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Bases Loaded 5
Tournament Day One
Practiceinthemorning goes just as planned. Coach is visibly relieved to see Taylor and me in our normal roles. Not me throwing wild pitches everywhere and her whipping the ball back to me.
Our first game is the second game of the tournament, so they keep our practice short. We can barely hear the loudspeaker on our field as the first game gets underway. Coach calls us together and gives us a pep talk, saying not to be nervous. That we earned our spot, and all those sorts of things, then sends us on the bus to the tournament field.
I’m the first one dressed. I walk around the locker room, getting a feel for the level of nervousness. It’s high and I know exactly what I have to do to get the ladies to calm down. I stand in the middle of our area of the locker room and start with my horrible voice singing. We will rock you. I sway my hips back and forth and sing louder as the girls look at me with wide eyes. Taylor walks around the corner and I catch her glance. I don’t know how, but she must have picked up on what I am trying to do. She comes and stands next to me, joining in with the singing, her voice notably better than mine. Next, several of the team members are singing, although it might be yelling. After that song, Taylor leads us right into another one. Somewhere around song three, the coach comes in and quiets us down.
It is go time. We have our usual chant and pep cheer, then we walk out of the locker room. At the entrance to the field, coach Simons stops us.
“All anyone can ask of you is that you do your best. I’m honored to be your coach. You are all a bunch of bad ass ladies. Now, let’s annihilate this team!”
The team lets out a collective cheer as we run onto the field. This is like no other field we have ever played on. The stands are like what you would see at a professional baseball stadium, and most of the seats are full. Looking around, I see the others wide eyed staring around, mouths open.
Get control of this, quickly before they start panicking.
“Listen, listen to me!” I yell at them as I wave them around. “Do not freak out! It’s about time we play a field of this size. This is our time. DO YOU HEAR ME? THIS IS OUR TIME! We have trained hard for this. We can do this! NO ONE is a team like WE are. NO ONE can play like WE can. WE EARNED OUR SPOT!” The girls all cheer and we have a massive group hug as everyone tells each other we can do it. Smiling, we pull apart and head our separate ways, and everyone runs to our dugout.
“What was that about?” Coach Simons pulls me aside as I walk in.
“Pep talk, I could see the girls were nervous with the size of this place and all the people. So, I gave them a talk.”
“I heard. Good job, captain.” She smiles at me.
“Okay ladies, we take the field first. You all know your positions. You know what to do. Play as a team and no one can stop you! Now let’s go!”
Running out of the dugout, we all head to our positions. Except for Taylor, she walks to the pitcher’s mound instead.
“A tradition from my old team was that the picture and I would stand on the mound and look over the batters, whispering and nodding to each other. It psyches the batters out.”
“Fun!” So, we stand side by side and quickly look over at the opposing team’s dugout, but instead of discussing them, I ask her. “When we get back home, would you like to come over to my place for dinner?”
“Why, captain, are you asking me out?” She leans in and nods like I’ve told her a massive secret.
“Yes, I am. Unless you want to say no, then I didn’t say anything.”
Laughing, Taylor looks at me, smacks my leg with her glove. “It’s a date. I love to cook, so let’s cook together.”
“Let’s win this game and we can plan the menu.” I say, not knowing if she can hear me as she’s walking away.
“In the bag!” She yells over her shoulder.
Taking a moment while Taylor walks to home plate, I look over the crowd. I’m looking for our team’s parents. They never miss a game and certainly wouldn’t want to miss this one. I spot them all sitting together in the stands dressed in the school colors. Looking through the parents, I spot my folks. My mom elbows my dad and points at me. I smile and touch the brim of my visor, which has become our ‘love you’ sign. Both my folks touch their visors as well, as my dad stands up, points and starts clapping. I smile and wipe a tear away.
“Hey, captain” I hear being yelled and look toward Taylor. “You want to throw a couple before we start?”
We, as a team, play beautifully. The outfield is on fire. They don’t let one fly ball hit the ground. Taylor has two impressive outs at home plate, and I strike out twelve batters. Taylor takes partial credit for that success. She said she plays a mean game of trash talk on the plate. I see the umpire crack a smile a couple of times, so I don’t doubt her words. We win seven to four, not a knockout, but at this level of players, one doesn’t expect to win by a landslide. The best play of the game goes to our shortstop Kim. A batter hits a line drive just left of her. She dives sideways and throws her arm out and catches it. When she lands, she lands flat on her side.
The team is so excited as we hit the locker room. Coach Simons has to quiet everyone down to bark out orders. “Meredith, change quickly and get to the coach’s room to get ice on that shoulder. Hurry, we don’t want it to seize up. We have another game tonight, you know. Taylor, how’s your hand? Do you need to ice it? You know what doesn’t matter? Go get ice too. Kim, how are you? Sore? We get back to the hotel. I want you in the hot tub. Okay, let’s hurry up everyone.”
In the parking lot, our parents are waiting by our bus. They all start clapping as we walk to them. We all speed up and are engulfed in hugs and praise. Our parents don’t just stop with their player, they hug everyone. Looking over, Taylor is standing on her own, off to the side. I know her grandmother who raised her isn’t able to be here due to some medical issues.
“Can I have everyone’s attention?” I yell, and it quiets down. “I’m sure you all know Erin left the team rather quickly, and that was hard, but the stars aligned, and we were able to welcome a new all-star catcher to the team. I would like to introduce Taylor to everyone. I think with her performance this morning, we can all see what an asset to the team she is.” Everyone, including the players, start clapping as two of the mom’s, one being mine, walked over and hugged her. The parents made their way through everyone, including Taylor, treating her like she has been one of us for years. Taylor is beaming.
“We need to get some of you in the hot tub so those muscles can relax. See you all this evening.” Coach Simons calls out and we start loading the bus.
After doing my roll call, I sit down next to Taylor.
