Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 20:32:33 -0700
From: Douglas DD DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: Diamond Dreams  Chapter 59

Welcome Back. This chapter is the semi-final State Tournament
game for the Mayfield Mustangs. The Mustangs have many players
contributing on the field, both offensively and defensively, not to
mention one player who has one of those bad games that can afflict
any player at any level. Will the team's effort be enough to overcome
a teammate's problems on the field?

Remember to donate to Nifty. Their ongoing success depends upon
you, the readers (and me the writer).

Douglas. The hakaanen@hotmail.com



CHAPTER 59
SAFECO FIELD
<Friday, May 24>

Starting lineup for the Mayfield Mustangs Class-A State Tournament
Semi-final Game #1

1.	Justin-SS
2.	Eric-2B
3.	Scott-P
4.	Carl-DH for Lars in CF
5.	Kevin-C
6.	Danny-3B
7.	Kraig-RF
8.	Hunter-LF
9.	Gavin-1B

The Mayfield Mustangs and the Whitman Wildcats arrived at Safeco
within five minutes of each other. Like the staff at the hotel, the
Safeco staff was impressed by the looks and demeanor of the
Mustangs. While the Wildcats were well dressed in collared shirts and
sharp looking jeans or slacks, they had the look of many other high
school teams who had played at The Safe. The Mustangs looked a
step above the average.

The visitors' clubhouse was divided by four portable walls, providing
each of the four teams with their own dressing area. They would all
share the same shower after the game. The quarters were a bit tight,
but roomy enough for fifteen ball players. The players would have to
share lockers.

Ron Dahl, who was the visitors' clubhouse attendant, observed the
two teams with interest. He always checked out the manner of the
two teams before making a bet with his friend Carl, who worked in the
home clubhouse, which would not be used by the high school teams.
Since he had won over sixty percent of his bets, Ron liked to think he
was astute at gauging the mental state of the teams.

What he saw before the five o'clock game was two teams who
entered the locker room quietly, with eyes as big as saucers. That
was almost always the case with high school players coming in for
the first time. However, one of the teams soon started to loosen up,
with players quietly encouraging each other and kidding each other,
while maintaining an air of seriousness at the same time. The other
team looked much more intimidated by their surroundings and by the
situation.

It didn't surprise Ron Dahl that the looser of the two teams was the
defending Class A champions. Both teams were from small towns
situated a good distance from Seattle, but one of them looked to be
much more poised. Ron made up his mind; his five dollars would be
on the Mayfield Mustangs.

Coach Sanders called the team together, but said little. The I.C.E.
written in the white board said it all. Whether they were playing on a
dirt infield at Clark Pass, or on the immaculate grass carpet of Safeco
Field, those three letters were the key to their game.

The teams were allowed to take the field a half hour before game
time to warm up. They	 lined up in the hallway to the dugout, nodding
to one other, exchanging some polite, but insincere "good lucks", as
they almost danced in their cleats waiting for the okay to take the
field.

When the players finally hit the field, they all had to touch the smooth
carpeting of lawn that comprised the flat infield, walk slowly across
the well-groomed infield dirt, and revel at the beauty of the large
expanse of unbroken green that was the outfield. The retractable roof
was open and the sky of the early evening was still an unbroken blue.
It was a perfect evening for baseball.

[ERIC]

Noah and I warmed up together in the outfield. I looked around me,
the stands of the giant stadium looming high in the air. The
humongous scoreboard was to the side of me, showing us warming
up. The stands were all but empty, of course, with only the bowl area
between the bases even remotely filling up. Even if every citizen in
Mayfield and Whitman came to the game, they would barely fill the
bowl seating area. But the number of people there didn't matter. We
knew buses full of fans and students were coming from Mayfield. We
knew that the important people in our lives would all be there.

