"Ding!"
A tal bat connecting with a ball always made flinch, especially when I’m not paying attention. I wasn’t able to see the ball co off the bat, but with Noah suddenly leaping to his right, with his left arm stretched out, I knew where it must have went.
I watched on as Noah snatched the line drive before it could bounce or even sneak pass him. He landed on his side, keeping his gloved hand in the air, showing off the ball.
The second base umpire pumped his fist. "Out!"
Even though we were the away team, a few claps could be heard from our side of the stands. I looked over and saw Mr. and Mrs. Atkins applauding, but they weren’t the only ones. So of the softball players had also clapped and I could hear a "Nice catch!" from sowhere.
Noah got on his knees and threw the ball back to Dave on the mound. "Nice pitching!"
Dave just grinned back at him. "Good one kiddo." He turned back to ho plate to face the new batter.
Noah jumped up and brushed so of the infield dirt off his uniform. He caught looking and smiled at too. "One out! Two to go!" He got loud. So of the teammates repeated after him.
For so reason, I started to smile too. That player had what should have been at least a single, but Noah just snatched it from the gap. Talk about being robbed...in my mind, that’s worse then a non ho run. At least I made it on base and drove in so runs.
With everyone back into position, Dave got back to work. The second batter hit a pitiful high fly to Mahki in left field. He got underneath with ti to spare and caught the second out. The third out of the inning was a routine grounder to Noah, who easily fielded it to Julian. We jogged back to the dugout in high spirits.
Dave stayed in his bubble and didn’t talk to anyone. It was a little strange not to hear his chatter throughout the course of the ga. Even when he was in the bullpen, he would be jabbering away. The only words I really heard him say since warm ups was that complint to Noah.
We would start the inning with Jason, Julian and Dave. The good vibes seem to be flowing as we started strong. Jason singled and Julian walked. As a new pitcher ca in for Porterville, I saw how zoned out Dave looked. Maybe zoned out wasn’t the right phrase. His eyes were focused on the mound, but not on the pitcher. It was like he couldn’t wait to get back out there and work his way to his own perfect ga.
"Is he going to be alright up there?" I asked Noah with a slight frown.
Noah shook his head and sighed. "He’s not thinking about batting or offense at all. Chances are...he’ll strike out. At least that would be better than a double play."
I guess. I just can’t see what’s so great about pitching. Hitting was more fun.
True to Noah’s prediction, Dave struck out looking on three pitches. Not like he was looking at the pitches. He had sothing else on his mind.
Tony moved to the batter’s box, Kelvin to the on deck circle, and Noah was in the hole. He had already put on his helt and grabbed his bat. Now he was tightening his batting gloves as if they could be loose.
I also put on my helt and grabbed my bat. I ran my fingers over it a few tis and decided it would need so care tonight. I could feel a few splinters that needed to be sanded down in case they caused problems later on.
As I moved to stand beside Noah, he whispered to . "Do you think Tony can get another hit? I really want to get an at bat with multiple runners on. Maybe I could push us to ten, and then Dave will shut them out. It would be a perfect rcy ruled ga. Unique right?"
"Can it be considered a perfect ga if he doesn’t pitch all seven innings..?" I asked, not sure about the rules for classifications.
Noah paused. Blinked. Blinked again. His mouth opened, yet nothing ca out. I guess he didn’t know. Or at least, didn’t even think about it.
Tony hit a big one to distract us from the question at hand. It went down the first baseline to the corner of the field, making the right fielder chase it down. Both Jason and Julian scored, making the score 9-0. Tony slid into second even though a throw didn’t co to try and get him out. He stood up and smiled at the dugout that cheered for him.
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