Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2011 01:37:59 +0000
From: Douglas DD DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Perfect Game  Chapter 51

It is put up or shut up time. The championship game had begun. Who would
be the hero? Would there even be a hero? Would there be a goat? This
chapter is all baseball as the Titan JVers show what they had learned, both
about baseball and about themselves.

You can write me at thehakaanen@hotmail.com



CHAPTER 51
TITLE GAME

Both teams had played all season for this game. Both teams had come to
Centralia ready to play. The weather was great, the teams were ready---the
parents and fans wondered if the game would live up to expectations. The
players didn't doubt for a moment that it would.

Rodney looked good to start the game, putting the first three hitters down in
order. Blake, the Falcon pitcher did the same. Both pitchers appeared to be
on top of their game in the first inning, but as Coach Eklund pointed out to
Coach Sanders, at this age a pitcher can go from looking great in the first
inning to being absolutely clueless an inning or so later. Although both
pitchers gave up a couple of hits and the Titans committed an error in the top
of the fourth when Vince, who was subbing for Scott at first, let a ground
ball go through his legs, neither team put together a serious threat to score.

The situation changed in the bottom of the fourth when the Falcons blinked
first. Marty led off the inning with a stand-up double into the left field gap.
Mitch batted for Danny and struck out. Rodney then looped a 2-2 pitch over
the second baseman's head for a single, advancing Marty to third with one
out. Rich got hold of the first pitch to him to slap a grounder into the hole
between second and third, scoring his friend and moving Rodney to second.
Scott then hit a hard shot to third, which the third baseman knocked down.
He recovered the ball and nipped Scott at first, but Rich slid safely into
second and Rodney made it into third. Kevin then drew the first walk of the
game and the Titans had the bases loaded with two outs. That brought up
Kraig to hit for Noah. Blake fell behind 2-0, and not wanting to load the
bases, he came in with a strike that was a little too fat and Kraig drilled it
over shortstop for a line-drive single. He hit it so hard, however, that only
Rodney was able to score. Jerome struck out swinging on a pitch up in his
eyes, ending the inning. Jerome didn't strike out often. The Titans led 2-0
after four innings. Kraig stayed in the game, going to left field while Jin took
over at second.

Eric came into the game in the bottom of the fifth. He substituted for Adrian,
who had come in for Bobby in the third. Eric was now hitting in the two hole
and playing second with Jin moving back to left.

The score remained 2-0 until the top of the sixth as the Falcons had two hits
in an inning for the first time in the game, bunching a single and a double to
get a single run, making the score 2-1. Rodney opened the bottom of the
sixth with a walk and Rich followed up with a single, with Rodney having to
hold at second. This brought the Falcon's coach out to the mound and he
promptly replaced Blake with Freddie, one of the players Jin had been told
about in his text message. Scott re-entered the game for Vince. He tried to
bunt the runners over, but after bunting foul twice he got the hit sign. He
promptly swung and missed at the next pitch for the first out. Kevin sent a
grounder to the second baseman, who forced Rodney at second; the Titans
now had runners on first and third with two outs. Kraig once again drove
Rodney in as he singled up the middle. Jerome made the third out by hitting
a blistering line shot that the pitcher snagged as he reacted to the oncoming
ball. The game entered the seventh and final inning with the Titans up 3-1
and three outs from winning the league JV championship.

Rodney started the seventh by issuing his first walk of the game. The next
batter hit a grounder to Rich who fumbled the ball causing him to make a
late throw to second. That put runners on first and second with nobody out.
Coach Sanders and Kevin went to the mound to settle Rodney down and to
go over what to do on a bunt play. The Falcons, needing two runs to tie,
elected not to bunt. Rodney struck out the batter for the first out. Rodney fell
behind the next batter 2-0. On the next pitch the Falcon coach sent the
runners and the batter swung at a pitch that was a little bit outside as the hit-
and-run was on. The batter managed to hit a grounder to right, which Eric
scooped up, throwing the batter out at first. The grounder was almost as
good a sacrifice, however, as the Falcons had runners on second and third
with two outs.

Rodney and the hitter battled to a 2-2 count. Rodney then proceeded to
throw a fastball down the middle which was laced over Jerome's head in
center for a triple, scoring both runners. The score was tied at 3-3. Rodney
got the next hitter to fly out to Kraig in left, but the damage was done. The
Titans now had to bat.