Speaking of important people, I thought about my teammates around
me as Noah and I tossed the ball back and forth. Back in sixth grade,
Noah, Kevin, Kraig, Scott, Danny, Carl, Hunter, Bobby and me were
the ones who got the Go to State Team started. We had our big
dreams, but none of those dreams included playing at Safeco Field.
The great thing was that all of us but Bobby were still together, and all
of us who were here, except for Noah, would be starting today. If we
won today, Noah would be the starting second baseman on Sunday. I
got chills thinking about it. That moment of inspiration, standing on
the green carpet of Safeco Field, was one of the greatest feelings of
my life.

Before we finally retired to the dugout, Noah brought out the uniform
shirt with Bobby's name and number. He walked onto the dirt portion
of the infield and rubbed it along the ground, making sure the front
was marked with dirt. I'm sure most people in the stands who were
watching him had to wonder what on Earth he was doing. He didn't
care, and I didn't care, nobody on the team cared what they thought.
Our teammates and coaches knew what was going on. He carefully
hung the Mayfield shirt at the end of the dugout, took a picture of the
redhead off of a shelf and pinned it to the front of the uniform, just
above the breast. Not long ago he would have cried doing something
like that, but this time he smiled his sweet smile and blew a kiss to
the uniform.

The coin flip had taken place in the press box before we started
changing into our uniforms. Coach Sanders, Kevin, and I, had been
escorted up an elevator to the Dave Niehaus Broadcast Center, just
one more awesome place to be. The captain and coach of the
Wildcats came up with us. We introduced ourselves on the way up.
The Wildcats captain was Marvin, a senior, who would be their
starting pitcher.

"I hear you guys are pretty good," Marvin said. "We're pretty stoked
about playing the defending champs."

"We've done okay," I said modestly. "We're happy to be here."

"We totally can't believe we're here playing you guys."

It was good thing we reached the broadcast center, since I couldn't
think of anything intelligent to say. Marvin was obviously awestricken
by the situation. I just wanted to get the coin flip over with and rejoin
my teammates.

The Wildcats had come the farthest and got to call the flip. Marvin
called heads and got tails, making us the home team. That meant
we'd get the first base dugout. We'd brought our home and away
jerseys and could now get dressed in the proper tops. It was nice to
be the home team, but either way, we had to outscore our opponent.

I watched Scott, Kevin, Korey, and Coach Hart head for the bullpen
so Scott could start warming up. I couldn't help but feel envious for a
moment. I'd been guaranteed a pitching start on this field, but a lot of
things happened to give that start to Scott. It didn't matter, because in
the long run, I got what I really wanted—the chance to start the
championship game, which right now  was just a potential game.
Today, I would be starting at second base, doing everything I could to
get us there.

Infield practice went by in a flash. The announcing of the rosters and
lineups seemed to take only seconds. A high school chorus from one
of the Seattle high schools sang the National Anthem. My mind
wasn't at all on the singing as I tried willing my heart to slow down.
We were minutes away from the first pitch. I was just hoping I
wouldn't trip over myself when I ran out to second.

<First Inning-Whitman 0, Mayfield 0>

Scott had always been a confident athlete. He knew he had talent.
Although his ego sometimes got in his way, he generally knew what
he could and couldn't do. He was the consummate C, B, and
sometimes A- jock, who did okay in school and didn't bother himself
with a lot of deep thoughts. Unlike his friend Eric, Scott generally did
not try to outthink himself.

As he stood on the perfectly sculpted mound looking in for his first
sign from Kevin, there was no doubt in his mind that he was better
than the hitters he would be facing. There was absolutely no question
he was better than every one of them.

Scott blew an 0-2 fastball past the leadoff hitter who swung late, got a
called strike three on another fastball, then had the number three
hitter swing at a 1-2 fastball in his eyes--three batters, three
strikeouts.

