Welcome Back. This chapter is the semi-final State Tournament game for the Mayfield Mustangs. The Mustangs have many players contributing on the field, both offensively and defensively, not to mention one player who has one of those bad games that can afflict any player at any level. Will the team's effort be enough to overcome a teammate's problems on the field?
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Douglas. The hakaanen@hotmail.com
CHAPTER 59 SAFECO FIELD <Friday, May 24>
Starting lineup for the Mayfield Mustangs Class-A State Tournament Semi-final Game #1
- Justin-SS 2. Eric-2B 3. Scott-P 4. Carl-DH for Lars in CF 5. Kevin-C 6. Danny-3B 7. Kraig-RF 8. Hunter-LF 9. Gavin-1B
The Mayfield Mustangs and the Whitman Wildcats arrived at Safeco within five minutes of each other. Like the staff at the hotel, the Safeco staff was impressed by the looks and demeanor of the Mustangs. While the Wildcats were well dressed in collared shirts and sharp looking jeans or slacks, they had the look of many other high school teams who had played at The Safe. The Mustangs looked a step above the average.
The visitors' clubhouse was divided by four portable walls, providing each of the four teams with their own dressing area. They would all share the same shower after the game. The quarters were a bit tight, but roomy enough for fifteen ball players. The players would have to share lockers.
Ron Dahl, who was the visitors' clubhouse attendant, observed the two teams with interest. He always checked out the manner of the two teams before making a bet with his friend Carl, who worked in the home clubhouse, which would not be used by the high school teams. Since he had won over sixty percent of his bets, Ron liked to think he was astute at gauging the mental state of the teams.
What he saw before the five o'clock game was two teams who entered the locker room quietly, with eyes as big as saucers. That was almost always the case with high school players coming in for the first time. However, one of the teams soon started to loosen up, with players quietly encouraging each other and kidding each other, while maintaining an air of seriousness at the same time. The other team looked much more intimidated by their surroundings and by the situation.
It didn't surprise Ron Dahl that the looser of the two teams was the defending Class A champions. Both teams were from small towns situated a good distance from Seattle, but one of them looked to be much more poised. Ron made up his mind; his five dollars would be on the Mayfield Mustangs.
Coach Sanders called the team together, but said little. The I.C.E. written in the white board said it all. Whether they were playing on a dirt infield at Clark Pass, or on the immaculate grass carpet of Safeco Field, those three letters were the key to their game.
The teams were allowed to take the field a half hour before game time to warm up. They lined up in the hallway to the dugout, nodding to one other, exchanging some polite, but insincere "good lucks", as they almost danced in their cleats waiting for the okay to take the field.
When the players finally hit the field, they all had to touch the smooth carpeting of lawn that comprised the flat infield, walk slowly across the well-groomed infield dirt, and revel at the beauty of the large expanse of unbroken green that was the outfield. The retractable roof was open and the sky of the early evening was still an unbroken blue. It was a perfect evening for baseball.
[ERIC]
Noah and I warmed up together in the outfield. I looked around me, the stands of the giant stadium looming high in the air. The humongous scoreboard was to the side of me, showing us warming up. The stands were all but empty, of course, with only the bowl area between the bases even remotely filling up. Even if every citizen in Mayfield and Whitman came to the game, they would barely fill the bowl seating area. But the number of people there didn't matter. We knew buses full of fans and students were coming from Mayfield. We knew that the important people in our lives would all be there.
Speaking of important people, I thought about my teammates around me as Noah and I tossed the ball back and forth. Back in sixth grade, Noah, Kevin, Kraig, Scott, Danny, Carl, Hunter, Bobby and me were the ones who got the Go to State Team started. We had our big dreams, but none of those dreams included playing at Safeco Field. The great thing was that all of us but Bobby were still together, and all of us who were here, except for Noah, would be starting today. If we won today, Noah would be the starting second baseman on Sunday. I got chills thinking about it. That moment of inspiration, standing on the green carpet of Safeco Field, was one of the greatest feelings of my life.