"No harm, guys. We just get them here on a walk-off," Scott said as the
team entered the dugout. Rodney was obviously angry with himself for not
holding the lead. Rich went over and had a brief chat with him, saying it
wasn't his fault and that the team had his back. The Titans were a little down
after losing the lead in the seventh inning, but they also had confidence in
their ability to be able to come back and score.

Eric led off the inning by fouling out to third. He knew his swing hadn't
been a good one and he was upset when he got back to the dugout. He didn't
have much time to feel sorry for himself, however, as Coach Sanders told
him to warm-up in the bullpen. Vince put on his mask and accompanied Eric
to get him warmed up. Marty then singled and Danny walked. The Titans
had the winning run in scoring position with one out. Rodney hit a sharp
grounder to third and the third baseman had time to run the ball to third to
force Marty. Rich ended up getting hit on his arm by the second pitch to him
to load the bases. Scott then hit a can of corn to center. The center fielder
only had to move in a couple of steps to make the routine catch. The game
was going into extra innings.

The afternoon had turned warm and sunny as the morning clouds burned off.
The parents and fans of both teams and been noisy and supportive. The
game was all that a championship game was supposed to be, and now
everybody was going to get a bonus.

Eric took Rodney's place on the mound to start the eighth, as Coach Sanders
came up with another surprise. Most figured Rich would be the first relief
pitcher, followed by Scott. But, as Coach Sanders told Coach Eklund the
night before when they laid out their game plan, Eric had proven himself to
be cool under fire as a relief pitcher, the early season meltdown against
Kentburg notwithstanding. Rich was the coaches' choice to pitch in relief if
Rodney got into early trouble, with Eric being the late inning choice for
whatever reason. In this case it was because of a league rule restricting a
pitcher to a seven inning maximum in a game. The coaches decided Scott
would only come in if everything else failed. He threw hard, but was also
erratic. If they were to second-guess themselves it would have been not
pulling Rodney in the seventh, but he was within his pitch count and had
gotten into trouble more through some bad luck that getting hit hard. He was
still throwing hard and was still throwing strikes.

 Having a sixth grader come into this tough spot ahead of a seventh grader
was a controversial move, at least among the parents and the fans. But the
team had total confidence in Eric and to them there was no difference
between a sixth grader and a seventh grader. They were all teammates on the
Mayfield Titans.

Noah re-entered the game for Kraig and took Eric's place at second. It was
apparent to the players as to why Coach Sanders started Noah over Eric at
second. It allowed the flexibility to put players where he wanted if he needed
to use Eric as his late inning relief pitcher.

Eric got the first two batters out. A throwing error by Marty put a runner on
second, but Eric fanned the next batter for the third out.

Marty gave Eric a swat on the rear as they ran to the dugout. "Thanks for
having my back, dude," Marty said.

"That's what teammates do."

"Want to meet me in the boys' room next week?" Marty asked with a
mischievous smile.

"Do you always think of sex?" Eric said, a bit taken aback at the timing of
the question.

"That's what 13 year olds do." Marty said. "But as much as I like you I
don't want to watch you pitch any more this year. Let's go kick some ass
and go home."

"Sounds like a plan," Eric said, as they headed into the dugout. With Marty
ahead of him he couldn't pass up the chance to swat the nice bubble butt
filling out the back of his tight white baseball pants. Marty turned around
and gave Eric a quick wink.

Kevin headed for the on deck circle while Freddie, the Falcons' pitcher,
warmed up. He performed some warm-up swings with as he watched
Freddie take his final pitches. He took a deep breath, walked to the plate and
stepped into the batter's box. Like all of the Titans, he wanted to end the
game now and not give the Falcons another chance to bat. Kevin
overanxiously swung and missed at the first pitch, a fastball at eye level. He
was a little more selective on the next pitch, which was low and away. On
the third pitch he was too selective; the umpire called an inside corner strike
on him. All Kevin could do was nod his head since there was no doubt in his
mind it was a strike. He knew he now had to protect the plate. Freddie went
into his windup and Kevin concentrated on the incoming sphere. His mind
worked quickly, thinking the pitch might be a little outside, too close to take
but not good enough to hit solidly. He tried to foul it off and succeeded. His
swing felt weird, like his bat had barely struck something before the ball.
Kevin knew exactly what had happened as he watched his foul ball settle
into the glove of the first baseman. He turned to look at the umpire who had
ripped his mask off and was yelling. "That's interference!" Kevin's bat had
nicked the catcher's glove and instead of being the first out on an infield
popup, he was awarded first base on the interference call.

