“All right, we’ll do it your way,” Johan said.
As I released the pitch, the batter’s eyes lit up. He had evil intentions, which changed to confusion when he topped the ball as it began to drop. He hit a sharp grounder to Brock, who easily threw him out.
Our fans were on their feet and cheering when we headed to the dugout. They were getting ready for
When the Lakeview pitcher was done warming up, the first notes of the song began. All the seats were filled, and along the fence, the fans were five deep. I pointed to Governor Higgins, and he was bobbing his head to the beat. I about fell down laughing when our batboys ran out in front of the dugout and began to hop-walk to imitate my previous air-guitar-playing antics. The Lakeview coach’s daughter was doing it on the other side.
As the intro to
In the top of the fourth, the score was still 1–0. Lakeview had managed to get two hits, but our defense got me double plays to nip any trouble in the bud. This was the second time through the batting order, and their leadoff man was up. I’d talked to Johan and Coach Herndon between innings, and they agreed that I might have to start throwing harder. I’d also only used my split-finger fastball four times. They felt I’d shown enough control to start throwing that as well.
When their batter got into the box, he looked confident. That confidence was rewarded on my third pitch to him when I caught more of the plate than I intended. He hit a line drive for a base hit to left field. That was when the fun began.
Knowing that one of the main jobs for a leadoff man was to steal bases, I had gone into the stretch to pitch. The two guys who’d gotten on earlier in the game weren’t a threat to steal, so at that time Coach Herndon had told me to pitch with my regular windup. I glanced back at first, and the runner was daring me to throw over to the base. I tossed a weak throw to embolden him.
Johan and Coach Herndon called time and jogged out to the mound.
“Shit, I know we haven’t worked on holding runners,” Coach Herndon said.
“I have practiced stealing, though. I’ll just do the slide step instead of my kick and throw the heat. That should give Johan enough time to gun him down at second,” I said.
Coach Herndon called over Bryan and Brock, and they were clear as to who would cover second. They should have already known, but Coach Herndon wasn’t taking any chances. The umpire came out and broke up our little talk.
I knew that the Lakeview runner had never seen me pitch out of the stretch. If I were him, I’d want to see at least one pitch before I tried it. It was a gamble, but I didn’t want to give anything away, so I shook Johan off when he called for a fastball. He called for a changeup high and outside. This would put him in a better position if he needed to throw.
I glanced back at the runner, and he had a considerable lead. I did my normal leg-kick and threw the changeup where Johan wanted it. If I’d been on first and gone on my slow motion, I would’ve been able to steal second standing up. I’d guessed correctly, and the runner was still on first, looking pissed at himself.
On the second pitch, Johan asked for a high hard fastball. I nodded my agreement. I saw the runner at first creep out even further. There was no reason for him to be greedy, so I made a little better move to first, and it was a bang-bang play. I thought Jim had him, but the first base umpire emphatically called him safe. Moose eased out of the dugout to argue, but Coach Haskins caught him, and the two of them had a discussion. Moose decided to do whatever Coach Haskins had asked of him.
This time, the runner stayed closer to first. I thought about using my best move to first, but I trusted Johan to throw him out. Johan called for the same pitch. This time after I glanced back, I cut loose and threw my best fastball. From the crowd noise, I knew he’d taken off. Their batter made a halfhearted swing at the ball. I crouched down so Johan didn’t have to worry about me when he threw. Johan fired his throw to second, and it beat the runner by a couple of steps. Their base-stealer was shaking his head as he jogged back to the dugout.