Before we finally retired to the dugout, Noah brought out the uniform shirt with Bobby's name and number. He walked onto the dirt portion of the infield and rubbed it along the ground, making sure the front was marked with dirt. I'm sure most people in the stands who were watching him had to wonder what on Earth he was doing. He didn't care, and I didn't care, nobody on the team cared what they thought. Our teammates and coaches knew what was going on. He carefully hung the Mayfield shirt at the end of the dugout, took a picture of the redhead off of a shelf and pinned it to the front of the uniform, just above the breast. Not long ago he would have cried doing something like that, but this time he smiled his sweet smile and blew a kiss to the uniform.
The coin flip had taken place in the press box before we started changing into our uniforms. Coach Sanders, Kevin, and I, had been escorted up an elevator to the Dave Niehaus Broadcast Center, just one more awesome place to be. The captain and coach of the Wildcats came up with us. We introduced ourselves on the way up. The Wildcats captain was Marvin, a senior, who would be their starting pitcher.
"I hear you guys are pretty good," Marvin said. "We're pretty stoked about playing the defending champs."
"We've done okay," I said modestly. "We're happy to be here."
"We totally can't believe we're here playing you guys."
It was good thing we reached the broadcast center, since I couldn't think of anything intelligent to say. Marvin was obviously awestricken by the situation. I just wanted to get the coin flip over with and rejoin my teammates.
The Wildcats had come the farthest and got to call the flip. Marvin called heads and got tails, making us the home team. That meant we'd get the first base dugout. We'd brought our home and away jerseys and could now get dressed in the proper tops. It was nice to be the home team, but either way, we had to outscore our opponent.
I watched Scott, Kevin, Korey, and Coach Hart head for the bullpen so Scott could start warming up. I couldn't help but feel envious for a moment. I'd been guaranteed a pitching start on this field, but a lot of things happened to give that start to Scott. It didn't matter, because in the long run, I got what I really wanted—the chance to start the championship game, which right now was just a potential game. Today, I would be starting at second base, doing everything I could to get us there.
Infield practice went by in a flash. The announcing of the rosters and lineups seemed to take only seconds. A high school chorus from one of the Seattle high schools sang the National Anthem. My mind wasn't at all on the singing as I tried willing my heart to slow down. We were minutes away from the first pitch. I was just hoping I wouldn't trip over myself when I ran out to second.
<First Inning-Whitman 0, Mayfield 0>
Scott had always been a confident athlete. He knew he had talent. Although his ego sometimes got in his way, he generally knew what he could and couldn't do. He was the consummate C, B, and sometimes A- jock, who did okay in school and didn't bother himself with a lot of deep thoughts. Unlike his friend Eric, Scott generally did not try to outthink himself.
As he stood on the perfectly sculpted mound looking in for his first sign from Kevin, there was no doubt in his mind that he was better than the hitters he would be facing. There was absolutely no question he was better than every one of them.
Scott blew an 0-2 fastball past the leadoff hitter who swung late, got a called strike three on another fastball, then had the number three hitter swing at a 1-2 fastball in his eyes--three batters, three strikeouts.
While only the 3-A and 4-A championship games would be televised, all of the games were on the radio. The two Class-A semi-finals were being broadcast by interns from the UW School of Communication. Retired ballplayers who lived in the area volunteered to be color commentators. Also, all of the games were being video recorded, with the television cameras manned by apprentices. Each player would receive a commemorative DVD of their game(s), using the radio broadcast for commentary. Replays were shown on the giant scoreboard screen in centerfield.
The radio announcer liked what he saw of Scott in the first inning. "The Wildcats look overmatched by the senior Mustang pitcher," he said.
Justin led off the bottom of the first with a sharp grounder to short and was thrown out at first. Eric was next up. Hearing his name announced over the Safeco PA system made him even more nervous. He hadn't tripped on the way to second, didn't fall down walking to the plate, but his nerves showed when, on the first pitch to him, he swung at a ball almost six inches outside.
I definitely sucked on that pitch, he thought. Concentration leads to proper execution, he told himself as he took a deep breath. He let another outside pitch go by, then took a waist high pitch over the plate and drilled it to left center field for a hit. There was nothing like a solid base hit to calm the jitters.
It was then that he truly noticed the noise. He'd heard it, but yet he hadn't heard it. While only the bowl between the bases was occupied, the fans were close together, from behind home to first base. The little town of Mayfield was doing itself proud with its support of the Mustangs. The gathering was showing itself to be capable of making a lot of noise and Eric's single upped the decibels a few levels.
