During lunch with the team and everyone's family, I got a ssage from Jeremy.
Jeremy: Sorry to bail without saying anything first. You played great today! It was a good ga.
I stared at the ssage for a second too long I guess.
Because Noah peered over my shoulder to take a look. He snorted. "Took him long enough." He looked at . "You should ignore him."
My lips twitched. "It's not like it was intentional. He went to support Carson after a tough loss. Wouldn't you guys do the sa for ?"
Noah rubbed his chin. "Yea, yea. I know he would co to you if you had lost, but it doesn't feel right. Kind of like a traitor, you know?"
I shook my head. "I don't think so. Carson is probably more of a brother to him than . Like how I think you're more of a brother, than he is, to ."
Noah didn't like my answer. He lounged back in his chair. "It's different though. I just feel like he owes you. Nothing dramatic like a million dollars. But maybe a little more attention?"
I shrugged. "I don't have any feud with...them."
"Well, if you're fine with it, I'm fine with it." Noah took a sip of his drink. "He'll probably stick around to watch you in the finals anyways."
I nodded. That was likely. I switched from my texting app to search up Zeke's ga. "You think Zeke's ga is going yet?"
"Yea. By now, definitely." Noah leaned closer as we watched the online updates. "Just play the radio version out loud. No one is going to mind."
I hesitated. We were in a restaurant and although we had a big group, it would be rude to the other custors.
Noah clicked play, ignoring my dilemma. As soon as the broadcast could be heard, we attracted a lot of attention from our teammates.
"Are you guys listening to a spring training ga?" Jason asked.
"No. Stanford versus Grand Canyon." Noah said. "Zeke's in left field. Batting third."
"Damn." Sean scooted closer. "Hard for to believe that there's a better player than him on the sa team. I hope they make playoffs."
"Too soon to say." Garret nodded.
"Bradley Thompson isn't that much better than Zeke. He just has more experience at this level." Noah defended. "Maybe halfway through the season, they'll switch it up."
"Just depends on who's hot."
Everyone was jumping in, talking about the next level, Zeke, the ga we played in, and the ga we were about to play in. It was a good al. I didn't have any friends before my big move to Northern California, yet now I had a whole team. At least half the guys I knew well and could talk to on my own. I wasn't totally reliant on Noah like last season. Things were good.
***
1 SS Noah Atkins
2 2B Jake Atkins
3 CF Garret Knudsen
4 LF Korrey Alvarrez
5 3B Jesse Shipman
6 RF Tanner Erickson
7 C Mitchell Torres
8 1B Jason Morris
9 P Joey Henderson
Coach gave out the lineup at lunch. He wanted to move things around a bit. Bryce and Brian were still eligible to pitch so he wanted them both back in the bullpen. We were at the furthest point in the tournant now. It was likely that the bullpen would play a role in how it ends.
Our opposition for the finals was set to be Franklin High School. Coach said they were from the Sacranto area and were forrly known as a powerhouse public school. But in the last two years they had slipped in D1 rankings because of subpar pitching performances. Now it looked like they were back to the top. Sort of. They were climbing and surprisingly their ranking for the tournant was lower than us, making us the ho team for the first ti this weekend.
After warmups, Coach had a small eting before we took the field. "Don't take anything easy. Three B's. Ball. Base. Backup." He looked at . "If we see so more bunts your way, go to first. Jason will go the ball. You don't even have to think about it."
I nodded.
He looked to Joey. "Try not to be too amped up out there. Keep calm. Focus on Mitchell's mitt." He looked at Mitchell next. "The ga is in your hands. Try to keep the ball low. Make them work if they want that ball in the outfield. We don't care about how many pitches each batter racks up."
"Try to get them to hit the grounders all to ." Noah suggested with a grin.
"Bro, you're bound to make an error sooner or later." Kyle gave him a small pat on the shoulder. "Try taking it easy and let the pitcher work."
"No errors for ." Noah waved him off.
"I don't think anyone has an error so far for this tournant. At least not on our side." Sean pointed out. He glanced my way and opened his mouth.
"Don't jinx it." I whispered.
Sean laughed. We all knew how bad of a start I had last season. Constant errors. For fielding. For baserunning. For ntal mistakes that Zeke deed an error. It was painful to look back on.
The announcer could be heard going through the intros of both teams. It was our cue to take the field. We ran out and heard the claps after every starter's na was announced.
"And on the mound, Junior, number 18, Joey Henderson." The guy said over the speaker system. "Leading off for Franklin High School, number four, shortstop, Alec Nelson."
"Start us off strong, Alec!"
"Get on base!"
"You've got this."
The cheers for him ca out clearly. Joey didn't get any words of encouragent that was specifically for him. Most of the crowd sounded like they were here for Franklin High School.
I scanned the crowded stands for Mom and Dad. They would cheer for everyone on our team at all tis. I frowned the more I looked. They weren't in their normal spots like upper center or closer to our dugout. Just as I was about to give up I spotted Mom climbing the stands. She found a spot and sat alone. No Dad. I frowned. No Jeremy either? Maybe they went to et sowhere more private. There were reporters around after all.
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