While only the 3-A and 4-A championship games would be televised,
all of the games were on the radio. The two Class-A semi-finals were
being broadcast by interns from the UW School of Communication.
Retired ballplayers who lived in the area volunteered to be color
commentators. Also, all of the games were being video recorded, with
the television cameras manned by apprentices. Each player would
receive a commemorative DVD of their game(s), using the radio
broadcast for commentary. Replays were shown on the giant
scoreboard screen in centerfield.

The radio announcer liked what he saw of Scott in the first inning.
"The Wildcats look overmatched by the senior Mustang pitcher," he
said.

Justin led off the bottom of the first with a sharp grounder to short and
was thrown out at first. Eric was next up. Hearing his name
announced over the Safeco PA system made him even more
nervous. He hadn't tripped on the way to second, didn't fall down
walking to the plate, but his nerves showed when, on the first pitch to
him, he swung at a ball almost six inches outside.

I definitely sucked on that pitch, he thought. Concentration leads to
proper execution, he told himself as he took a deep breath. He let
another outside pitch go by, then took a waist high pitch over the
plate and drilled it to left center field for a hit. There was nothing like a
solid base hit to calm the jitters.

It was then that he truly noticed the noise. He'd heard it, but yet he
hadn't heard it. While only the bowl between the bases was occupied,
the fans were close together, from behind home to first base. The
little town of Mayfield was doing itself proud with its support of the
Mustangs. The gathering was showing itself to be capable of making
a lot of noise and Eric's single upped the decibels a few levels.

Marvin, the Wildcats' pitcher, fell behind 3 and 1 and came in with a
fat fastball that Scott hit over the left fielder's head. The ball hit the
warning track and bounced off the wall. When the throw came in,
Scott was on second with a stand-up double and had given the
Mustangs an early 1-0 lead. Noah was Scott's designated runner and
replaced Scott at second.

While the fences at Safeco had been brought it from their ridiculously
long dimensions, the ballpark was still much larger than what most
high school teams were used to playing on. Carl had spent the top of
the first inning looking at the distant left field fence and decided it was
close enough for him to reach. The result was a swing so hard on
Marvin's first pitch that he almost screwed himself into the ground.

He could hear Coach Sanders yelling from the third base coach's
box, "A base hit scores him." That was the coach's reminder for Carl
to stay within himself.

Marvin decided to blow the next pitch by Carl as well, but he
overthrew it, getting the pitch up in the strike zone, right where Carl
could pound yet another ball over the left fielder's head. This one hit
the wall on two bounces, and like Eric, Noah scored standing up.

Kevin hit the next pitch through the hole between third and short, with
Coach Sanders stopping Carl at third. Chandler, who was Kevin's
designated runner, came out to run for him.

That brought the Wildcats' coach out for a chat with his pitcher.
Marvin was obviously over-hyped and was overthrowing the ball,
leaving it up in the zone in the middle of the plate, which was prime
hitting territory.

The talk didn't help much against Danny, who tattooed the first pitch
to him over the shortstop's head to score Carl and advance Chandler
to second. The Mustangs had scored three runs off of five straight
hits.

The string ended with Kraig grounding hard to second. The second
baseman flipped the ball to the shortstop for the force at second. He
relayed it to first to complete the double play and end the inning.

"The Mustangs make it look like the defending champions are on a
mission," the radio color commentator said. "They dominated the
Wildcats in all phases of the game in the first inning."

<Second inning-Whitman 0, Mayfield 3>

As good as Scott had been in the first inning, Coach Sanders knew
that Scott's problem of not knowing where he was throwing the ball
could always pop up. The senior had been on a hot streak in the
postseason, but over the course of his high school career his
inconsistency would sometimes catch up to him.

That was the case with the leadoff batter when, like had happened on
occasion in his last start, he couldn't control the movement on his
fastball. When he tried throwing a slider on a 2-1 pitch, it didn't break
and plunked the batter in the ass. That put the leadoff batter on first,
which was not a good thing to do when just handed a 3-0 lead.

Art, the next Wildcat hitter, rapped a sharp grounder to Danny at
third, which he fumbled. When he finally got a grasp on the ball, he
hurried his throw to first. It hit the ground and skipped by Gavin,
bouncing off the front of the stands and up into right field. By the time
Kraig could run it down, the runners were safely perched on second
and third. Danny was charged with an error on the throw.

Kevin came out to the mound for a visit. He patted Scott on the butt
and told him they'd get the next guy. He also reminded Scott and the
infielders that the name of the game right now was damage control.

"Give up a run for an out," he said. "We have the lead, we need outs."

Scott managed to get an out without allowing a run when he struck
out Kent swinging on a 2-2 pitch. That brought up Adrian, the third
baseman, who put up a tough at bat. He worked the count to full,
fouled off three pitches, and finally coaxed a walk to load the bases.

"That momentum of the first inning seems to have changed," the
announcer said.

"This is high school baseball, and things can change in a hurry,
especially at the lower classifications like these two teams play in."
The retired player doing the color commentary hadn't seen a Class-A
game in his life, but he thought his analysis would sound profound to
whomever was listening.

Coach Sanders had his infield playing back, willing to give up the run
for an out like Kevin had said. That is exactly what happened this
time, as Oscar, the catcher, hit a slow grounder to Eric at second.
Eric flipped the ball to Justin at short as the runner scored from third.
Even though Oscar was no speed demon, the ball hadn't been hit
hard enough to turn a double play. There were runners on first and
third with two outs and the number nine hitter up.

Parker, the Wildcats' center fielder, did not look real comfortable at
the plate to Kevin. Parker swung and missed at the first pitch; he was
way late on his swing. Kevin decided to challenge him with fastballs
until he showed he could hit them. Scott blew the next two pitches by
him as well, and he swung weakly at each one.

Marvin settled down some against the bottom of the Mustangs' order.
He got Hunter to hit a pop-up to left, and struck out both Gavin and
Justin.

<Third inning-Whitman 1, Mayfield 3>

The Wildcats were back to the top of their order. Scott struck out
Tracy, their leadoff hitter, for the second time. But their number two
hitter, Blake, sat on a 2-0 fastball and singled to left for the Wildcats'
first hit. Their number three hitter, Shannon, hit a weak comebacker
to Scott, who looked for a play at second, but wisely decided to take
the play at first.

That brought Marvin up for the second time. He had been hit by a
pitch his first time up. This time, he hit a pitch, drilling a ball up the
third baseline past Danny. By the time Hunter got the ball, Blake was
chugging for home. Instead of hitting the cutoff man, as he should
have in that situation, Hunter decided to heave the ball home. While
he had a good arm, it wasn't nearly good enough to throw out the
speedy Blake. His throw was up the line, and, because he had
missed the cutoff man, Marvin ended up at third base instead of
being held at second.

The Wildcats were now down by a run with a runner on third and two
outs. Once again, Scott was up to the task as he struck out Art, the
right fielder.

The Mustangs also led off the third with the top of their order. Eric
dropped a bunt up the third baseline, which the third baseman and
pitcher could not make a play on, giving him a bunt single.

That brought up Scott, who worked a 3-1 count and slammed a line
drive to center. The center fielder showed he was no slouch,
however, by making an excellent running catch over his shoulder,
robbing Scott of a sure extra-base hit.

Eric stole second on the second pitch to Carl. Oscar, the catcher,
called time to talk to Marvin.

"With first base open we could pitch around him," Oscar said. Marvin
had never been real impressed with the brain power of his catcher.
His coach wasn't either, and often called the pitches in key situations.

"I can get the bastard out," Marvin said. "Let's just pitch to him and go
from there."

"If we let this guy get on base it sets up a force."

"Let's just pitch to him," Marvin said impatiently. Nobody on the
Mustangs ever questioned Kevin's strategic decisions, including
Coach Sanders. Oscar didn't have the same kind of respect from his
teammates.

Carl had a feeling they were going to challenge him and he sat dead
red on a fastball. When he got the fastball, he launched the ball into
the gap between the left and center fielders. The result was an RBI
single and a two-run Mustang lead.

Kevin was quickly in an 0-2 hole. He let a high fastball go by, but
turned over an outside pitch and joined his twin brother by hitting into
a double play.

<Fourth inning-Whitman 2, Mayfield 4>

Scott had another sharp inning in the top of the fourth. Kent, the
number six hitter in the lineup, hit a routine ground ball to short which
Justin ate up to throw him out easily. Adrian, who walked in the
second, struck out this time, and Oscar popped up to Eric at second.

With the game at the halfway mark, the Mustangs had a 4-2 lead. In
four innings of pitching, Scott had allowed only two hits and two runs,
with one of those being unearned because of Danny's error. He had
struck out seven and walked only one, while hitting one batter.

Danny led off the bottom of the inning for the Mustangs. He hit his
second single of the game. He stole second on the third pitch to
Kraig. Kraig then grounded out to second, moving Danny to third, in
what Coach Sanders called a productive out.

Hunter took advantage of the situation by hitting a fly ball to the
center fielder. Danny tagged up and scored easily, giving Hunter a
sacrifice fly and an RBI. Gavin struck out for the second time to end
the inning.

<Fifth inning-Whitman 2, Mayfield 5>

"The Mayfield team is looking very much in control of this game," the
color commentator said. "They've been able to answer every
challenge by Whitman. With eight strikeouts and two hits allowed
over four innings, Scott, their pitcher, has dominated."

Just as the words left his mouth, Danny misplayed another ground
ball, letting an easy grounder bounce off of his glove. The ball hadn't
been hit hard by the weak hitting Parker—Danny had simply
misplayed it. Danny looked down, like he wanted to blame the field
for creating a bad bounce. On another field, he might have had a
case. But this was a Major League field and the grounds crew had
just raked the flawlessly maintained infield. The ball had played true.

Scott looked over at Danny, giving him a thumbs up signal. "I've got
your back," he told his friend and teammate, meaning he had every
intention of stranding the runner on the bases. Scott was surprised
Parker had gotten a piece of his fastball at all after how bad he'd
looked in his first at bat.

Tracy, the Wildcat leadoff hitter, was up again. He had struck out in
his first two at bats, and had no intention of striking out again. On a 1-
2 pitch he found a slider that didn't break and slapped it for a base hit
past Eric into right field. The Wildcats had another threat going.

"I guess we'll have to see if the Mustangs have an answer to this
threat, too," the announcer said. Even though he was green as a
play-by-play announcer, he was not impressed with his color man. He
knew that he would have to be careful of what he said, however. The
recording being made of the game was something he would be using
when he went job hunting.

Blake picked up his second hit of the game, a double that landed
between Lars and Kraig. Kraig did a great job of getting the ball in,
forcing the runner from first to be stopped at third. But Parker, who
had reached first on Danny's error, scored easily. Danny was feeling
even worse as both of his errors had led to runs.

Scott finally got the first out as Shannon, the number three hitter, flied
out routinely to Hunter. The runner on third faked going home, but the
coach wisely held him; he'd seen Hunter's cannon of an arm earlier.

Scott got two quick strikes on Marvin with fastballs. He wasted a
slider outside, and then just missed on a fastball. When Kevin
signaled for another fastball, Scott shook him off.

Ah, shit, not again, Kevin thought. I know he wants to throw his
fucking changeup.

He asked the umpire for time and trotted out to the mound, carrying
the baseball with him.

"What's wrong with a fastball?" Kevin asked.

"I think it's a good spot for my changeup," Scott said.

"Bend over so I can stuff this ball straight up your ass, which I told
you would be the best spot for your changeup. Your change-up
sucks. It sucked at the start of the year, it sucked in the middle of the
year, it sucked in your last game, and it will suck in this at-bat." Kevin
had decided before the game started that he was not going to let
Scott talk him into anything.

