168 Game: VS Santa Fe HS 1

"My arms..." Noah complained beside me as we tied our cleats in the clubhouse. "Every little bit of my arms hurt. They don't even feel like they belong to me anymore."

I nodded along, agreeing completely.

A resounding slap on our backs made us let out more groans and moans. "Don't be such downers. It's game day! You boys should be happy. And excited now that you can get back in the lineup." Kyle stated, giving our backs an extra pat before leaving with his gear.

We grabbed our own bags and carried them to the dugout like the rest of the team. We pulled out bats, helmets and gloves.

"I don't know if I'm excited about getting to play in a game again. Or if I'm nervous that I might make an error thanks to my sore muscles." Noah commented.

I shared the same sentiments.

The lineup had changed once more as well:

1 2B Jake Hollander

2 1B Julian Wilson

3 LF Mahki Holstrom

4 CF Zeke Atkins

5 RF Sean Isner

6 P Kyle Atkins

7 C Kelvin Bender

8 3B Chris Ludwick

9 SS Noah Atkins

Every game had a new change and I was starting to get use to it, yet I didn't really like this one. I had to lead off for the first time. Usually Noah was ahead of me, or even Mahki.

"It's just for the first inning." Noah said as he caught me looking at the posted lineup. "I mean, it's not like you'll have to leadoff every inning. Sure enough, I'll be batting right before you once the game gets going. The leadoff spot just ensures that you get the most at-bats possible."

I frowned. "What about you?"

Noah scratched his nose. "Well, I've been struggling at the plate just a little so Coach probably wanted me to go last for now."

"But you changed your grip. That'll help you."

"I'm not consistent with it just yet. Don't worry about it. It'll change after today." He attempted to flex his biceps, but then quickly dropped his arms so they rested by his sides. "Okay...maybe not today. But, as soon as my arms recover, I'm sure I'll be back in that leadoff spot."

Uh huh. Sure. If his arms felt anything like mine, then I doubt he'll get to show off much this afternoon. I was even worried for myself. For once, I hoped that Zeke asked for nothing but walks from me. I don't think I could get a solid hit off, using these arms.

Noah and I struggled together, in warmups as we threw the ball back and forth. Every part of my arm hurt and felt weak, it was almost the same feeling I had after waking up from the incident with my mother. Except, mildly better since it was only focused in my arms and a little in my abdomen area. Muscles of steel, here I come.

After warmups and batting practice, the announcer once again introduced us as we took our starting positions. I started to get use to the feeling of people cheering and hollering out my name in a non imposing manner. I even smiled as I jogged out.

"Just wait until we start having road games next week." Noah wiggled his eyebrows. "You'll go back to being a worrywart in no time." He laughed at my stricken face. "I'm kidding. Slightly." He jogged to the other side of second base.

My thoughts wandered as I tried throwing a ball to Julian, unfortunately totally missing him. He smacked his glove a few times. "Focus Jake. It's game time."

Right. Right. Why worry about away games just yet? It's not like I have to play one tomorrow. Today is a home game. A comfortable home game with classmates in the stands, teammates in the dugout, and Mr. and Mrs. Atkins sitting with the crowd. Nothing to worry about here.

Kyle took the mound, ready to go.

"Better not suck!" A yell came from the bullpen. I turned and caught his identical twin pouting against the fence, wishing he could be the one up on the mound.

Kyle paid no attention to Dave and focused strictly on the batter from Santa Fe High School. Like Jordan said yesterday, this wasn't a team in our conference nor was it a ranked team in the county or state. That didn't matter to Kyle though. He was looking at them like they were ranked number one in the nation.

Their first batter popped out to Julian at first base. The second batter flew out to Mahki in left field. The third batter was able to squeeze a grounder past Chris at third, and safely made it to first base. However, Kyle surprisingly threw a pickoff attempt and got him out before even facing their cleanup hitter. Three up, three down.

We all jogged back to the dugout. Kyle and Julian were together, laughing about how the runner didn't expect an immediate pickoff attempt at all. But to be honest, neither did I. I didn't even see the sign for Kyle to throw a pickoff, but I didn't want to admit that just in case Zeke wants to assign some extra laps.

I silently got my bat and put helmet on as I walked to home plate. I watched their pitcher warmup and couldn't see anything special about him. I turned back to the dugout to look for Zeke. Please don't make me hit. It'll be really embarrassing if my first out against me would be against a pitcher of this caliber.

Luckily, it was as if Zeke could read my mind. He tapped his nose and that was the sign to work for a walk. Fouling wouldn't be a problem, but hopefully this pitcher would just have bad control.