Running The Bases

Chapter 7
I remember now, as each inning went by, the time seemed to slow down as much as possible, and by the fourth inning I was ready to call it quits. I had forgotten what being in an actual game felt like.
Sweat was beginning to slowly drip down forehead and the back of my neck. All this hair in my hat was extremely warm; I wouldn’t be shocked if I got a heatstroke suddenly.
So far, it was in a tie. Geneva had gained two runs in the third inning, and now it was real competition. Before each pitch I glanced over at both dugouts. Audrey and Dana were now in the stands cheering Batavia on, so I just got smiles and thumbs up from all the guys on the team who sat around in the dugout. Over one the Geneva side, they looked so serious as they all watched me. Jack and Alex both whispered to one another as they watched me.
After the fourth inning I jogged over to the dugout, and threw my glove down, rolling my shoulder.
“Your on-deck to bat!” Coach said as I slid a helmet onto my head. I gave a thumbs up and picked out my bat. I threw it over my shoulder as I exited the dugout and walked off to the little corner where I began to practice my swings.
In my last at-bat, I hit a fly ball to second and I got out right before I touched first base. I’m wishing I can at least get on base during this game, I haven’t batted in years. Lucky for me though, is that I wait for the fastball since I know when it’s coming.
“Next batter!” the umpire called as the batter before made their way back to the dugout. I walked up to the plate saying hello to the catcher for manners and getting into my stance.
Knees bent a little, shoulder length apart, eye on ball, straight through, twist around- his voice echoed through my head, as I remembered from when we were little he would always tell me that whenever we were at the diamond playing.
Screwball. I watched as Jack threw the tiny object in the catcher’s mitt.
“STRIKE!” the umpire called. Damn their voices get annoying after a while. I looked at Jack’s hand as he set the ball in his glove for a moment.
Ha, fastball. I grinned.
“What are you grinning about?” the catcher below asked.
“Oh nothing.” I said keeping my voice low and flat. Jack did his windup and swung his arm and let go of the ball as it came sailing towards my bat. I swung.
Ping!
Another popup, except this time farther than second base. It flew all the way center field.
“Come on, drop drop!” I said to myself as I ran to first base.
“I got it. I got it!” I heard the center fielder call out. He ran towards the ball and held his mitt out. It missed.
“YES!” I ran across the first base and sighed with relief. I high fived Andrei who was the first base coach at the time.
“Make it home now.” he said to me taking my gloves.
“No problem.” I said. I watched as Robert batted next. He advanced me to second base.
“Hey there pitcher.” the second baseman whispered into my ear. I looked back and gasped.
“Rian?!” I asked. Shit. “I mean-“
“Everyone already knows.” Rian focused on the batter. We heard the umpire call ball.
“E-excuse me?” I asked him.
“It’s okay Julia, your secret is safe with us.” Rian winked. I slowly took a few steps off the base trying to get a lead to third. As soon as I heard the sound of the bat, I ran for third like my life depended on it.
“THIRD THIRD!” I heard someone call. Shit shit! Slide slide! I saw the third base right in front of me and also the third baseman getting ready to catch the ball.
“SLIDE!” I heard someone call. I followed those directions and slide in the sand and touched the base with the bottom of my foot. At that exact moment I heard the third baseman catch the ball and duck to tag me. I laid on the ground with the third baseman still touching my leg, as we waited for the umpire to call what happened.
The umpire had a confused look on his face then yelled “OUT!”
“DAMN!” I slammed my fist into the ground. I stood up took, and took my helmet off. I walked over to the dugout, my cleats digging into the sand.
“You pissed?” Michael asked me as I entered the dugout.
“You know it.” I replied. “I was so close.”
“Let’s just hope we can get everyone else home.” said Michael.
“I’m not fast enough.” I muttered.
“Eh, speed is natural talent.” said Michael.
“But still,” I said. “I was lucky enough to have gotten on first base. Damn.” I shoved my helmet into the shelf and sat down.
“Your doing great.” I turned to see Audrey. She was carrying a water bottle. She offered it. I greedily took it and chugged half of it down.
We both sat down on the bench to watch the next batters.
“So uh, what’s your relationship with Brett?” I asked taking another chug of water.
“Oh we’re siblings.” Audrey reply had almost caused me to spit out the water I had just drank.
“I would never have guessed that.” I said.
“Yeah, people are shocked when they find out.” said Audrey.
“I bet.” I muttered, sliding back into the bench. I wonder if she actually likes baseball. Our third strike was called, and it was time to move onto inning five.
I walked onto the mound for the fifth time that day and began warming up. We were in the lead now by one. Hopefully we could keep it this way.
After our last warm-up pitch, I saw Rian step up to the plate. I looked away for a moment and took a deep breath in. They knew who I was, and they were going to use that against me.
That whole team knew all of my pitches by now and it scared me. My team could lose this game just because of me, all because I didn’t have the nerve to tell my team who my little league team was… Andrei fed me signs and I agreed to all of them, just throwing whatever he told me. I didn’t feel like arguing with him at this moment.
I watched as Rian hit my curveball and made it to first base. I felt defeated. This was not how I wanted to start this tournamanet.
Three outs, score is tied once again. I jogged to the dugout once again and slumped onto the bench.
“You okay?” Andrei asked me as he took a seat next to me.
“Not really.” I replied.
“I’ve noticed. You didn’t shake off any of my signs.” he said pushing his hair back.
“Yeah.” I said.
“What’s up?” Andrei asked. I sighed.
“You know how I was in the little league?” I asked him. I didn’t bother making any eye contact at this moment.
“Well yeah…” he said. I took my hand and pointed to Geneva’s dugout.
“That’s my old team.” I muttered.
“WHAT? Are you kidding me?!” Andrei halfway stood up, until I motioned him to sit back down.
“Yeah.” I said.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Andrei asked. “You were on the best team. No wonder you’ve got such an arm.”
“Whatever.” I said. “Sorry I didn’t tell you.” Andrei sighed and let out a deep breath. “They also know that…it’s me. As in the girl me.” Andrei didn’t say anything.
“So they know everything about you.” he spoke. I nodded agreeing with him. “While you know everything about them?”
“Pretty much.”
“Seems like a fair match.” Andrei grinned. No response from me this time. I lowered my body on the bench as to hide myself from everyone. This was just way to much.
If you were only here. I thought to myself.
“Hey.” I heard someone say. I lifted my hat to see Andrei towering over me. “Let’s go.” he pointed behind him to the field.
I grabbed my mitt and headed towards the mound.
Please, if you were here…