"It's a good thing you're my friend or I'd tell you what kind of an
asshole you can be," Scott said.

"It's a good thing you're my friend, or I'd probably let you embarrass
yourself by letting you throw your change. That fucker is their best
hitter, so let's give him your best pitch and see if he can handle it."
Before Scott could say anything, the umpire took a few steps toward
the mound and commanded them to play ball.

Kevin gave the signal for fastball once again. Scott took a deep
breath. He forgot about his change-up, told himself this was going to
be his best pitch against their best hitter, and tossed a filthy sinking
fastball that had Marvin swinging right over it for strike three.

Art then sent a screaming line drive that insured the Whitman center
fielder would not have the best play of the game. Lars turned on the
ball, ran back and to his left, catching up to it near the warning track.
The ball came over his right shoulder and into his glove. He managed
to slow up some after the catch, but still banged into the padded
fence. He fell to the ground, unhurt, and held up the ball. On most
high school fields, that hit would have been a home run. At Safeco
Field it was a catch worthy of ESPN highlights. It was shown three
times on the video screen to loud cheers from the Mayfield
contingent.

Justin led off the fifth for the Mustangs and was a quick out as he hit
a hard line drive right to the third baseman. Eric barely got a piece of
a pitch, hitting a spinning ground ball that barely stayed fair along the
third base line. It probably traveled all of thirty feet, but by the time
anyone could get to it, Eric was crossing first base.

"It will look like a line drive in the box score," Noah said to no one in
particular.

That brought up Scott, who had a long double and fly out. Marvin
didn't bother challenging him this time.  He walked Scott on four
pitches, not wanting to mess with him at all. It wasn't an intentional
walk, but it might as well have been. Once again, Noah came off the
bench to run for Scott.

"That could be considered an unintentional, intentional walk," the
color commentator on the radio said. The Mustangs now had runners
on first and second with one out. The announcer tried hard not to
shake his head at what he considered to be an inane comment. After
all, why would the pitcher want to walk Scott, when he was followed
by Carl, who had two hard hits?

Marvin might have pitched around Scott, but there was no way he
wanted to load the bases by walking Carl. Carl was two-for-two. If
Marvin had had any thoughts of pitching his way out of the inning,
Carl ended them with a long drive to left center for a single. Eric
scurried around third and scored for the third time in the game. The
Wildcats executed the throw into the infield perfectly and Noah only
made it as far as second base.

That was the end of the line for Marvin as the Wildcat coach came
out to the mound. He had Marvin trade places with Shannon, a big
left-hander. After taking his eight warm-ups, Shannon was ready to
face Kevin.

Kevin wasted no time grounding a single over the second base bag,
loading the bases for Danny. Chandler came out to run for Kevin.

Danny knew his teammates had done a good job of covering for his
two errors by getting key hits. He had two singles and an RBI and
was determined to make up for his fielding gaffs by getting a big hit to
pad the three run lead. Instead he hit a ball right to the shortstop,
whose momentum took him to second base, forcing Chandler. He
then threw over to first, just nipping the hustling Danny for a double
play.

<Sixth inning, Whitman 3, Mayfield 6>

Scott started the sixth inning by striking out Kent. "That's the tenth
strikeout for the Mayfield senior," the announcer said.

"He's allowed only three hits in a dominating performance," the color
commentator added. "If not for two unearned runs after their two
errors, the Mustangs would be running away with this game." The
announcer decided that if the color commentator used the word
"dominating" one more time he was going to throttle him.

Adrian hit a grounder to Danny, who fielded it cleanly, but then
proceeded to throw the ball over Gavin's head and into the camera
well. After his third error of the game, Danny was looking for a hole to
crawl into. But once again, he got a thumbs up from Scott followed by
an encouraging pat on the ass from Justin. The error had put the
runner on second and into scoring position.

