Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Please!
Previously, Part 5: Get a Good Pitch to Hit...
The bus ride to Fall River was different without Coach's dominating presence. He always sat in the first seat by the door, like a bouncer. The kids were looser than normal and seemed to be enjoying the ride.
To me, no vehicle is more uncomfortable than a standard-issue school bus. They make god-awful sounds while generating a shit-ton of useless, gas-guzzling horsepower when they accelerate from a dead stop. It's no wonder all the dogs bark at 'em…
While the kids offloaded, there was still casual conversation and laughter as we walked toward the field. Unlike our home field, Diman had chain-link fencing around the entire perimeter, and a home run was a legit base-trotter. Homeruns at our field had to be legged out, and they were few and far between. It did keep outfielders on their toes, though. If a ball got by an outfielder, it could roll for what seemed like an eternity and be quite embarrassing.
Gada's dad and I got along just fine. One rainy day earlier in the season, we practiced indoors in the small gym. I was upstairs soft-tossing plastic golf balls to kids hitting 'em into nets a few feet away. I was working with Gada when I noticed his front foot remained straight when he swung, and that prevented his hips from opening up and leading his hands. I couldn't believe I missed that in BP. I stopped him, had him turn his front foot at a 45-degree angle, and then swing. He felt his hips open up, and after that, he stopped hitting dribblers and started generating some real power. His dad thanked me for tweaking his swing, telling me he'd spent thousands of dollars at Hit Dog in Stoughton, Mo Vaughn's place, and they never addressed it. He said I could've saved him thousands of dollars.
Gada was warming up on the side with Newk and looked confident and sharp. He was a control pitcher with three pitches he threw for strikes. He could paint and rarely missed over the plate unless he was tired. He was the kid you thought you could hit but couldn't.
In the bottom of the first, Diman's leadoff hitter singled, and after an error by our first baseman, there were two on and none out. The #3 hitter stroked a standup double, and Diman took a 1-0 lead heading into the second.
No one jumped on Gada or Stags for making the error; we only tried to lift them up. I knew if Coach was there, he would've already been standing on the third base line, screaming and setting an awful tone.
Newk led off the second with a double but died on third base.
Gada retired the side in order in the second.
Potatah led off the third with a single but was stranded at second base.
With one out in the third, Gada walked the leadoff hitter and struck out the #2 hitter. The #3 hitter flew out to center field to end the inning.
After Newk flew out to left to start the fourth, Alejandro got his second hit, and Gada followed with a single of his own. With two on and one out, Hilly (DH) hit into a fielder's choice, and Fooch struck out swinging to end the inning.
Diman's cleanup hitter led off the 4th with a single. The next batter grounded out, moving the runner up. Then Potatah pulled off an unassisted double play to end the inning. Potatah-Potatah!
Potatah led off the fifth with his third single. After Varga (2B) popped out to the third baseman, John recorded his second hit. With two on, Newk drove 'em both home with an absolute laser, which gave us the lead, 2-1.
Gada struggled in the fifth, hitting the leadoff batter. A rare Potatah error put two on with no outs. Then Gada struck out the #9 hitter and walked the leadoff hitter, loading the bases. He induced two fielders' choices. One, he fielded himself, getting the force on the runner at home; the other ended the inning.
Gada led off the sixth by flying out to center field, and Hilly followed with a fly out to left. Fooch walked, but Potatah was retired for the first time in four at-bats to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, with one out, the #5 hitter reached on an error, and after getting a pop-out, Gada walked the #7 hitter. With two on and two out, he got the #8 hitter to ground out to Stags to end the inning.
Varga led off the seventh and reached on an error. After John popped out to short, Stags smashed a double. With runners on second and third, Newk and Alejandro were both caught looking.
By the bottom of the seventh, Gada was starting to tire. He got the #9 hitter to fly out to centerfield but walked the next batter and then surrendered a base hit to the #2 hitter. With two on and only one out, their #3 hitter hit into a fielder's choice for the second out.
Next up was their cleanup hitter, Repozza. He was 1-3 but had the perfect stance and swing. He reminded me of a young Tony Conigliaro. He flew out to deep center in the first inning, so we knew he was a dangerous hitter. We thought about pulling Gada, but he had gone 6 2/3, so we decided to give him a chance to get the final out.
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With runners on first and second, two outs, and a 2-2 count, and still ahead 2-1, we considered walking Repozza to get to the #5 hitter, but we let Gada pitch…
Newk's target was low and away, but Gada missed it and threw a strike that was a little up and caught too much plate. The kid turned on it and sent it deep to left field. It looked and sounded like a home run off the bat. As it continued toward the fence, I shook my head and began questioning our decision to stay with Gada in the seventh…
Fooch was in left. He was one of my plumbers and a great kid, but if it stayed in the park, I wasn't sure he was capable of reaching over the fence and pulling it back…
Fooch misjudged it initially and came in on it, forcing him to spin himself around to try to get back in position to make the catch. He looked a lot like a dog chasing his own tail. Everyone was holding their breath as the ball descended. It looked like it had just enough to clear the fence…
To be continued…
*All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental…