“What if they want to get dressed up?” I asked.
“I hope most people do, but for the ones who can’t afford it, or don’t want to, we want to include them,” Gina said.
“I have a question,” Mike said. “What if a couple from another school wants to come?”
“I’d say that if we have room, after everyone who wants to go from Lincoln, then it would be fine,” Wolf gave his opinion.
“Who wants to come?” I asked.
“I talked to Ty Wilson from Washington. Their prom may get canceled because of what happened.”
At their Spring Fling dance, a carload of teens was injured when the driver lost control and it flipped. They’d all been drinking at the dance, and the school board was concerned about their potential liability. It looked like their prom might be canceled this year.
I sat back and let them debate the pros and cons of allowing Washington to share in our dance. I knew before they even began what the answer would be. It all comes down to small-town values. We look out for each other, and the kids from Washington were in need. Gina said the ballroom at the Country Club would seat 300. It was decided to give half the tickets to Washington to sell.
I was just glad I didn’t have to organize this. We were lucky to have Dan and Alicia helping. They’d worked on the Prom Committee from the first of the year and knew almost everything we needed and where to get it. What I was happy to see was the confidence everyone seemed to have. Alan, Jeff and Mike had really stepped up. I know for a fact that my best friends Alan and Jeff could not have pulled this off a year ago.
Uncle John had encouraged me to delegate to help build other leaders, and this was a demonstration of what he was talking about. They no longer needed me to hold their hands. They could take projects on and see them to fruition. Uncle John had explained to me that I could only do so much on my own. When I learned to delegate, and through that responsibility helped others grow—well, that’s when I could really impact things.
As I sat there, reflecting on what my friends were accomplishing made me realize I had more work to do. This summer we needed to get ready for football next year. My goal was to be a three-time State Champion. Schools would be gunning for us this year, and we’d have to work even harder to meet the challenge. I knew we needed a plan, and also that we needed to get everyone’s buy-in, including the coaching staff. I assumed Tim and I would still be captains. Jim would be a senior. I thought he could take Bill’s spot as the third captain. I needed to get the three of us together and schedule some time with the coaching staff.
Chapter 18 – Baseball Ends
Wednesday April 29
The baseball coaches had met yesterday and decided I would pitch today and Justin would start in the first game for the State Championship Tournament. If we won, we would play again on Saturday. The good news was the State Tournament was being played at State University. It would be almost like a home game for us.
Tonight, we faced our conference rivals, Eastside. We were pretty sure there wouldn’t be any carryover from the hostility during football. There had been a little tussle during basketball this year, but nothing got out of hand. If things got chippie, I could always uncork a fastball into someone’s back. I had learned that even with our high-impact shirts, it hurt. It sure would discourage me.
Tonight was senior night, so Bill, Trevor and Lou would be honored. All the parents had also been invited, so we had a nice crowd as I walked down to the bullpen to warm up. Adding to the festive atmosphere, the boosters had set up a hospitality tent and were selling $1 hot dogs. These were the big ones, so you felt you were getting your money’s worth.
All the proceeds were going to the Booster Club. They were raising money to buy a couple of JUGS Football Passing Machines. State had two they wanted replaced. Coaches Hope and Diamond had checked them out and found they were in good shape. Mrs. Sullivan had bought them out of her pocket, but the Booster Club insisted on raising some money to help defray her cost.
I made a point to give money to Pam and Mona so if someone wanted a hot dog and didn’t have the cash, they could get a couple. I was thinking in terms of our JV team or little kids. I about decided it was time to have a talk with them when I saw them paying for Eastside to get some food. Then I remembered baseball pants weren’t designed for carrying a wallet. Plus, the goal was to pay for some equipment, which would help our team.
Personally, I stayed away from eating any hot dogs before the game. I’d found I tended to have a nervous stomach when I was pitching. I was very sure I did not want to throw up in the bullpen. It was going to be a little tense tonight. If we won, we could possibly get the number-one seed in the tournament. The other thing that had me nervous was Tim wasn’t catching me tonight. Lou was our backup catcher and a senior. Moose made the call that the seniors would start their last game.
Shiggy called a halt to my loosening up in the bullpen and we all went out and did our pregame drills. I found a good sweat helped me with my pregame jitters, and the new warm-ups helped the whole team get ready. We had made a name for ourselves by scoring on our opponents early. Shiggy seemed to have a knack for getting us focused.
When I got back to the bullpen, I could feel tonight was going to be a good game. I had a good snap on the ball and my pitches all seemed to be working. Moose finally waved me in so I could throw a few off the mound to finish my warm-up.
It was a perfect night for baseball, except for all the mayflies. Each spring we’d be invaded by swarms of the insects. They had a remarkably short life-span, literally only one day as adults. Over the next week or so we’d get a new batch each day. They seemed to congregate near lakes, and Lake of the Woods was only two blocks from the ball field. Seeing the mayflies told me the water was warming up and we could soon try out our jet water board. I couldn’t wait to go play with it.
I was finished warming up and had the ball in my glove to start the game. I heard my name called from the stands. I looked around to see who’d yelled my name and saw Tracy’s smiling face as she waved at me. I tipped my hat to her and then focused on the first batter.
Since this was Eastside’s last game, their coach had decided to play several of his JV players today. I didn’t recognize the first batter from the information Alan provided me. I could only assume this was one of those guys. Based on that, I decided to throw him breaking balls. The poor kid had no idea what to do when I threw him a curve, split-finger fastball, and finally a slider.
Everything was going well until their third batter topped a split-finger fastball and essentially did a textbook bunt down the third base line. When Jake saw he wasn’t going to throw the guy out, he allowed the ball to roll to see if it would go foul. The Eastside runner decided to try for an extra base. Mike alerted Jake and he easily gunned him down to get us out of the inning.
You know you’re having a good first inning when the opposing team has to trot out three pitchers. We batted around twice and were up 13–0 after the first inning. Moose pulled me from the game at that point to save me for the State Tournament. After Eastside batted in the fifth inning, the game was called via the mercy rule. It stated if you were up by ten or more after four innings, you gave the team that was behind a last chance to bat again. In our case, that was the top of the fifth. You then called the game if the leading team was up by ten runs or more. We ended up winning 18–4.
AFTER THE GAME, I WAS accosted be a very happy Tracy. I was pleased to see my friend was out of the clinic. What I didn’t know was whether she just out on a day pass, or if she was out for good.
“Are you surprised to see me?” she asked.
“I didn’t know you’d be here tonight. What’s the story?” I asked.