Marvin, the Wildcats' pitcher, fell behind 3 and 1 and came in with a fat fastball that Scott hit over the left fielder's head. The ball hit the warning track and bounced off the wall. When the throw came in, Scott was on second with a stand-up double and had given the Mustangs an early 1-0 lead. Noah was Scott's designated runner and replaced Scott at second.
While the fences at Safeco had been brought it from their ridiculously long dimensions, the ballpark was still much larger than what most high school teams were used to playing on. Carl had spent the top of the first inning looking at the distant left field fence and decided it was close enough for him to reach. The result was a swing so hard on Marvin's first pitch that he almost screwed himself into the ground.
He could hear Coach Sanders yelling from the third base coach's box, "A base hit scores him." That was the coach's reminder for Carl to stay within himself.
Marvin decided to blow the next pitch by Carl as well, but he overthrew it, getting the pitch up in the strike zone, right where Carl could pound yet another ball over the left fielder's head. This one hit the wall on two bounces, and like Eric, Noah scored standing up.
Kevin hit the next pitch through the hole between third and short, with Coach Sanders stopping Carl at third. Chandler, who was Kevin's designated runner, came out to run for him.
That brought the Wildcats' coach out for a chat with his pitcher. Marvin was obviously over-hyped and was overthrowing the ball, leaving it up in the zone in the middle of the plate, which was prime hitting territory.
The talk didn't help much against Danny, who tattooed the first pitch to him over the shortstop's head to score Carl and advance Chandler to second. The Mustangs had scored three runs off of five straight hits.
The string ended with Kraig grounding hard to second. The second baseman flipped the ball to the shortstop for the force at second. He relayed it to first to complete the double play and end the inning.
"The Mustangs make it look like the defending champions are on a mission," the radio color commentator said. "They dominated the Wildcats in all phases of the game in the first inning."
<Second inning-Whitman 0, Mayfield 3>
As good as Scott had been in the first inning, Coach Sanders knew that Scott's problem of not knowing where he was throwing the ball could always pop up. The senior had been on a hot streak in the postseason, but over the course of his high school career his inconsistency would sometimes catch up to him.
That was the case with the leadoff batter when, like had happened on occasion in his last start, he couldn't control the movement on his fastball. When he tried throwing a slider on a 2-1 pitch, it didn't break and plunked the batter in the ass. That put the leadoff batter on first, which was not a good thing to do when just handed a 3-0 lead.
Art, the next Wildcat hitter, rapped a sharp grounder to Danny at third, which he fumbled. When he finally got a grasp on the ball, he hurried his throw to first. It hit the ground and skipped by Gavin, bouncing off the front of the stands and up into right field. By the time Kraig could run it down, the runners were safely perched on second and third. Danny was charged with an error on the throw.
Kevin came out to the mound for a visit. He patted Scott on the butt and told him they'd get the next guy. He also reminded Scott and the infielders that the name of the game right now was damage control.
"Give up a run for an out," he said. "We have the lead, we need outs."
Scott managed to get an out without allowing a run when he struck out Kent swinging on a 2-2 pitch. That brought up Adrian, the third baseman, who put up a tough at bat. He worked the count to full, fouled off three pitches, and finally coaxed a walk to load the bases.
"That momentum of the first inning seems to have changed," the announcer said.
"This is high school baseball, and things can change in a hurry, especially at the lower classifications like these two teams play in." The retired player doing the color commentary hadn't seen a Class-A game in his life, but he thought his analysis would sound profound to whomever was listening.
Coach Sanders had his infield playing back, willing to give up the run for an out like Kevin had said. That is exactly what happened this time, as Oscar, the catcher, hit a slow grounder to Eric at second. Eric flipped the ball to Justin at short as the runner scored from third. Even though Oscar was no speed demon, the ball hadn't been hit hard enough to turn a double play. There were runners on first and third with two outs and the number nine hitter up.
Parker, the Wildcats' center fielder, did not look real comfortable at the plate to Kevin. Parker swung and missed at the first pitch; he was way late on his swing. Kevin decided to challenge him with fastballs until he showed he could hit them. Scott blew the next two pitches by him as well, and he swung weakly at each one.
