Harper had met Pam last night at bowling. She gave me a look that said we would have a talk later.
“Oh,” Harper said, as she pondered her response, “and Velma wants to jump his bones, too!”
I about drove off the road after I heard her leap in deduction.
“Velma would probably do him in the middle of group therapy,” Tracy agreed. “The one thing we miss the most is sex.”
“TMI—waayyy too much information,” I complained.
“I’m just putting you on notice! I have a need, and you’re my friend,” Tracy said cheerfully.
“I think we need to talk,” Harper told her.
Somehow, they convinced me to drop them off at Tracy’s house while I was sent to get ready for my baseball game. When I got home, I found the Callahan triplets waiting for me. I traded cars with my mom so I’d have enough room when Harper came home with us. Duke claimed shotgun.
WE PLAYED LANG ACADEMY today. They were a reform school and always had boys coming and going, so they were never great. Lang was normally the first team we played each year as sort of a warm-up for the season. I got to the ballpark in the middle of the JV game. I took Duke to Alan and was impressed when he curled up at Alan’s feet.
I went to stretch and get ready. Shiggy wanted me in the batting cage, so I did my normal routine as he watched. I’d play shortstop today and Justin would start as our pitcher. Moose had big plans for this year. I could tell he had everyone more focused than we were last year, playing JV. Shiggy pulled me aside to talk to me.
“David, you need to get a set routine before each game. Do everything the same way so you’re prepared to play.”
He then took me through his old warm-up process. He made me get Jeff so he could help me. When I explained what we were doing, we had the rest of the team gather around. Shiggy made sure we were stretched out. He explained this would reduce injuries. We then did a quick run to get our blood flowing. He had us do the long toss, which helped further loosen our arms.
That was where our normal routine went out the window.
“Baseball is not a slow or static sport. When playing baseball, the playing actions are centered on power, acceleration, explosiveness, and movement,” Shiggy coached.
He had us do runs of ninety feet and back where we did different things; examples would be high knee lifts, lateral side-skips, and ‘fast feet.’ I recognized similarities to what I’d learned from my speed coach. Shiggy used the warm-up to make us better baseball players. The other coaches came out and took note of what we did. They seemed to approve of the new warm-ups.
He then split us up. The first four batters for today went with him to the batting cages. The pitchers went with Coach Herndon to get ready, and everyone else went with Moose. Shiggy had us visualize our at-bats.
“I want to you to close your eyes and describe what you’re doing,” Shiggy told us.
He had Bill and Jake in the batting cages. What I liked about Shiggy’s coaching was he individualized his approach for each batter. Too many coaches have a cookie-cutter approach. Each guy described their at bat. He did ask me why I had a more open stance than most players. I bat right-handed and my dominant eye is my right eye. I’d found that the more open stance helped me see the ball better.
Shiggy made us talk through and visualize each step at bat, which helped us think it through. I found when it came my turn, I was more focused and able to hit better and with more power. As we would finish, two more players would come over and get ready to bat.
By the time the JV was done with their game, I had a good sweat going, and we took the field to finish warming up. I was focused and ready to play when all hell broke loose.
Lang Academy doesn’t have girls. Last year we’d had some issues when Eve had played on JV. Cassidy actually had to take one of their players down. Today’s entertainment, I would later find out, had started when they made some comments to Tracy, Pam and Harper. The JV guys heard it and stepped in. I don’t know who threw the first punch, but it was soon a full-blown brawl. The mistake Lang made was focusing on just the players; Coach Hope, Cassidy, Brad and Shiggy could all handle themselves. We also found out the coaches from Lang had training in subduing their charges.
Luckily for me, Coach Herndon saw me take off to find out what was going on. All I could see and hear were my girls screaming and people in Lincoln High uniforms fighting. He grabbed me before I could get over the fence to join in. By then the guys from Lang who’d caused the problems were face-down on the ground. My girls ran over to assure me they were okay.
Lang Academy’s JV team was loaded onto the bus and sent home. They arranged with Lincoln to use one of our buses to take the varsity home after the game.
I was fired up to win this game. I felt like I did before a football game, which meant I had to dash to the locker room and throw up before we started. When I got back, we took the field, and every guy had his game face on. Last year had been all about fun. Now? We were ready to dominate!
Justin seemed to throw well in warm-ups. Their first guy up was their speedy center fielder. Justin hung a curveball and he slapped it up the middle. On contact, Mike and I exploded out of our stances and made an all-out effort to get to the ball. We’d practiced where if we ever crossed, he would go deep and I would go in front. The reason was that I had a better chance to get and throw out the runner since I was headed towards first base. I snagged the ball just behind second base and came up throwing a rocket to Wolf. I think he caught it out of self-defense.
I ended up handling all three balls in the first inning. Two of them would normally have been base hits if I hadn’t been focused and hustled. Justin swatted me on the butt when I came into the dugout.
“Thanks, man,” he told me to let me know he appreciated me getting him out of the inning.
I was up third in the first inning. Both Bill and Jake hit the ball right at someone and were out. I came up and Moose signaled for me to take the first pitch. I dug in and watched a fastball catch the outside corner for strike one. I stepped out of the box and visualized hitting the ball over the first baseman’s head. I saw the ball well as it came out of the pitcher’s hand. It was a hanging curveball, right in the zone. I held my hands back to keep from overswinging and then punched the ball over the first baseman.
Coach Haskins had worked with us to run full speed to first base. He said good things happened when you hustled. A cardinal sin, according to him, was to jog when running the bases. The right fielder hustled to get the ball. I was surprised when no one covered second base. I didn’t even look at Moose at first, but instead just rounded first at full speed. The second baseman had gone out to cut off the throw, but the shortstop hadn’t paid attention. I think he assumed I would settle for a single. When he finally looked up, it was too late.
“That’s the way to steal an extra base,” Coach Haskins’ gravelly voice boomed from third.
Our dugout was on their feet. Coach Haskins had preached to us the importance of picking up bases. The more pressure we could put on them, the better we would do. I wasn’t surprised when Coach Haskins gave me the steal sign. He was making a statement that we would run at every chance. As a pitcher, if I knew the other team would steal, it unnerved me.
Wolf dug in at the plate. He’d hit some tremendous shots in practice. Normally we’d allow him to drive us in with his big bat. The catcher was obviously nervous, and I guessed they’d try to brush Wolf back. At least, that’s what I would do. The pitcher looked back at me, 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.