Coach Way screamed for me to go. Their left fielder had done his job and backed up the throw, and this kid had an arm. Their catcher was down, blocking the plate when the ball sailed a little high, causing their catcher to have to go up to get it. I aimed for between his feet, and suddenly he was on top of me.
“Safe!” the umpire called.
From that point on, it was all us. Our bats came alive, and we scored in every inning to win 14–6.
Coach Kingwood brought us all together after the game.
“Good job! Go take a shower and be back here by five-thirty. We’ll play our second game starting at seven,” he said.
“Who wants ice cream?” I asked Bob and M.E.
“We do!” Luke Cash, one of our pitchers, called out.
I turned around, and the whole team was looking at me expectantly. Hell, I wasn’t beyond buying my way into their hearts if it meant I made the final 40. Even Caryn would understand. She might not even chew me out!
“Fine,” I said, acting put out, and then I looked at the coaches. “You, too.”
“I’m not turning down ice cream,” Coach Way said.
The one who ended up really put out was Paul since I didn’t have my wallet handy. Of course, it would be expensed, so I didn’t take his scowl seriously.
While we were eating ice cream, one of the USA Baseball directors took Coach Kingwood aside. He came back with an announcement.
“Due to crowd concerns, we will play our game in the stadium tonight.”
Everyone turned to look at me.
“Hey, look at it this way: scouts are lazy and would much rather sit and watch you play than stand,” I reasoned.
“I knew having you on our team would pay off,” Allard said. “I bet we get to play in the stadium for the rest of our games.”
“What’s this about you being ‘Redneck Crazy’?” Coach Mallei, our pitching coach, asked him.
Allard blushed and shook his head.
“Ah, hell … I didn’t expect anyone would hear about that here,” he started, which now had all our attention. “I guess I’m not getting out of telling the story.”
“No, this sounds too good,” Austin agreed.
“Okay. I’d been dating this girl, Kelly-Ann, for about two years. She was a pretty little thing who stole my heart. Almost no one understood it. She was on the Dean’s List, and I was a jock. Kelly-Ann asked me to one of those Sadie Hawkins dances where the girl gets to ask the boy. I’d just broken up with a long-time girlfriend, and no one wanted to ask me for fear she’d be mad.
“Tiffany was sort of the girl everyone expected me to date. She was the mayor’s daughter and one of the rich kids. I, on the other hand, well, my family never had an extra dime between us. But because I was a baseball star, it was okay for Tiffany to date me.
“Anyway, Kelly-Ann asked me to the dance. From that point on, I was smitten. She just had a way about her and was easy to be around. With Tiffany, it had all been about how it made her look, and she worried about what people thought. Kelly-Ann wasn’t like that.
“I was sure I was in love with Kelly-Ann. We both planned to go to the University of Arkansas. She’d get a business degree, and I’d play baseball. But Buddy Daniels happened.
“Buddy was the star quarterback at my school and was dating Tiffany after we broke up. He asked Kelly-Ann to help tutor him in math. I didn’t think nothing of it until my best friend Matt told me that Buddy had been sniffing around where he shouldn’t. I thought Matt was full of shit, but he’s a good guy.
“A couple of Fridays ago, Matt took me out, and we had a few beers. He told me that Buddy had taken Kelly-Ann up to his farm. He’d been bragging that he was going to nail her that night. Matt drove me to the farm, and sure enough, Buddy’s pickup was parked in the driveway.
“I had Matt pull up to the front of the house where I could see the lights on. He turned on his floodlights we sometimes use when night fishing. It’s supposed to attract the catfish. I don’t think it works, but it does make it easier to find your beer.
“We could see the curtains pull back. Matt and I decided to drink the rest of the beer and wait them out. Buddy would have to take Kelly-Ann home at some point. I did toss my empties at the window every now and then to get their attention.
“I guess Buddy wasn’t as dumb as I thought because he called the county sheriff on us. Then again, Buddy was dumb enough to come out of the house before their car even stopped. It was enough time for me to get in a few good licks.
“When the sheriff got us separated, he stuffed me into the back of his car because I wasn’t quite done with Buddy’s backstabbing ass. When he talked to me, I told him what had happened and that I’d gone a little redneck crazy. Unfortunately, the sheriff had a big mouth, and what I said was reported in the papers. I’m thinking that’s where you found out,” Allard said, looking at our pitching coach.
“I did a search on you and the other pitchers,” Coach Mallei confessed.
“What happened after that?” Trent asked.
