Top of the sixth.
Dave, in all the gear, lifted his arm and waved to our group in the bleacher. His name and position was announced over the speaker system and I could hear quite a few seniors sounding surprised. Him and Kyle did a warmup and it looked good so I didn't have any worries.
It was obvious early on...that me, and everyone else for that matter, was taking this a little too lightly. Dave wasn't a proper catcher or even a half-decent one. He was a pitcher that solely focused on himself and didn't even entertain the thought of playing elsewhere.
Kyle walked the lead off guy for OLU, batter eight in the lineup. He kicked the rubber in frustration. Noah jogged to the mound, waving us to join him.
Dave came in last, not moving well in all the gear. "Damn, is the ump blind or what? He's gotta be biased."
"You're the problem, you dope." Noah rolled his eyes. "You're not framing the pitches and holding it. You're moving too fast."
"It shouldn't matter if I hold it...right?" Dave looked around. "The umpire should be looking at where the ball crosses home plate."
"Bro, it's part of the game." Noah smacked Dave's chest protector. "You guys think the catcher just catches? No. He plans. He positions. He poses. Trying catching the ball and just hold it for a second." He looked to Kyle. "And it wouldn't be a problem if you threw close enough for these guys to swing and miss. Jesus. It's like we're in little league here."
Kyle hit Noah on the head with his glove. "Shut up. That was a test run. We've got this. Stop being a control freak."
Noah rolled his eyes again and gave a small shake of his head. "Well, it's in your hands now whether you get to stay in or not. I believe in our bullpen even if you load the bases."
"Get lost." Dave flicked Noah's hat. He looked at the rest of us. "I'll hold the ball a little longer. Don't worry."
We backed up to our fielding positions while the twins had an extra five seconds together before Dave started to walk back to home plate. A pinch-hitter was announced for the pitcher spot in the lineup.
I was a little nervous as Kyle started his motion. He threw a fastball on the edge of the zone that the batter let go by. Dave made his catch, holding it.
"Strike."
I let out the breath I was holding. Dave threw the ball back to Kyle. "Good pitch!"
The two started to sync up and the batter went down swinging for the first out of the sixth inning. Back at the top of the order, the leadoff guy ripped a hard one to right field. Korrey came sprinting in and made a dive at it. The runner on first hesitated whether to go back or not. Korrey jumped up, transitioning the ball from his glove to his right hand and threw a rocket to Sean at first. The runner dove back.
"Safe!" The closest umpire declared.
Sean threw the ball back to Kyle. "Two outs!"
"Two outs!" We echoed.
Kyle dealt with the next guy swiftly. He swung and missed three straight pitches becoming the ninth strikeout victim. Kyle and Dave met up as they entered the dugout, bumping fists.
"I nearly had a mini heart attack." Mitchell told them as they went to the bench.
Kyle started to get ready for his at bat. "Nah. We had it under control."
"Yea. I just needed a reminder." Dave took off the helmet-mask and put it down beside him. "Man, it's hard to breathe in this stuff. I don't know how you do it when it's hot out."
Coach walked over, eyeing Kyle who already had a helmet on. "You want to go all the way?"
"Always." Kyle grinned. He nudged Coach. "C'mon. It's the last home game. Let me finish strong."
"So selfish." Garret snickered.
"Pot meet kettle." Kyle rolled his eyes.
Coach looked to Dave. "If we get back to you in the order-"
"Then that must mean we put some more distance between us and them." Dave finished for him. "Don't worry, Coach. I won't get hurt."
Coach gave it some thought. "Okay. You two will finish as it is right now. But if I see a runner on second, we're switching to Oscar. I don't want to risk any collision or complications at the plate." He suddenly turned to me. "Jake, you're done. Dalton will go in for you."
"Brutal." Noah said to me as he got ready to bat too.
"Garret. You're done too." Coach announced. "Jesse, you're in."
I relaxed a little, wondering if I should untie my cleats.
Bottom of the sixth didn't hold much excitement for us. Kyle struck out swinging. Logan popped out to short. Then Korrey hit a long one to center but it couldn't make it out of the park.
Our guys went out and took the field for the top of the seventh.
Garret slid over on the bench to get closer to me and Mitchell. "What a way to end the season. On the bench." He let out a dramatic sigh.
Mitchell and I laughed along.
"Hey, hey, the season isn't over for us." Bryce joined our small group. "Three more wins and the season can be over for us."
Garret grinned. "Heck yea. Gotta go out on top."
"I wonder who our first opponent will be on Thursday." Mitchell said. "I want to know so I can look up some of their info. It's hard facing good teams blindly."
"We should know by tonight." Garret rubbed his hands. "And with no losses, we should be top dog. No visitors side for us."
The three of them talked about the upcoming playoffs as we watched the seventh inning play out. Kyle got the third batter to pop up to Sean near first base. The cleanup hitter actually struck out...looking. It made Kyle look a whole lot better, having double digit strikeouts in his last regular season game.
The lefty that was good came up next. He was good at fouling the hard to reach pitches, and then knocked the ball to right for a base hit, dampening some of the cheers for Kyle. The batter after him hit a sharp liner, but Noah was there to snatch it out of the air, diving into the dirt. He held up his glove and the umpire called it.
That was game! The few of us in the dugout shared some high fives before going out and joining the others. The pitchers from the bullpen came out too as we started to have a small celebration on the field. Undefeated in the regular season.
"C! I! F!"
"C! I! F!"
"C! I! F!"
Someone in the stands started to chant and others joined in. So did we.
I grinned as Noah and I shared a fist bump. He started to jump around and wave at the stands, yelling the chant at the top of his lungs.
Kyle broke free from some of the other seniors and pushed my hat down before throwing his arm over my shoulders. "Thanks to you Jake, we had a great season. Going out on top is every senior's dream."
"Yea!" Dave pounced on us, squeezing in between. "So make sure to finish the job. I don't want to see one out from you this postseason."
I tensed up. But only for a second. Dave didn't mean that literally. I soon forgot about it as the rest of the guys started to move around and we all congratulated one another.
