449 Game @ Servite (9) (1/2)

Bottom of the sixth. Coach stood with Garret for an extra second before sending him out. Garret had the same vacant look upon his face, but at least he would get to start with the bottom of their lineup. Maybe we could get another inning out of him and best case scenario, he finishes out the game.

Garret got off to a good start, getting batter seven to hit a routine grounder to me for the first out.

Batter eight proved to be more difficult to deal with. It was a left-handed batter that already got a single off Garret in the fourth inning. Garret's struggles with lefty's continued to show as clear as day. The lefty took advantage of his struggles, hitting a double down the left field line. He safely reached second.

A sense of dread washed over me.

"Next one, next one!" Noah yelled.

I fixed my posture. Yea, there wasn't much that could be done about the past. Noah was facing forward, so should I.

Batter nine was the new pitcher; I guess they wanted him to pitch the next inning. The...last inning. Our last chance. I shook my head trying to stay in the present.

Garret was able to get this righty to strike out swinging, looking almost like his normal self. It was just an illusion though. As the leadoff batter came up for his fourth at-bat, Garret's pitches kept missing the strike zone. He walked him on four straight pitches. Thinking back, this guy had also gotten a hit off Garret so maybe he got nervous.

With runners on first and second, with two outs, the second batter stepped up. He had a strikeout, groundout, and a fly out. Very diverse. I wanted to laugh to myself, but couldn't. That player chose that moment to hit a single right up the middle. Neither Noah or I could get to it, leaving it up to Zeke in center field as the Servite players took off.

Zeke came sprinting in, not wasting any extra movements, he scooped up the ball and threw it above our heads. He was going home. I whipped my head around to look at home plate. The runner or the ball...which would arrive first?

The ball landed in Alex's mitt and he swung around to make the tag play as the runner came barreling in. I held my breath as they collided. Alex and the Servite player rolled in the dirt.

"Safe!" The umpire pointed at the baseball in the dirt before extending his arms; he sent the crowd in a frenzy with his declaration.

Garret quickly picked up the ball and threw the ball to Jason at third as the runner from first had advanced. Didn't matter. He was safe as well. The batter didn't move from first, satisfied with his RBI single.

"Time, ump." Garret said before bending down to help Alex up.

"Time!" The umpire lifted his arms in motion for everyone to see.

Soon, Coach came out and joined Garret and Alex by home plate. The two helped Alex move around, but it was obvious for everyone to see: he was hurting. It wasn't long before Drew joined the trio. They escorted him to the dugout before there was movement in the bullpen. Coach had made the call for a catcher to come down.

I heard Kelvin was getting back to good so I was surprised when Mitchell came out instead. We didn't interact much or at all; I only knew he was a sophomore and was previously on the JV team with Alex. He could possibly be next year's starting catcher since Kelvin and Alex would be graduating.

Garret and Mitchell met on the mound for a few seconds before the umpire came up to break it up. Garret asked him for a few pitches with the new catcher and his request was granted. Garret was abled to use this time to calm down while Mitchell warmed up. It was a good combo. The third batter came up, only just to hit a short fly to Mahki in left field to end the inning. 3-5, down by two, what to do?

Everyone sprinted to the dugout. This would be the last inning. We're on the edge.

Noah and I hurried to put on our helmets. He was tugging on his batting gloves as Zeke came into the dugout.

"Listen up." Zeke commanded the dugout, grabbing everyone's attention. Tanner stopped in his tracks from leaving. He was supposed to leadoff, but how could he leave when Zeke was talking. "This is it, team." Zeke made eye contact with everyone. "We either make it a comeback or the season ends here. Let's give it one last push. Get on base, advance the runners, do your best."

Zeke lifted a clench fist. "Win!"