Blood Moon (Paul Lahote)

Five: Damn Good

"Strike!" The refs calls from behind Jamie. Jamie throws the ball back to me. I shake the ball in my hand before pulling it back into my glove and flinging it forward once again. She swings just over the ball and it hits Jamie's glove with a thump.

"Strike two!" The ump yells. Jamie passes the ball to me. I take a deep breath as I walk backward for a second. As soon as the batter steps into the box I sling the ball with all my strength. The girl swings too late and it's slams into Jamie's glove.

"Out!" The ump yells. Two more then it's our turn. The second girl comes up to bat. She swings at each one, late each time. Two outs. The third girls steps up to bat. I swing the ball around and release too late. It's a ball. It's hits the back of the fence and Jamie goes to receive it. She passes it back to me and I shrugs it off. I hear the other dugout cheering.

"Higher! Higher! Higher! Higher!" They shout, making fun of my ball. I wind up again and sling the ball forward again. The batter sticker her knee forward and it gets hit by the ball. That's illegal she can't do that.

"Dead ball!" The ump shouts.

"What!" I yell. The batter tosses her bat towards the dugout and jogs to first bast.

"She stuck her leg out!" Someone from the crowd shouts.

"You just gonna let her do that ump?" I ask. The other umpire motions the him to meet. Coach Byrd calls me and Jamie over.

"She stuck her leg out." I say as we meet. How did he not see it? He must be blind if he can't see a girl's leg right in front of him.

"Yes I know but don't say anything to the refs." She says.  I look over and the refs are taking at second base. Jamie and I walked back to our positions and I gave a couple practice pitches before the ump walked towards the crowd.

"Out!" The blind ump says. I take off my face mask and head to the dugout. I'm watching their pitcher give practice pitches. She's slow, which means she's probably inaccurate too.

"Put me fourth." I say. Coach looks at me.

"Why do you need to be third instead of second?" She asks.

"Because Jamie will get on base easily. And I guarantee she'll walk Tanya and Olivia." I explain. "Which means if I bat third I can hit it straight to right field and all four of us can score." She looks at me for a second before running over to the other coach to switch the lineup.

"If this doesn't work you're back at second." She warns.

Jamie actually gets hit by the ball and gets to take a base. Tonya, a junior and our second baseman, bunts the ball and gets on base. They walk Olivia and I'm up.

I shake my shoulders and arms before stepping into the batters box and getting into stance. I remember everything coach taught me. Wide stance, lean your weight on your back leg, bat up, elbows out, and turn your hips when you swing.

I looked over the the right fielder, that's usually where the worst player is. Girls barely hit it to right field. The pitcher is winding up. She sling the ball towards me. It's gonna hit my leg so I back up.

"Strike!" The ump yells.

"Let it hit you!" Coach yells at me. Even if I did it would only get us one point. I don't like people yelling at me. The bases are loaded. No outs.

The pitcher winds up again. I can tell it's good right as she releases it. I wait on it just a little then bam the ball hits right at the end of my bat towards right field and I take off. The right fielder lines up her glove with the ball. It's heading right towards her. It goes right above her glove and keeps rolling.

"Go, go, go!" Coach Byrd yells, telling us it's good. She waves her hand in circles and I head to second, then third, the right fielder is just about to get the ball.

I can make it.

I dash to home base while hearing the other team yell "Four! Four! Four!" and I slide into home base just before the catcher catches the ball and tags me.

The ref makes flat line with his arms, signalling that I'm safe. Everyone is cheering and I smile as I high five everyone on the bench and sit down. I'm breathing hard as the next batter, Gabriella, steps into the box. She hits it straight down the middle and gets two bases.

The next girl, Ally, hits it towards center and center field catches the ball. Brenli, our seventh, bunts the ball and moves Gabriella to third. Brenli gets out because she's not fast enough to reach before the ball is tossed to first.

Then Kylee is up, she our eight batter and left field. She hits a line drive and gets two bases and Gabriella scores. Our ninth batter, Gionna, hit it to left field and gets two bases sand Kylee scores.

Jamie strikes out and it's my turn to pitch again. I strike out the first two girls. The second one hits it straight out shortstop, Gabriella, she catches it and the girl is out.

We score 4 more points in the next ending before the bottom of our lineup strikes out. I put on my face mask before wiping off the ball with the rag that's in my back pocket and return to the mound. They're at the bottom of the lineup now, these girls don't have a chance. I strike out the first two and the third girl steps up to bat. I pitch the first one.

"Stike!" The ump yells. I smirk before returning back to my stance. I pitch the second one.

"Strike!" The ump yells again. This is my final pitch of the game. I take a deep breath and sling my arm around. I accidentally hit the back of my thigh with the ball and it falls to the ground.

"Illegal pitch." The ump says. "Runner take base." The runner throws the bat towards their dugout and jobs towards first base. I'm not sure of the rules but I know that was not an illegal pitch. The ball hit the back of my leg on accident.

"That's not illegal!" I hear people shout from the crowd. Coach Byrd jobs over to the ump. They talk from awhile before coach jogs back to the bucket she's sitting on. She waves her hand forward to tell me to keep going.

The last batter steps into the box. I don't hesitate to sling the ball with all my might before releasing. She swings late. I barely give her time to reset before pitching again. She doesn't swing.

"Ball." The ump says. That wasn't a ball. It was outside but it's been like that the whole game. I pitch it again. She swings right above the ball. "Strike."

I take a deep breath and close my eyes before pitching yet another strike. I hear cheers from the crowd while I jog to the dugout.

We score 3 more points before 3 get out. I line up behind Jamie to give the other team high-fives. Some of the girls are crying and most are mad. I pack up my stuff before saying bye to my team and heading towards Charlie. While I'm walking a man steps in my way.

"Hi you're Cailyn Peters right?" He asks.

"Yeah." I answer.

"I'm Coach Martin, I coach the Port Angeles softball team." He says. "I would love for you to come pitch live to us before our districts."

"Sure." I say. He gives me his number and I'm finally able to walk towards Charlie. He, Billy and Jake are all waiting for me with their chairs picked up. Charlie gives me a hug when I walk up to them.

"That was some fabulous pitching." Billy says as we walk towards the parking lot.

"I can't wait to watch you guys play La Push." Jacob says. "Our team is pretty stacked too."

"You played a good game." Charlie smiles.

"Thank you." I say. "That one umpire was practically blind." Billy chuckles as Jake pushes him towards their car.

"Let's go get something to eat at the diner." Charlie says.

"I'm down." Billy says. Jake puts Billy in their car and gets into the drivers seat. Charlie and I get into ours cars and head to the diner.