Marvin settled down some against the bottom of the Mustangs' order. He got Hunter to hit a pop-up to left, and struck out both Gavin and Justin.
<Third inning-Whitman 1, Mayfield 3>
The Wildcats were back to the top of their order. Scott struck out Tracy, their leadoff hitter, for the second time. But their number two hitter, Blake, sat on a 2-0 fastball and singled to left for the Wildcats' first hit. Their number three hitter, Shannon, hit a weak comebacker to Scott, who looked for a play at second, but wisely decided to take the play at first.
That brought Marvin up for the second time. He had been hit by a pitch his first time up. This time, he hit a pitch, drilling a ball up the third baseline past Danny. By the time Hunter got the ball, Blake was chugging for home. Instead of hitting the cutoff man, as he should have in that situation, Hunter decided to heave the ball home. While he had a good arm, it wasn't nearly good enough to throw out the speedy Blake. His throw was up the line, and, because he had missed the cutoff man, Marvin ended up at third base instead of being held at second.
The Wildcats were now down by a run with a runner on third and two outs. Once again, Scott was up to the task as he struck out Art, the right fielder.
The Mustangs also led off the third with the top of their order. Eric dropped a bunt up the third baseline, which the third baseman and pitcher could not make a play on, giving him a bunt single.
That brought up Scott, who worked a 3-1 count and slammed a line drive to center. The center fielder showed he was no slouch, however, by making an excellent running catch over his shoulder, robbing Scott of a sure extra-base hit.
Eric stole second on the second pitch to Carl. Oscar, the catcher, called time to talk to Marvin.
"With first base open we could pitch around him," Oscar said. Marvin had never been real impressed with the brain power of his catcher. His coach wasn't either, and often called the pitches in key situations.
"I can get the bastard out," Marvin said. "Let's just pitch to him and go from there."
"If we let this guy get on base it sets up a force."
"Let's just pitch to him," Marvin said impatiently. Nobody on the Mustangs ever questioned Kevin's strategic decisions, including Coach Sanders. Oscar didn't have the same kind of respect from his teammates.
Carl had a feeling they were going to challenge him and he sat dead red on a fastball. When he got the fastball, he launched the ball into the gap between the left and center fielders. The result was an RBI single and a two-run Mustang lead.
Kevin was quickly in an 0-2 hole. He let a high fastball go by, but turned over an outside pitch and joined his twin brother by hitting into a double play.
<Fourth inning-Whitman 2, Mayfield 4>
Scott had another sharp inning in the top of the fourth. Kent, the number six hitter in the lineup, hit a routine ground ball to short which Justin ate up to throw him out easily. Adrian, who walked in the second, struck out this time, and Oscar popped up to Eric at second.
With the game at the halfway mark, the Mustangs had a 4-2 lead. In four innings of pitching, Scott had allowed only two hits and two runs, with one of those being unearned because of Danny's error. He had struck out seven and walked only one, while hitting one batter.
Danny led off the bottom of the inning for the Mustangs. He hit his second single of the game. He stole second on the third pitch to Kraig. Kraig then grounded out to second, moving Danny to third, in what Coach Sanders called a productive out.
Hunter took advantage of the situation by hitting a fly ball to the center fielder. Danny tagged up and scored easily, giving Hunter a sacrifice fly and an RBI. Gavin struck out for the second time to end the inning.
<Fifth inning-Whitman 2, Mayfield 5>
"The Mayfield team is looking very much in control of this game," the color commentator said. "They've been able to answer every challenge by Whitman. With eight strikeouts and two hits allowed over four innings, Scott, their pitcher, has dominated."
Just as the words left his mouth, Danny misplayed another ground ball, letting an easy grounder bounce off of his glove. The ball hadn't been hit hard by the weak hitting Parker—Danny had simply misplayed it. Danny looked down, like he wanted to blame the field for creating a bad bounce. On another field, he might have had a case. But this was a Major League field and the grounds crew had just raked the flawlessly maintained infield. The ball had played true.
Scott looked over at Danny, giving him a thumbs up signal. "I've got your back," he told his friend and teammate, meaning he had every intention of stranding the runner on the bases. Scott was surprised Parker had gotten a piece of his fastball at all after how bad he'd looked in his first at bat.