He trotted to first. As he reached the base, Mark, the base umpire, loped by
him saying, "Sometimes it's better be lucky than good." Kevin quickly stuck
his tongue out at him and then pulled it back. I really do have to give him a
call, he thought. I bet he has a big dick to suck. He was surprised how a sex
thought could invade his mind right in a key point of a championship game.

Noah was the next batter. As Coach Ecklund told him the number of outs
(duh...none, Kevin thought) and the situation Kevin looked over to Coach
Sanders at third. There was no doubt in his mind that the sign would be for a
bunt, and that was indeed the call.

Noah saw the bunt sign as he took his place in the batter's box. While all of
the players were required to lay down bunts during batting practice, only
three players on the team really worked at bunting, a skill that was more
difficult to master than it looked.  Noah, Eric, and Bobby always took extra
bunting practice and concentrated on bunting the ball where they wanted to.
The three of them took the little things in baseball seriously. Of course they
weren't perfect, but Coach Sanders had confidence in their bunting abilities.
Noah looked at where the infielders were positioned. The first baseman and
the third baseman were both playing in. Noah wanted to make the first
baseman field the ball, because if the first baseman came in to field the ball,
the Falcons would have to move their second baseman to first to cover that
base and move the shortstop over to second. Noah knew that all those
players moving around increased the chance of a mistake being made.

The pitcher went to his stretch, but threw over to first instead. Kevin had
taken a healthy lead, but was able to get back in plenty of time with a dive
back to the bag. While Kevin was a catcher, he wasn't catching because he
was the big, slow kid on the team; he was a quick and agile athlete. He was
catching because he loved the position and because he was good at it. It
would have surprised no one if Coach Sanders had flashed the steal sign to
Kevin rather than the bunt sign to Noah. The pitcher got set again and threw
a ball over the middle but a little high in the strike zone. Noah knew he stood
a good chance of popping that pitch up and took the strike. The next pitch
was low for a ball. The third pitch was inside, backing Noah off the plate a
little. The count was 2-1.

Noah checked for a sign after every pitch. Coach Sanders wasn't one of
those coaches who felt he had to give a sign on every pitch during the entire
game. But in key situations at the end of a close game the players knew they
had better be checking for signs on every pitch. Noah saw a new sign after
the third pitch. He gave himself an inward smile. This is going to be
interesting, he thought. Coach Sanders had called for a play they had only
run a couple of times all season. If they worked it right it would catch the
Falcons completely off guard.

Noah squared to bunt; everybody knew that the bunt sign was on and in a
sacrifice situation like this there was no use hiding it. Noah would probably
be out on the play no matter what. Noah also knew that with the new play on
his best bunt would be to the third base side rather than the first base side.
However, he looked over to the first base side like he was a little scared
sixth grader worried about where the fielder was. Freddie, who was a big
seventh grader, came set. He started toward the plate and Kevin took off
from second. The pitch wasn't great for Noah, but it was low in the strike
zone and it was good enough that he was able to lay the bunt down toward
the third baseman who came charging in. The trouble started for the Falcons
when the first baseman, who was confident that Noah was going to bunt the
ball his way charged in as well when Noah went after the ball. That sent the
second basemen off to first. Even though the shortstop saw Kevin take off
on the pitch he instinctively headed to second. The third baseman picked up
the ball and fired it to first, getting Noah by a couple of steps. It was then
that he realized that Kevin hadn't stopped at second; he was racing to third.
The shortstop saw him whizz by and yelled that somebody needed to cover
third. The only player even close was the third baseman, but after fielding
the ball he hesitated, and even though he hustled to third he knew there was
no way he would make it. On a team of older players, or even on a team a
little better schooled in fundamentals, Freddie might have known to go to
third to cover the base as soon as he saw that he didn't have to field ball and
that Kevin was not going to slow down at second. Instead he took the
position of spectator and Kevin slid easily into third as the Titans executed a
perfect bunt and run.

