Chapter 466 CIF Quarterfinal: Northwood HS 7

Bottom of the fifth. Dave on the mound and Kelvin behind the plate. They agreed on a pitch selection then began. The batter came out swinging, connecting on the very first pitch. He blasted it over my outstretched glove, sending the ball between the gap of Zeke and Mahki.

The runner took off as our outfield chased down the ball. I ran out to play the role of cutoff man. Zeke was the first to the ball. He picked it up and threw the ball in. But not within my reach. Instead, it went straight to Noah at second base as the batter came sliding in. The throw was on point, but the runner was too fast; Noah didn't even get the chance to make the tag. A lead off double. Not a good feeling.

Noah threw the ball back to Dave on the mound. He opened his mouth to say something, but Dave immediately turned his back on him and faced home plate. Apparently, he didn't want to hear Noah's words of encouragement. Hopefully it was because he didn't need them.

The eighth batter in the lineup had previously hit a grounder to Noah so he backed up to give himself more room. I stuck a little closer to second base to prevent the runner from taking too big of a lead. Dave checked back on the runner before facing the next batter.

He threw pitches outside, trying to get the batter to swing and miss. On a 2-2 count, he suddenly threw inside, jamming the batter who couldn't stop his wife swing. The ball bounced off the small part of the bat near his hands, and rolled forward. Dave charged off the mound, barehanded the ball, and threw straight to Julian at first.

Julian caught the ball with a foot on the base for the out, but he didn't forget to watch the runner at second. Seeing no opportunity to get to third, the runner stayed. Julian threw the ball back to Dave as he got back on the mound.

Dave kicked the dirt lightly before getting set to face the ninth batter. The pitcher. Who had a line out to right field. Dave straightened himself out and got set. He glanced back at the runner, then put his attention on the batter.

Dave worked to get the pitches in good spots, but the batter kept fouling them off. Almost like I would if I wasn't hurt. Dave wiped his sweat and got reset. On a full count, he pitched away, and it looked like it was going to be ball four, but the batter swung, connected, and carried the ball to right field.

Mahki sprinted back to the fence, tracking the ball down. Standing on the warning track, with a hand against the fence, he jumped up and caught the ball before it left the park. Without missing a beat, the runner on second tagged up. Mahki took a few steps and threw his best to me. I caught it and turned around to see the runner making it to third. Unwilling to risk an error, I threw the ball back to Dave on the mound. Dave was frowning.

"Two outs! One to go!" Noah clapped his glove a few times.

"Two outs!" Most of the team echoed.

Dave gripped the ball and got back on the rubber. Jason became stationary at third, trying to prevent the runner from trying anything like a stolen base. Noah shifted over to cover more ground and I backed up, heels on the grass.

Dave ended up not needing us to end this. He struck out the lead off man on three straight fastballs. He didn't waver for a second. It was almost like he was daring the batter to try and get a hit. At the end of the fight, he roared and pumped his fist as he walked up to Kelvin. We all jogged back to the dugout, patting him on the back as we passed him up.

"I think my heart almost stopped." Garret claimed as we all got settled in the dugout. He started to put on his helmet and batting gloves. "If it wasn't for Mahki, we might have been down a run with only two innings left."

"Hey!" Dave yelled. "It was still catchable!!"

Mahki snorted.

"Zip it." Zeke spoke up, putting his own helmet on. "We still have a game to finish."

"I don't want to hear that from someone who is 0-2 at the plate today!" Dave continued to be loud. "I'm doing all this work on the mound and can't even get an inch of breathing room."

Zeke looked down at his younger brother. Dave stood defiantly. For two seconds before looking away. Zeke then walked out to go stand in the on deck circle.

Garret hurried up and ran out as well since he would bat before Zeke.

"Wow, you have guts Dave." Noah snickered as Dave sat down near us.

"I didn't say anything wrong!" Dave defended himself. "He's the one not carrying that MVP title today. So far, it's me. I have a shut out going."

"Dave. You're done. Go get checked over by Drew." Coach came over to tell him.

"What?!" Dave hollered. He was a one man show. He jumped over and sprinted to Coach. "I'm good though! I can keep going and complete this game!"

"There's no need to force it." Coach told him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "You did well. Now take a break. You've been susceptible to quite a few injuries this season. Go get stretched by Drew." His eyes narrowed. "I won't tell you again."

Dave hung his head and went to the corner where Drew was waiting.

"Kelvin." Coach found him on the bench. "Take off the gear. You'll bat if you get up, but you won't be going back in. Alex will be going in with Brian."

Kelvin didn't argue like Dave. He just took off his gear and watched as our team started another round of offense.

Garret was first up. And...first out. He hit a hard grounder; too bad it went right to the third baseman or it could have easily been a hit.

Zeke was up next. On paper, it did look like he was having a bad game since he didn't have a hit yet, but both of his at-bats were lineouts. He's making good contact...it's just in reach of the fielders. The pitcher definitely put in more effort and speed when facing Zeke. He started with low and away for a ball. 1-0. Then high and inside for ball two. 2-0. Low and inside for a called strike. 2-1. He had amazing placement. The fourth pitch looked like a breaking ball, but it was too hard to tell after Zeke batted it away.

Everyone in our dugout jumped up and watched as the ball soared over the outfield and then the fence.

"Yes!!"

"Woo-hoo!"

"Dave had awaken the beast!!"

Zeke ran the bases at a steady pace and came back to the dugout greeted by the cheers and claps of our team. The crowd was buzzing just behind us as they added another point to the scoreboard. 2-0.

We didn't tack on anymore runs this inning. Mahki hit a slow grounder between first and second. The first baseman sprinted to the ball, then flipped it to the pitcher who beat Mahki to first. Kelvin ended our offense with a grounder to short.

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