Tracy, the Wildcat leadoff hitter, was up again. He had struck out in his first two at bats, and had no intention of striking out again. On a 1- 2 pitch he found a slider that didn't break and slapped it for a base hit past Eric into right field. The Wildcats had another threat going.
"I guess we'll have to see if the Mustangs have an answer to this threat, too," the announcer said. Even though he was green as a play-by-play announcer, he was not impressed with his color man. He knew that he would have to be careful of what he said, however. The recording being made of the game was something he would be using when he went job hunting.
Blake picked up his second hit of the game, a double that landed between Lars and Kraig. Kraig did a great job of getting the ball in, forcing the runner from first to be stopped at third. But Parker, who had reached first on Danny's error, scored easily. Danny was feeling even worse as both of his errors had led to runs.
Scott finally got the first out as Shannon, the number three hitter, flied out routinely to Hunter. The runner on third faked going home, but the coach wisely held him; he'd seen Hunter's cannon of an arm earlier.
Scott got two quick strikes on Marvin with fastballs. He wasted a slider outside, and then just missed on a fastball. When Kevin signaled for another fastball, Scott shook him off.
Ah, shit, not again, Kevin thought. I know he wants to throw his fucking changeup.
He asked the umpire for time and trotted out to the mound, carrying the baseball with him.
"What's wrong with a fastball?" Kevin asked.
"I think it's a good spot for my changeup," Scott said.
"Bend over so I can stuff this ball straight up your ass, which I told you would be the best spot for your changeup. Your change-up sucks. It sucked at the start of the year, it sucked in the middle of the year, it sucked in your last game, and it will suck in this at-bat." Kevin had decided before the game started that he was not going to let Scott talk him into anything.
"It's a good thing you're my friend or I'd tell you what kind of an asshole you can be," Scott said.
"It's a good thing you're my friend, or I'd probably let you embarrass yourself by letting you throw your change. That fucker is their best hitter, so let's give him your best pitch and see if he can handle it." Before Scott could say anything, the umpire took a few steps toward the mound and commanded them to play ball.
Kevin gave the signal for fastball once again. Scott took a deep breath. He forgot about his change-up, told himself this was going to be his best pitch against their best hitter, and tossed a filthy sinking fastball that had Marvin swinging right over it for strike three.
Art then sent a screaming line drive that insured the Whitman center fielder would not have the best play of the game. Lars turned on the ball, ran back and to his left, catching up to it near the warning track. The ball came over his right shoulder and into his glove. He managed to slow up some after the catch, but still banged into the padded fence. He fell to the ground, unhurt, and held up the ball. On most high school fields, that hit would have been a home run. At Safeco Field it was a catch worthy of ESPN highlights. It was shown three times on the video screen to loud cheers from the Mayfield contingent.
Justin led off the fifth for the Mustangs and was a quick out as he hit a hard line drive right to the third baseman. Eric barely got a piece of a pitch, hitting a spinning ground ball that barely stayed fair along the third base line. It probably traveled all of thirty feet, but by the time anyone could get to it, Eric was crossing first base.
"It will look like a line drive in the box score," Noah said to no one in particular.
That brought up Scott, who had a long double and fly out. Marvin didn't bother challenging him this time. He walked Scott on four pitches, not wanting to mess with him at all. It wasn't an intentional walk, but it might as well have been. Once again, Noah came off the bench to run for Scott.
"That could be considered an unintentional, intentional walk," the color commentator on the radio said. The Mustangs now had runners on first and second with one out. The announcer tried hard not to shake his head at what he considered to be an inane comment. After all, why would the pitcher want to walk Scott, when he was followed by Carl, who had two hard hits?
Marvin might have pitched around Scott, but there was no way he wanted to load the bases by walking Carl. Carl was two-for-two. If Marvin had had any thoughts of pitching his way out of the inning, Carl ended them with a long drive to left center for a single. Eric scurried around third and scored for the third time in the game. The Wildcats executed the throw into the infield perfectly and Noah only made it as far as second base.
That was the end of the line for Marvin as the Wildcat coach came out to the mound. He had Marvin trade places with Shannon, a big left-hander. After taking his eight warm-ups, Shannon was ready to face Kevin.
Kevin wasted no time grounding a single over the second base bag, loading the bases for Danny. Chandler came out to run for Kevin.
