Kyle finished his short warmup on the mound and then the first batter was announced . Kyle accepted the signs that Alex gave and started his setup and motion . The first pitch was thrown . . . then put into play just as quickly . It was popped up .
I squinted, trying to track the high fly with my eyes .
The ball should fall somewhere in the shallow outfield . I moved to cover second base as Noah ran over behind Jason, trying to track down the ball with not just his eyes . He was going for it . Just like we practiced with Zeke yesterday .
Noah and Garret were both converging at the drop point, but it was Noah who called Garret off and made the catch . He smirked and said something to Garret, but I was too far to hear . He lightly tossed the ball to Garret, who caught it with his left . Garret then threw the ball to Kyle on the mound as Noah jogged back to his position .
Noah was still smiling to himself even after getting back, making me curious on what was said . There was no opportunity to ask in the middle of an inning though .
Kyle faired better against the second batter, getting him to strike out swinging on three pitches . The third batter was more patient, fouling off a few pitches before finding one that he liked . He ripped it down the first baseline; unfortunately Julian wasn't playing too close to the line . The ball went to right field, where Mahki had to chase it to the corner before grabbing it . He then threw the ball to me, the cutoff man .
I turned fast, but I knew I wasn't going to be abled to make a play . And I was right . The batter had safely made it to second without even needing to slide . I threw the ball back to Kyle on the mound .
AdvertisementKyle looked like he was clenching his teeth, but it was hard to tell when I only had a couple of seconds to look at him, face to face, before he turned to look at Alex . Kyle was almost always abled to bounce back from little setbacks like that . This time was no different . He tried his best, throwing some of his fastest pitches I've seen from him, getting their cleanup hitter to strikeout . An impressive feat considering that that was the same kid who hit two homeruns off him the last time we faced Servite . Kyle pumped his fist excitedly as we headed back to the dugout .
"That was a close one . " Noah whistled as we jogged in as well .
I glanced at him . "Feeling guilty?"
Noah rolled his eyes, slumping in his seat, looking relaxed . "Don't know what you're talking about . My words have no influence on the way Kyle pitches or the way Servite hits . "
I snorted, taking a seat next to him . Ignoring that, I addressed the words he shared with Garret on that first out . "What did you say to Garret after you made that catch? Why did you give him the ball to throw in?"
Noah cracked a grin . "I was just telling him that he was deadweight and I gave him the ball to throw in since that's the only time he'll be able to touch it . "
"Punk!" A yell accompanied by a water bottle hitting Noah came from across the dugout .
Noah laughed and picked up the water bottle .
I glanced down at Garret, but he had already turned to chat with Julian . "I don't get it . . . "
"You don't have to . " Noah shrugged . "I'm just having some fun with him . "
"But . . . you can't stop fly balls being hit towards left field . . . " I looked at him, confused .
"I was just implying to Garret that I'll be able to steal all the fly balls hit his way . " Noah told me . "There's no other meaning behind it . I was just telling him that we don't need him . "
"That's not very nice . " I scratched the back of my neck .
"It's just a joke . " Noah shook his head . "Lighten up, Jakey . We're here to win . And to have some fun . "
I slowly nodded . Noah was always like this so I really should be used to his sharp tongue by now . I'm just afraid that it'll catch up with him one of these days and get him in trouble .
Top of the second didn't have any excitement on our part . Mahki struck out swinging, Jason popped up to the third baseman, and Alex hit a short fly that the shortstop was able to catch in the outfield grass . Three up, three down . Bummer . At least I was guaranteed an at-bat in the next inning; I consoled myself as we jogged out to defend the second inning .
Bottom of the second . Kyle didn't achieve any strikeouts, but he was abled to get Servite to go three up and three down as well . Batter five got jammed and hit a short grounder to Jason, who easily fielded the ball for the first out . Batter six made better contact, blasting the ball to right field . Mahki caught it at the warning track, just a few feet short of a homerun . Batter seven had the best shot of getting a hit in my opinion . He smacked a grounder right down the third baseline . Luckily for us, Jason was closer than normal to the line . He made the stop and then made the nice long throw to Julian at first . A throw I know I couldn't make . Not yet anyways . It helped that the runner wasn't the fastest on his team; if Noah had hit something like that, he could probably make it to first safely depending on their third baseman's arm .
We all jogged back to the dugout, happy to hold onto our 1-0 lead after two full innings .
"Nice play, Jason!" Kyle clapped him on the back .
"I didn't even see you creeping towards the line . " Garret remarked .
Kyle put on his helmet . "I thought for sure that would sneak by ya . "
Jason turned a little red in the face . "It was just a hunch . Plus, I knew that Noah could cover more ground than me with him hanging back . He had a good angle to cut of anything that came our way . "
Noah smirked and wiggled his eyebrows at the pair of juniors that were complimenting Jason . "Guess you guys can thank me and my awesomeness as well . "
"Go get ready for your at-bat . " Garret gave Noah a light shove .
Kyle merely rolled his eyes and left with his bat in hand . He would start us off for the top of the third inning . Then Noah and me . Then hopefully a few more of our guys .
"Such haters . " Noah mumbled as we moved to our bags to get ready . He set his glove down and took off his hat .
I laughed a little . "It's because you're bragging so much today . " I changed my hat for a helmet and my glove for my bat .
"It's because I'm feeling good . " Noah grinned . "Today's already off to a great start . Two stolen bases and a run scored . " His grin widened . "So many scouts are here and they all witnessed me stealing two bases off of Sanchez . Off . Of . Sanchez . " He emphasized .
He wasn't wrong . That's already a good start on such a tough opponent . "Let's tack on a few more runs though for insurance . "
He nodded . Noah had put on his batting gloves and was finally ready to bat . "This time I need to get a hit . That way I can honestly say that I owned Sanchez in today's game . " He led the way to the dugout exit .
I could only shake my head at his cockiness and follow him .
Chapter end
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