Travis, a junior, came up to pinch-hit for Oscar. Travis wasn't a
particularly strong hitter, but he was better than Oscar, who had a
tendency to swing at everything within a light year of home plate.
Travis did have a good idea of the strike zone, however, and
managed to coax a walk out of Scott, putting runners on first and
second with one out.

Coach Sanders made his first visit of the game to the mound. Kevin
joined him and Scott, knowing exactly what the coach was going to
ask.

"How is he?" Coach Sanders asked Kevin. Kevin wished he could
have placed a bet, he would have won big money.

"A little tired, but I think he's good to get through the inning," Kevin
said.

"Scott, do you agree?"

"Coach, I can get through the rest of the game." Coach Sanders
grinned inwardly. He hadn't expected to hear Scott or Kevin say
anything different. It was almost like the entire visit to the mound had
been choreographed in advance.

"It looks like they have a pinch hitter coming up. He's got to be better
than the kid he's hitting for." He was referring to Parker. "Go after
him, though. If he was really good he would have been starting. Don't
nitpick; we don't want to have the tying run on base."

He left for the dugout. Kevin gave Scott a pat on the rear and
returned to the plate.

Kelly was the pinch hitter. He was a much better hitter than Parker,
who was in the game because of his fielding prowess. The problem
with Kelly was that he was horrible in the field. Normally, he was the
DH for the Wildcats, but a bad knee kept him from running the bases.
The Wildcats' coach reluctantly eschewed the DH, hoping Kelly could
hobble through one at bat as a pinch hitter. This was going to be the
at bat.

He watched a fastball go by, timing it in his mind. He didn't watch the
second one, however. Scott was tired enough that his fastball had
lost a little of its earlier zip. He got the ball up too high and caught too
much of the plate.  Kelly ripped a ball up the first baseline. Adrian
took off from second and scored easily, the third of Danny's errors to
score.

Travis came racing into third and saw his coach wave him home. He
took off full steam, ready to score. Kraig came up throwing from the
right field corner. Seeing that Travis was being waved home, he fired
the ball into Eric, who had come out to be the relay man. Eric caught
the ball in perfect position and threw a bullet to Kevin at home. Kevin
had the plate perfectly blocked as he caught the ball and put the tag
on the sliding runner before he could touch the plate. A huge roar
went up from the Mayfield fans after the perfectly executed play,
while an audible "awwwwwwww" emanated from the Whitman side of
the stands. Kelly hobbled into second on the throw.

Coach Sanders had seen enough. With Tracy, the leadoff hitter,
coming up, he decided to replace Scott with Lars. He brought Lars in
from center, moved Scott to first, and sent Chandler out to center,
replacing Gavin in the lineup. He was tempted to put Kraig, the
senior, in center, but Chandler had handled himself well there when
Lars pitched, so he stuck with what had worked for most of the
season. At the same time Lars replaced Scott, a pinch-runner came
in for Kelly.

As Lars took his warm-ups, Eric looked over to the stands behind first
base. Although fans were starting to file in for the 8:30 game, he
knew there were a lot of people from Mayfield sitting there: family,
friends, students, former players, townspeople he didn't know.
Mayfield Mustang baseball had become the talk of the town for the
citizens of Mayfield. Wherever people gathered - at the coffee shop,
at the grocery store, and even during fellowship time at Sunday
church service - the exploits of the Mayfield Mustangs was the hot
topic.

Lars was greeted rudely by Tracy, who grounded his first pitch up the
middle for a single, but the pinch-runner had to hold up at third. That
brought up Blake, who was 2-for-3. With runners on first and third,
Kevin stepped in front of the plate and called for the fist play.

Blake then took ball one. On the next pitch, Tracy lit out for second.
The Mustangs had many plays that could be called in a first and third
situation. The fist play was the most basic of them. It simply meant
that the throw from the catcher would go through to second, and if
there wasn't an immediate out, it would come right back home.