The crowd was cheering itself hoarse as Kevin stood at third base. He was
the winning run with only one out. Jerome, who was having terrible luck at
the plate, was up. His bad luck continued. The Falcons were playing their
infield in and Jerome hit a hard grounder to the shortstop on a 1-1 pitch. The
shortstop looked Kevin back to third and then nicked the speedy center
fielder by a half-step. There were now two outs and Eric was up. As much as
he would like to be the hero, his good batting eye kept him from offering at a
couple of close pitches that were called balls and he ended up drawing a
walk.

"Nice eye," Marty yelled from the on deck circle. "But like I said, I don't
want to see you pitch nooooooooo more today."

Eric tapped his chest as Marty came to the plate. For all of his flakiness and
craziness, Marty was undoubtedly the best hitter on the team. He would have
made varsity at the beginning of the year if he had displayed the kind of
attitude of he'd been demonstrating the past month. At one time the coaches
would have mentally shot Eric for taking a walk and leaving the game in the
hands of Marty. But they noticed that ever since Marty had started hanging
with Rich he had shown an entire change of attitude, not only on the ball
field but in the classroom as well. While the game wasn't totally in his hands
it was close to that. If he went out the game would move on the ninth inning,
but a base hit would end it and give them the league championship.

Marty knew that Coach Sanders wasn't going to give him any kind of a sign;
his job was to hit the ball and nothing else. But he looked anyway. Coach
Sanders looked at him and told him exactly what to do. "Hit the ball,
Marty!"

Freddie appeared a little shaken by the situation. He had just walked Eric on
five pitches and he quickly went 2-0 to Marty. Eric had gone down to second
on indifference because the catcher didn't dare throw to second and risk
Kevin scoring from third. Though his run meant nothing the Falcons
couldn't get a force play at second on a grounder now. The Falcon coach
came out of the dugout for a calming chat. Marty fidgeted with his batting
gloves and took a couple of swings. The pitcher came set and threw ball
three. This time Marty looked over at Coach Sanders seriously. Coach
Sanders wanted his players to be aggressive, and for the first five innings
they were on their own on 3-0 counts. "But the last two innings belong to
me," he told them, "so you had better be looking for a sign."

Marty looked over, expecting the take sign. To his amazement he got the
green light. If he got his pitch he could swing away. It was a sign he would
not have gotten in April and early May, but now, with the winning run 80
feet from home and maybe the league championship on the line, Coach
Sanders put all of his confidence in seventh grader at the plate. Marty tried
to keep a poker face, but he was excited to have gotten the sign. He was
about to tell himself not to choke. Instead another thought blazed through his
head---Don't let Eric go back out to the mound. He had my back now I've
got his back. Marty stood at the plate with a confidence he had never felt
before.

Fastball was the signal the catcher put down. The pitcher went to his stretch.
He looked at Kevin leading off of third. He knew he didn't want to load the
bases and face the clean up hitter. A fastball at the knees down the middle to
somebody who was going to take the pitch for sure; an automatic called
strike, and he would go from there. He threw his pitch, finally putting it
almost where wanted it, just a bit higher than he had intended. Unfortunately
for him, the pitch was exactly where Marty wanted it, almost belt high just
on the outside half of the plate. The Titan players knew that Marty had the
green light. The Titan varsity players in the stands had seen the sign, and
they knew he had been green lighted. For the rest of the fans it was
speculation as to what would happen on the 3-0 pitch.

As soon as Marty swung at the pitch a roar built up---when he hit the ball
solidly the roar got even louder---when the ball went past the outstretched
glove of the third baseman the roar turned to frenzied screaming---and when
Kevin crossed the plate with the winning run he was mobbed by his
teammates. Coach Ecklund screamed at Marty to be sure to touch first. As
soon as he did so the game was officially over. He thought about running to
home to join the celebration, but he realized he wouldn't have to. The
celebration was running to him and he was quickly tackled to the ground and
pounded on by his ecstatic teammates. The Mayfield Titans were the
champions of their league.

Noah and Eric made sure to give each other a hug. "Perfect," Eric said.

"Absolutely," Noah replied. "Baseball is always the perfect game."

Next: Pool Party