitcher was now laughing, the perfect way for a pitcher to be. The next batter smoked a grounder to short who threw the guy out. The pitcher looked at me and nodded and smiled. He served up the next pitch right at the batter's knees but the ball didn't tail in. The batter was slow and the ball hit the batter in the knee. The pitcher was really sorry to hit the guy and went to run in to help the guy.

Wrong move, the other teams bench emptied and our sidearm guy was punched a couple times before we could break it up. Now we had a disabled pitcher and no one warmed up. While the umpires were deciding what to do for discipline, we got an arm warmed up and ready. The umps were a surly bunch and declared a no game since the game was tied and called it off. After lots of arguments, we went to the locker room with hard feelings on both sides.

The girls were done about the time of our fiasco and we were hustled onto the buses hungry. We did stop down the road for supper but the best they could do was a Burger Chef. It was food but not great food.

We got home about ten and after putting our clothes in our rooms, both teams swarmed the cafeteria. The coaches had given them a heads up and had them prepared for a bunch of hungry students. While we were eating, the coaches of both teams came in and addressed us. They congratulated both teams for taking two of three games. There was no mention of the wayward shortstop or the relief pitcher that had been punched.

They said no formal practice Saturday and Sunday with regular practice Monday and games Tuesday and Wednesday. We also were hosting a tournament this coming weekend that would be Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Tournaments can be bears because you can play two games a day for three days. That can get very old and tired.

After our late supper, everyone migrated to the dorms to get over the long ride and to let the food digest. In my case, I was balls deep in Jill almost as soon as we hit her door. After three days, we both were suffering from the hornies.

I was having desert between Jill's legs when someone's tongue was buried in my butt. That felt so good that I turned my head to see Dan, Jill's brother. He smiled at me and said, "Spread 'em buddy, I have something for you. Keep eating though, my sis needs the action."

Ever so slowly while I ate the delirious Jill, Dan slicked on a condom and lubed up his dick. Soon he was sliding into me and fucking me deliciously. It felt so good I was going to come any second. Jill sensed me getting close and made me get up on my hands and knees. She got under me in a sixty-nine and latched onto my dick and I spewed loads and loads of that good stuff into her mouth.

When Dan had finished and rolled off me, he said, "Damn that was so good. Glad you guys are still an item." Dan was pulling his pants back up when he said, "I met your room mate at a party. He was cool and insisted on condoms for all his partying. I think the guy fucked or got fucked by at least fifty guys. He definitely was the party punch. He told me he couldn't get any of his roomies ass if he started fucking around unprotected. He's a smart guy."

Dan said, "I've got places to go and people to see. I needed to say hi to sis and to plug a good butt. See you guys later."

Mary said to Jill and I, "Come on, time for bed. One last trip to the bathroom and we're locking down."

The bad thing was we were so tired. The good thing was that it was Friday night and we were back in our own dorm. We actually didn't fuck around any more and were asleep very fast.

Saturday mornings means you can sleep late. With no practice today I didn't have to get up but my stomach was calling for "food" loud and clear. My muscles also said I needed to go to the weight room. As I slipped out of bed Jill said, "You are certifiable. Give it a rest Dean. I'll bet you're planning on going to the weight room then to the cages."

I smiled and Jill sat up and said, "Damn, you're worse than a guilty concious. I'll go with you but I'm taking a nap this afternoon."

We showered, ate, worked out then were in the batting cages doing sets of twenty-five. When the batting coach showed up to check in at his office he heard us and came into the cage area to see who was doing what. Jill was hitting well and putting balls into the two corners then rang the bell a couple of times.

The coach asked me, "How long have you been here?"

Jill said, "Slave driver here had me hit a hundred and he's already over a hundred twenty-five. I think he's done though."

The coach said, "Don't overdo it. I know you want to be good but don't take a chance and hurt yourself."

"We're going coach. I just don't like a day to go by without doing some hitting. I want to be good and the only way to be good is to practice."

The coach waved at me shooing us away and he said, "I'll tell it to the scouts."

I stopped in mid step and asked, "What scouts?"

He turned back and said, "The scouts that have been at our games and asking questions about our short stop. If you want, they'll draft you next draft. I'm sure the coach will talk to you about it soon. Don't let it worry you though, right now you have a school to play for."

Jill said, "Hot damn, major league scouts. That's really something. I know you're good but wow, scouts. I guess you better practice. I'll help you and keep you in shape. Come on, let's go get a shower and fuck ourselves to sleep."

That's what we did and agreed not to mention what the coach had said about scouts. I was thinking that as long as I had free education, I should take advantage of it.

We worked out Sunday and spent an hour in the cages but were not seen there by anyone. Several of the softball girls were coming in as we were leaving and wanted me to evaluate their swings and help them. Jill and I got bottles of water and worked with the girls for an hour then headed to lunch.

After lunch, we went over our assignments for the week knowing we would be busy with games and practice. When we were two weeks ahead, we skipped Sunday supper and headed with a group to Pizza Hut.

This is the way it was going to be for the rest of the season so we were mentally prepared and ready.

The week began pretty normal. Monday was exercise, classes, batting, classes, practice. Tuesday was the first game of two with a local private college team. They were known for good ball teams so we knew we were going to be challenged.

Our pitching was as near perfect as you could ask and theirs was lights out. Through six innings there had been one bloop infield hit and the score was tied at zero. I had walked once and struck out twice looking at low outside sliders that must have caught a corner of the plate.

Our left fielder came up to bat and watched a ball and a strike then drove a hard ground ball inside the third baseman. The ball went all the way to corner so he ended up with a double.

Coach decided it was time for small ball and gave the bunt sign. Our catcher is not the worlds best bunter and isn't very fast either. He struck out after two bunted foul balls.

I was up with one out and was given the bunt sign. The first was a ball inside. The second was a ball low and outside. The third pitch was high all the way to the backstop. Our guy advanced to third. I looked at the third base coach and he gave me the bunt sign again. I called time and backed out of the batter's box to adjust my gloves and double check the sign. A bunt wasn't going to score a run unless everyone in the infield screwed up.

The third base coach continued to give me the bunt sign and the coach wasn't signing at all. Oh well. I got into my stance and what do you know another wild pitch all the way to the backstop. While I moved clear of the plate, our runner scored.

They brought in a reliever who struck out the next two and we were out in the field for the eighth. Coach had warmed up a reliever to take over if our pitcher showed signs of tiring. He shouldn't because he had not thrown that many pitches. He had been smoking all game. The man did his thing and struck out two and popped up the last. We came up in the eighth and looked bad at the plate while the reliever threw us out.

In the ninth, I figured the coach would put in a reliever but our starter came back, threw his warm ups and was ready. He amazingly smoked three straight batters on nine pitches. We mobbed the guy as he had a shut out but not a no hitter. A one hit complete game is something to be proud of.