The runner on third hesitated going home in case the throw was cut
off by the pitcher or one of the middle infielders. As soon as he saw it
was going all the way to second he broke for home. Justin had to
reach a little for the throw and knew he wouldn't be able to tag Tracy
out. Just as the fist play had been diagrammed he fired it home, and
for the second time in the inning, Kevin made a putout on a runner
sliding into the plate. As small as the Mayfield contingent was in the
cavernous stadium, the thunderous cheering echoed off of the
outfield stands. Thanks to great fundamentals and execution the
Mustangs had worked their way out of the inning without allowing
only one run.

The Whitman coach had taken a big gamble in pitching Shannon.
Shannon was slated to be his starting pitcher on Sunday if the
Wildcats won. Marvin and Shannon were the only pitchers he trusted
against good teams. While he had three other pitchers, they only
fared well against mediocre or poor teams. That weakness had hurt
his team in a couple of games when he had to pitch one of the two
longer than he would have liked because he didn't have an adequate
relief pitcher.

Shannon showed why he was one of the Wildcat aces in the bottom
of the sixth when he struck out the side on just twelve pitches.
Granted he was facing three underclassmen who generally didn't
start, but it was still an impressive feat. Toby pinch hit for Kraig and
struck out on three pitches. Korey batted for Hunter and struck out on
three. Chandler, who had already entered the game for Gavin, struck
out on six. Chandler saw his longer at bat as a minor triumph as he
actually managed to foul one pitch off.

Before going to the Mustang dugout, Coach Sanders told the umpire
he was reentering Kraig and Hunter.

<Seventh inning-Whitman 4, Mayfield 6>

Like the game, the seventh inning was tougher than it should have
been. Since Blake had been at bat when the out was made on the
double steal, he would lead off the inning with a new count. Lars
issued a leadoff walk to Blake, which meant the 3-4-5 hitters would
be coming up as at least the tying run. Lars had yet to get a batter
out. Kevin walked to the mound to settle his boyfriend down.

"Blow job tonight if you get the next three dudes out," he said.

"I was gonna get one anyway."

"This one will be a super deluxe job."

"Like you give me anything less."

"This is what you've lived your life for, so just do it."

Lars had spent much of the previous summer and all spring pitching
in tough, late game situations. He didn't let the walk rattle him.
Shannon hit a lazy fly to Chandler in center. Marvin followed him and
hit a pitch on the screws, but it slammed right into Eric's glove. Blake
barely avoided being doubled off of first.

Art was the next batter. He was oh-for-three with a strikeout. The
Mayfield fans were on their feet, yelling, clapping, and stomping their
feet. The first pitch was high for a ball. Art fouled off the next pitch to
even the count. A breaking ball for a called strike came next. With two
strikes on the batter, the crowd seemed as noisy and raucous as a
full house of 45,000

Art hit a pop foul on the third base side. Danny wandered over and
looked up into the lights momentary losing the ball. For a player who
already had three errors, this was the ultimate "oh shit" moment.

But Kevin, the field general, saw his confusion and yelled out, "Left
shoulder!" Danny quickly saw the high pop. He took an awkward step
to his left, stumbled slightly, felt the ball hit his glove, bounce out, and
drop back in. He squeezed it as if it was a bomb that would explode if
it hit the ground. The umpire signaled the out and the Mayfield crowd
went crazy.

The players patted Danny on the back and ass as they shook hands
with each other in a restrained manner. They all felt for Danny and his
struggles in the field. For his teammates it was appropriate that
Danny got to make the last out, even if he had looked bad on a
relatively easy play.

There was no big celebration on the field or off the field. Winning the
game was important, but it wasn't the ultimate dream. All it did was
set the scene for that dream. Sunday was what counted.

As they walked past the waiting teams from North Lake and Riverville
the Mustangs wished that Saturday didn't sit between them and
Sunday.

Next: Between Games