Chapter 974 V3 Ch208 @ Santa Fe HS (2)

1 SS Noah Atkins

2 1B Jason Morris

3 CF Korrey Alvarrez

4 LF Tanner Erickson

5 P Bryce Finn

6 3B Jesse s.h.i.+pman

7 RF Brian Swoope

8 2B Dalton Nelson

9 C Mitch.e.l.l Torres

Coach gave out the lineup after the basic warmup, sending Bryce and Mitch to the bullpen. Brian in right field was a surprise to everyone, even himself. He was very energetic during the second half of warmups, chasing fly b.a.l.l.s all over the place.

"He"s going too hard." Sean mumbled to me. The two of us were off to the side, doing a lighter workout. Sean was still hurting, whereas Coach said they wouldn"t use me unless they absolutely needed me. Depressing.

At the start of the game, Noah, Jason, and Korrey got ready to kick things off. Sean and I settled near the coaches. Alisha had a dentist appointment this afternoon and wasn"t able to come so Sean took it upon himself to help with the scoring and Coach"s notes. I was there to learn.

Noah started us off hot, hitting a solid line drive in a gap. He made it to second without needing to slide. Mr. Miller motioned for hit and run. We were going to be aggressive early on. The pitcher started his motion and once the ball left his hand, Noah took off. Jason made contact, pulling the ball down the line. The third baseman caught it on the hop and it was very convenient for him to tag Noah out. He tried to complete a double play by throwing to first next, but Jason made it safely.

Noah came back to the dugout, stopping near us to talk to Coach. "I think you should give me more opportunities to steal."

"You"re just mad that the hit-and-run didn"t work out." Kyle was nearby. Him and Dave stayed in the dugout with Garret; all three moved stiffly and unwillingly.

"It"s unfortunate that it went straight to the third baseman. Tough break." Noah nodded. "But I just think I can do a little more offensively."

"It"ll depend on the situation, but I"ll talk with Miller about incorporating it more." Coach slowly nodded. He looked to Sean. "Write that down."

Korrey hit a double of his own in the right field corner. He didn"t need to slide because the relay throw was headed home just like Jason. Jason slid before the tag came down. Safe. 1-0.

Tanner struck out for the second out. Bryce, our starting pitcher for the day, stayed calm and relaxed in the batter"s box, earning a walk after seeing nine pitches. Jesse was given the green light to swing and the runners were to go on contact. Jesse came through with an RBI single to make the score 2-0. Bryce made it to third, but was left stranded after Brian hit a fly ball to left field.

Bottom of the first inning. Bryce walked the first batter on a close call by the umpire. It was fine though. The second batter hit into a 6-4-3 double play. Noah to Dalton to Jason. Bryce got the third batter to pop up to Noah to end the inning.

Top of the second. Dalton walked and Mitch pushed him to second base with his base hit. Noah came up for his second at bat already with two on and no outs. On a 2-1 count, he blasted the ball deep towards center field, causing a bunch of us to get off the bench in shock. The center fielder chased the ball back, glanced at the fence, causing him to lose sight of the baseball. It bounced off the fence and went in the opposite direction. He scrambled for it as our baserunners were scoring. First it was Dalton. 3-0. Then Mitch.e.l.l. 4-0. The center fielder threw the ball to the shortstop, who relayed it to the third baseman as Noah came sliding in.

"Safe!"

Most of the guys on the team shook the dugout fence and yelled out compliments for Noah"s two RBI triple. Jason followed up with an RBI single, easily driving in Noah to make the score 5-0. Still no outs.

"f.u.c.k, you"re fast!!!" Dave reached out to give Noah an excited shake as he came back in the dugout. "First triple of the season!"

"It was so close to being a homer." Noah sighed. Then grinned. "But that"s okay. There"s always next time. I"m already 2-2 for at the plate in the second inning with two RBI"s." He raised a clenched fist. "We"re in great shape today!"

Garret laughed. "Yea, I don"t think Coach will be asking me or Jake to pinch hit today. Heck, if you guys keep this up, it might be a called game."

Sadly, we didn"t score anymore in the second. Korrey got into a double play and Tanner hit a routine groundout to short.

Bottom of the second. Bryce gave up a single to their cleanup hitter, but recovered. He earned a looking strikeout from the fifth batter, jammed the next batter for a groundout to himself, then a swinging strikeout. Kept Santa Fe scoreless.

Top of the third. Bryce hit a leadoff single. Jesse, up next, hit into the third double play of the game, the second by us. With two outs, and no one on, Brian went down swinging. Three up, threee down. A bit of a downer.

Bottom of the third. Bryce got the eighth batter to groundout to Jason. The last batter in the lineup, the pitcher, hit a fly ball to Brian in right field. Back at the top of the order, Bryce gave up a single. But it was okay. The next batter hit also hit a grounder Jason"s way at first and he dealt with it easily.

Top of the fourth. I was hoping to see a repeat of the second inning but it just wasn"t happening. Dalton struck out swinging. Mitch.e.l.l hit a fly ball to left. Noah hit a ground ball the opposite way between first and second base. The first baseman did a nice dive for it and tossed the ball to the pitcher who was racing to cover first base. He and Noah stepped on first base nearly at the same time. Unfortunately the umpire ruled in their favor.

Noah took off his helmet and came back into the dugout as everyone prepared to take the field. "What a shame. I thought for sure I was safe."

"Close call." Sean shrugged. "Nothing you can do about it."

"Nothing but be faster for next time." Noah said, heading to his bag.

"Noah"s never satisfied." Sean gave a small shake of his head as he noted the play down.

I nodded. "He"s always striving to be better. Even when we complained about endurance and strength training with Zeke during the summer, he never slacked off."

We watched him leave the dugout, jogging to short.

"That"s a good trait to have." Sean said. "Especially in a captain. Knowing what you have to do to improve and making the effort. I definitely think he"s the most reliable player on the team." Sean paused. "I"m not saying that you aren"t reliable. If anything, I would say you"re clutch. You"re an excellent batter that can really change the momentum of the game."