We’d worked to run full speed to first base because good things happened when you hustled. The right fielder charged in to get the ball. I was surprised when I didn’t see anyone cover second base. I didn’t even look at Coach Nautilus at first, but just rounded the bag, not breaking stride. Their second baseman had gone out to cut off the throw, but the shortstop hadn’t paid attention. I guess he assumed I would settle for a single. When he finally looked up, it was too late.
The only problem was that Logan hadn’t been paying attention and held up at second. Coach Way finally got his attention, and he ran for third. Their second baseman was frustrated with the shortstop and didn’t pay attention to Logan running down the line. When he finally figured it out, it was too late, even though the play was close.
“That’s the way to steal an extra base,” Coach Way boomed from third as he clapped his hands.
Our dugout was on their feet, with Dave leading the cheer. Coach Kingwood had preached W.I.N. to us to keep our heads in the game and to be more aggressive on the basepaths. The more pressure we could put on them, the better we would do.
Nick, another one on the bubble, dug in. Usually, we would allow him to drive us in with his big bat. I could see the catcher was nervous, and I guessed they would try to brush Nick back. At least, that was what I would do. The pitcher looked back at me and then began to throw home. I took off like a shot. The pitcher tried to stop the pitch but ended up throwing it in the dirt. I don’t know what he was thinking I would do, because Logan was standing on third.
Coach Haskins, my coach from home, had taught me to watch the third base coach when I was two-thirds of the way to third. The first part of my run was to keep low and dig to get to maximum speed. Once I was up to speed, I would look for the coach. Nick did his job and stood tall in the box, which caused the catcher to have to first trap the ball, and then look around him to make the throw. Meanwhile, Logan had gotten with the program and snuck down the line towards home. If the catcher had just held the ball, he would have been fine. I was willing to get involved in a rundown because I was sure they couldn’t catch me. Of course, that was a fantasy. Coach Way gave me the slide sign, so I knew a throw was coming. I slid into third and popped up. The catcher had thrown the ball on the outside of the base, and I was safe. The third baseman was more on the ball and came up throwing to home. I’m not sure what the catcher was thinking, because he was looking for his mask. It was good that their pitcher was backing him up, or I would have scored, too.
Their manager lost his mind because they’d made two bonehead mental errors back to back that had cost them a run and left me standing on third. I hoped that their players on the bubble had made some of the errors.
That was where I died. Nick hit a line drive right at the first baseman. By the third inning, the Stripes hadn’t hit a ball out of the infield. It wasn’t that Austin struck them out, it was that the defense behind him had played lights-out. My teammates had taken their cues from the guys on the bubble and were determined we would not let them down.
The Stripes pitcher was having a terrific game. He’d let a base runner on in each inning, but we had only the one run to show for it. Nick led off in the fourth, and I think he surprised them when he laid down a bunt to get on. That was a heck of a team play when he was a bubble boy. Tristan came up and hit a long sacrifice fly ball to right field to advance Nick to second. Trent, our catcher and the last bubble boy, hit a screamer right at the third baseman. He decided to throw out Trent instead of holding Nick at second. Logan came up with two out and a runner at third.
Logan walked and then stray pitches hit both Mitch and Dave to force in a run. We were up 2–0, bases loaded, and me at the plate.
I chanted in my head, ‘quick hands, quick hands’ as I imagined a long fly ball in my near future. Their pitcher looked to the catcher and grinned. That could only mean he wanted to smoke one by me. I tried hard not to smile when a fastball rocketed right down the middle. I concentrated on keeping my swing level, extending my arms, snapping my wrists, and having good bat speed. As soon as I heard the ting of the aluminum bat, I knew I’d gotten all of it.
I ran hard to first base to not show up the pitcher and looked up to see the umpire indicate I’d hit a home run. I made sure to keep good speed around the bases. My teammates, led by Dave, met me at home. We acted like we did this every day and headed to the dugout after we did fist bumps.
We ended up winning 6–0. I was two for five with four RBIs and one stolen base. Austin had faced twenty-five batters over seven innings. He’d struck out three and walked one. Daz came in for the last two innings and finished them off. He had given up only three hits. Mitch was involved in eleven plays, one of which was a double play.
◊◊◊
They had food for us in one of the training rooms. After we’d showered and changed to our street clothes, they came out to announce the team that would represent the USA in the Pan Am games. I was happy that we picked up all the bubble slots, but unfortunately, Dave didn’t get one.
Something else I noticed was that none of the players who hadn’t made an effort to be a part of the larger team were on the final squad. It really was about attitude, because two or three of them were good enough to have taken spots away from guys that made the team.
“Now that we have the final roster, we’ll come back here a week from Wednesday to practice before we fly out to Mexico. I want you to spend some time in a batting cage and get any nagging injuries tended to. I want you fresh and ready to go when you return.
“Now go grab some food, and I want Dawson in my office,” he said to dismiss us.
When we walked to his office, I could see all the coaches were in there, so I stopped him.
“Wait, Master, it might be dangerous … you go first,” I said, quoting Igor’s famous line from that classic, Young Frankenstein.
Coach grabbed me by the back of the neck and pushed me in before him.
What followed was an interesting meeting. Coach Kingwood had been picked to lead the team in international play. The original plan had been for the manager in charge of Stripes to be the coach. It was a little controversial to make a change this late. But they’d decided that since Coach Kingwood had only lost once in field play and then head-to-head, his was the hot hand.
With the change, he was able to bring his coaching staff with him. This meeting was to discuss player personnel and how best to utilize them. I was more than a little surprised they wanted my input as a player.
“David, you’ve earned it. Without your leadership, we would never have jelled so quickly in the beginning. I’ve tried to eliminate all the bad apples so we can focus on what matters: winning. I’ve talked to all the coaches here and those from your high school. And I even had an interesting conversation with Lucas Kite, the Cubs scout. He told me how you could point out the strengths and weaknesses of almost every player you’d ever worked with on the field. If you’re going to lead these young men, we want your input on who you think fits together.”
We spent the next hour creating a starting lineup. There was a big discussion about where to bat me, at either the top of the order or in the cleanup spot. I finally weighed in to help decide the matter.
“The role of the leadoff man seems to have evolved in the last ten years. It’s no longer where you put your small, quick player with a good eye. You should expect more pop out of your leadoff hitter’s bat. Personally, I think I can do you more good from there than at the four spot, for the simple reason we have players who are closer to my power talents.
“With me being the first at bat, it’s easier for me to set the tone for the game. Plus, that’s where I played all season, so I’m used to it. With me kicking off the order, we can put up six batters in a row who could legitimately be number fours on this team without a problem. I would bet that doing it this way, we can win most games in the first inning,” I predicted.