Danny knew his teammates had done a good job of covering for his two errors by getting key hits. He had two singles and an RBI and was determined to make up for his fielding gaffs by getting a big hit to pad the three run lead. Instead he hit a ball right to the shortstop, whose momentum took him to second base, forcing Chandler. He then threw over to first, just nipping the hustling Danny for a double play.
<Sixth inning, Whitman 3, Mayfield 6>
Scott started the sixth inning by striking out Kent. "That's the tenth strikeout for the Mayfield senior," the announcer said.
"He's allowed only three hits in a dominating performance," the color commentator added. "If not for two unearned runs after their two errors, the Mustangs would be running away with this game." The announcer decided that if the color commentator used the word "dominating" one more time he was going to throttle him.
Adrian hit a grounder to Danny, who fielded it cleanly, but then proceeded to throw the ball over Gavin's head and into the camera well. After his third error of the game, Danny was looking for a hole to crawl into. But once again, he got a thumbs up from Scott followed by an encouraging pat on the ass from Justin. The error had put the runner on second and into scoring position.
Travis, a junior, came up to pinch-hit for Oscar. Travis wasn't a particularly strong hitter, but he was better than Oscar, who had a tendency to swing at everything within a light year of home plate. Travis did have a good idea of the strike zone, however, and managed to coax a walk out of Scott, putting runners on first and second with one out.
Coach Sanders made his first visit of the game to the mound. Kevin joined him and Scott, knowing exactly what the coach was going to ask.
"How is he?" Coach Sanders asked Kevin. Kevin wished he could have placed a bet, he would have won big money.
"A little tired, but I think he's good to get through the inning," Kevin said.
"Scott, do you agree?"
"Coach, I can get through the rest of the game." Coach Sanders grinned inwardly. He hadn't expected to hear Scott or Kevin say anything different. It was almost like the entire visit to the mound had been choreographed in advance.
"It looks like they have a pinch hitter coming up. He's got to be better than the kid he's hitting for." He was referring to Parker. "Go after him, though. If he was really good he would have been starting. Don't nitpick; we don't want to have the tying run on base."
He left for the dugout. Kevin gave Scott a pat on the rear and returned to the plate.
Kelly was the pinch hitter. He was a much better hitter than Parker, who was in the game because of his fielding prowess. The problem with Kelly was that he was horrible in the field. Normally, he was the DH for the Wildcats, but a bad knee kept him from running the bases. The Wildcats' coach reluctantly eschewed the DH, hoping Kelly could hobble through one at bat as a pinch hitter. This was going to be the at bat.
He watched a fastball go by, timing it in his mind. He didn't watch the second one, however. Scott was tired enough that his fastball had lost a little of its earlier zip. He got the ball up too high and caught too much of the plate. Kelly ripped a ball up the first baseline. Adrian took off from second and scored easily, the third of Danny's errors to score.
Travis came racing into third and saw his coach wave him home. He took off full steam, ready to score. Kraig came up throwing from the right field corner. Seeing that Travis was being waved home, he fired the ball into Eric, who had come out to be the relay man. Eric caught the ball in perfect position and threw a bullet to Kevin at home. Kevin had the plate perfectly blocked as he caught the ball and put the tag on the sliding runner before he could touch the plate. A huge roar went up from the Mayfield fans after the perfectly executed play, while an audible "awwwwwwww" emanated from the Whitman side of the stands. Kelly hobbled into second on the throw.
Coach Sanders had seen enough. With Tracy, the leadoff hitter, coming up, he decided to replace Scott with Lars. He brought Lars in from center, moved Scott to first, and sent Chandler out to center, replacing Gavin in the lineup. He was tempted to put Kraig, the senior, in center, but Chandler had handled himself well there when Lars pitched, so he stuck with what had worked for most of the season. At the same time Lars replaced Scott, a pinch-runner came in for Kelly.
As Lars took his warm-ups, Eric looked over to the stands behind first base. Although fans were starting to file in for the 8:30 game, he knew there were a lot of people from Mayfield sitting there: family, friends, students, former players, townspeople he didn't know. Mayfield Mustang baseball had become the talk of the town for the citizens of Mayfield. Wherever people gathered - at the coffee shop, at the grocery store, and even during fellowship time at Sunday church service - the exploits of the Mayfield Mustangs was the hot topic.
