476 CIF Semifinal: Anderson HS 2

Coach and an assistant stood huddled over a notepad, writing down some words I couldn't see. 

"Attack early, alright?" Zeke popped up next to me, also ready to bat. 

I nodded, swallowing a little harder than normal. The fun atmosphere was fading into a game atmosphere. Less fooling around and more attention was paid to the pitcher on the mound. 

The 'ding' sound from a bat hitting a ball claimed our attention. I looked just in time to see the catcher jump up, throw his mask away, and move under the ball to make the catch. Out. The first out was a foul ball to the catcher. 

Mahki came back with a frown, Julian moved up to the batter's box, and I stepped out to go to the on deck circle.

It was hard to say if Julian did worse or better than Mahki. He also came out swinging. And missing. He struck out on three pitches, compared to Mahki fouling out on the second pitch. 

My shoulders tensed up as I moved to the batter's box. Julian patted me on the head as he headed back to our dugout. I gulped and slowed up. I took my time stepping in the lefty's box and getting set. 

The pitcher was tall and well built. He nodded at the catchers sign as soon as I was set and straightened up. As he started his motion, I remembered Zeke's words yesterday on how they might pitch around me. I chose to watch the first pitch closely. I wanted to catch them off guard by getting a hit on the first pitch. Seeing that the pitch was outside, but within reach, I made my move. The end of my bat made contact, hitting a line drive down the third baseline. 

It felt like the whole stadium gasped, only to groan a second later as the third baseman made a diving grab. It felt almost simultaneous as I dropped my bat to sprint to first. I froze, my teammates sighed in defeat, and Anderson ran off the field with high spirits. 

The tension in my shoulders dispersed as I went back to grab my bat. I took off my helmet and headed back for the dugout as some of my teammates started to jog out. 

Kyle and Kelvin were the first ones out, immediately heading for the mound to do some warmup. Garret and Mahki were also quick to sprint to the outfield. Jason, Noah, and Julian came out as well. 

I hurried to my bag to dump this gear. I tugged my hat on and grabbed my glove. 

"Hey." Zeke jogged up next to me, leaving the dugout at the same time. "Don't take it to heart. That was my bad."

I shook my head. 

"No. Really." He told me, stopping me from taking the field. "I put too much pressure on you. I think Coach realizes he did the same. To the team as well. We're all kind of high strung and we have to find a way to tackle it." He glanced at Kyle on the mound. "Just forget about the last at-bat, and focus on defense."

Ugh. I shook my head to try and clear my thoughts. 

Kyle was on the mound and the spare balls were thrown back to the dugout. It was defense time. Kyle came out hot, throwing a fastball right down the middle, that was soon hit back our direction. It was a fly ball right to Garret on left field. He caught it for the first out then threw it back in. 

"One out!" Garret hollered. 

"One out!" Some of the other guys echoed. 

Kyle's expression looked annoyed, but quickly smoothed over as he faced batter number two. He worked his pitches on the edges of the strike zone, earning him a swinging strikeout. He did the same with the third batter, closing out the inning cleanly just as Anderson High did to us. 

We left the field with a little more pep in our step compared to when we came out. 

I took my glove off as I sat down near my bag, while Noah got read to bat this inning. I raised an eyebrow as I watched him tug on his batting gloves. 

"What?" He asked. "Zeke goes up first. I'll definitely get my chance this inning."

I smiled at his confidence. 

He was right though. Zeke was first up after Anderson completed their warmups. They made a move that surprised us though. The catcher didn't squat, he stayed standing with his arm outstretched, asking for an intentional ball. 

My smile disappeared as we watched the other team intentionally walk our best player. That's how you really pitch around someone, I decided to myself. They didn't give him anything hittable. Technically it's considered a gift, a free base. Except...we couldn't capitalize on it. 

Garret did his best to work the count, earning himself a hard grounder down the third baseline. There was a sense of excitement, but for me, I felt dread. I knew the third baseman had some higher skill than normal infielders. He stopped my line drive easily after all. This time was no different. He fielded the ball smoothly, making the throw to second before Zeke could get there. The only saving grace was the second baseman couldn't turn the double play in time to get Garret out. 

Zeke came back, Kyle went up, and Noah moved to the on deck circle. Kyle may have had a good showing on the mound, but he was practically a ghost in the batter's box. He seemed to hesitate on every pitch given before striking out, looking. He couldn't swing once. He came back and knocked himself on the head out of frustration.