Lars was greeted rudely by Tracy, who grounded his first pitch up the middle for a single, but the pinch-runner had to hold up at third. That brought up Blake, who was 2-for-3. With runners on first and third, Kevin stepped in front of the plate and called for the fist play.
Blake then took ball one. On the next pitch, Tracy lit out for second. The Mustangs had many plays that could be called in a first and third situation. The fist play was the most basic of them. It simply meant that the throw from the catcher would go through to second, and if there wasn't an immediate out, it would come right back home.
The runner on third hesitated going home in case the throw was cut off by the pitcher or one of the middle infielders. As soon as he saw it was going all the way to second he broke for home. Justin had to reach a little for the throw and knew he wouldn't be able to tag Tracy out. Just as the fist play had been diagrammed he fired it home, and for the second time in the inning, Kevin made a putout on a runner sliding into the plate. As small as the Mayfield contingent was in the cavernous stadium, the thunderous cheering echoed off of the outfield stands. Thanks to great fundamentals and execution the Mustangs had worked their way out of the inning without allowing only one run.
The Whitman coach had taken a big gamble in pitching Shannon. Shannon was slated to be his starting pitcher on Sunday if the Wildcats won. Marvin and Shannon were the only pitchers he trusted against good teams. While he had three other pitchers, they only fared well against mediocre or poor teams. That weakness had hurt his team in a couple of games when he had to pitch one of the two longer than he would have liked because he didn't have an adequate relief pitcher.
Shannon showed why he was one of the Wildcat aces in the bottom of the sixth when he struck out the side on just twelve pitches. Granted he was facing three underclassmen who generally didn't start, but it was still an impressive feat. Toby pinch hit for Kraig and struck out on three pitches. Korey batted for Hunter and struck out on three. Chandler, who had already entered the game for Gavin, struck out on six. Chandler saw his longer at bat as a minor triumph as he actually managed to foul one pitch off.
Before going to the Mustang dugout, Coach Sanders told the umpire he was reentering Kraig and Hunter.
<Seventh inning-Whitman 4, Mayfield 6>
Like the game, the seventh inning was tougher than it should have been. Since Blake had been at bat when the out was made on the double steal, he would lead off the inning with a new count. Lars issued a leadoff walk to Blake, which meant the 3-4-5 hitters would be coming up as at least the tying run. Lars had yet to get a batter out. Kevin walked to the mound to settle his boyfriend down.
"Blow job tonight if you get the next three dudes out," he said.
"I was gonna get one anyway."
"This one will be a super deluxe job."
"Like you give me anything less."
"This is what you've lived your life for, so just do it."
Lars had spent much of the previous summer and all spring pitching in tough, late game situations. He didn't let the walk rattle him. Shannon hit a lazy fly to Chandler in center. Marvin followed him and hit a pitch on the screws, but it slammed right into Eric's glove. Blake barely avoided being doubled off of first.
Art was the next batter. He was oh-for-three with a strikeout. The Mayfield fans were on their feet, yelling, clapping, and stomping their feet. The first pitch was high for a ball. Art fouled off the next pitch to even the count. A breaking ball for a called strike came next. With two strikes on the batter, the crowd seemed as noisy and raucous as a full house of 45,000
Art hit a pop foul on the third base side. Danny wandered over and looked up into the lights momentary losing the ball. For a player who already had three errors, this was the ultimate "oh shit" moment.
But Kevin, the field general, saw his confusion and yelled out, "Left shoulder!" Danny quickly saw the high pop. He took an awkward step to his left, stumbled slightly, felt the ball hit his glove, bounce out, and drop back in. He squeezed it as if it was a bomb that would explode if it hit the ground. The umpire signaled the out and the Mayfield crowd went crazy.
The players patted Danny on the back and ass as they shook hands with each other in a restrained manner. They all felt for Danny and his struggles in the field. For his teammates it was appropriate that Danny got to make the last out, even if he had looked bad on a relatively easy play.
There was no big celebration on the field or off the field. Winning the game was important, but it wasn't the ultimate dream. All it did was set the scene for that dream. Sunday was what counted.
As they walked past the waiting teams from North Lake and Riverville the Mustangs wished that Saturday didn't sit between them and Sunday.
Next: Between Games