Chapter 2- The Game

We just won the championship game in the national tournament and I was one of the youngest players in our team well actually I was also the only girl in the team. I throw some wicked curve balls so I was the pitcher in our team anyway my teammates and I were walking when we got to the park where some college students are playing.

We were watching when the ball went to our place and Jason one of my teammates caught it at ease and threw it back at them.

They saw us and started walking towards our direction they looked at us smirking and laughing.

“Dude, are you not those students who just won the tournament?” one of the guys asked

“Yes that’s us.” Jason replied.

“How big of a pussy are you guys to let a girl pitch for your team?”

“Hey don’t talk like that, Alex is a great pitcher” Max said.

My teammates all said “Yeah”

“If not for her we won’t be able to win. I bet none of you could bat any of her pitches!” Jason boasted.

“What did you say?! You really think you kids can beat us?!”

Our team was just looking at them and the tension is really getting thick so I decided to but in.

“Come on guys there is no need to pick a fight now, let’s go” I said trying to pull them away from the older guys because they smell trouble.

“That is right listen to her. Be a pussy and go! “The older guy said making his teammates laugh and chuckle except the guy in the catcher’s gear who was shaking his head disapprovingly but they don’t seem to notice him, of course their last remark made Max angry he is not known for being patient he's well known for being hot headed so almost all of our schoolmates who are not close to him always walk on eggshell when talking to him.

“Alex come on. We always walk away are you not tired of this people treating you like shit? I mean yes you are a girl and I know you don’t need to prove yourself to worthless shit like them but let us at least defend yours and our pride” He said

“Max you know that if coach hears about this we will be in so much trouble.” I said disapprovingly.

“What will coach do? Remove us in the team? He doesn’t need to know besides the tournament was just finished. It’s impossible if he won’t let us play next year.” Max argued.

“Max is right. At least let us defend our pride” Jason said.

I looked at the other teams and saw that they are really eager to play.

“Alright but we keep this game to ourselves. Don’t let coach hear about this or else he will make our training worse than hell.” I said

We looked at them and walked towards the middle of the field.

“What are the terms?’’ I asked

“So your letting the princess speak for you” Said one of the guys mockingly.

“3 innings, the team who losses has to do what the winning team dares.” He said

“What if the loser team decides not to do the dare? How do we make sure that they do it?” I asked skeptically.

“Well for one we are not going to lose. Besides we do not turn our back to our words.” He said proudly.

We all huddled in a circle with me and Gareth (according to his teammates) in the middle about to do a flip coin.

“Heads” I said and he tossed the coin. The coin dropped and with heads facing us.

“Field’ I said confidently. We went to the other waiting shed because they were occupying the other and got our things.

“How do we do this? Same position as the other games or do you want to shuffle?” I asked

“Same as the other games” Max said.

We went to the field and started to do a little warm up. We threw balls did a little stretch and did some drills. After 30 minutes we heard Gareth shout.

“Hey that is enough nonsense! Are we going to play or what?!” He said demandingly I signaled the others to get ready and go to their respective positions.

This is it. I thought to myself as I face the first batter smirking at me proudly to say I’m pissed at them is an understatement.

I looked at the pitcher which is Gareth, he looked so pissed we had been playing for a while now and this is the bottom of second inning with a score of 4-15. Yes they are that bad, they have big mouth some of the teams during the tournament was way better than them even though they are in college level.

I guess Gareth, the catcher and the other 2 on their team can be considered great players but the rest of them are not that good making their team sloppy and uncoordinated which works on our advantage..

Just before I stepped in the batter’s box and I looked at their catcher.

“Are you sure you don’t want to borrow our helmet?” I asked worried because the one he is using was mostly used by umpires. It was only protecting his face but not his head.

“Yeah I’m sure I don’t like that helmet it’s just too heavy for my liking thanks for the offer though and sorry about Gareth he can be a jerk sometimes.” He said apologetically.

I smiled at him and nodded a little like I’m saying I understand, well at least not all of them are jerks, I stepped in the box and positioned.

I raised the bat bend my knees looked the pitcher and concentrated.

He threw the ball and I hit it as hard as I could which went out the field so it’s a foul. The catcher signaled a time out and went to Gareth.

When they came back to their position I positioned myself as well.

He threw the ball again and this time it was not as fast as the first ball he threw. I swung again but unfortunately the ball was so slow that the bat and ball didn’t even make contact.

So they realized my weakness was actually slow ball. I thought. With 2 strikes and no balls they have a total advantage.

I positioned myself again this time he threw the ball and I can see it clearly, it is definitely a drop ball which means it will drop at the plate. I was at the back so I made a wider stride as I swing the bat.

*PAK*

The loud impact was heard and it all happened quickly. I was supposed to run but when I looked down the plate I saw the catcher lying face down. I looked at the bat I was holding and there was blood!

My teammates shouted and Gareth ran towards us! He saw what happened to his catcher not a second later he grabbed my shirt and raised me on the backstop!

“What the fuck did you do?!” He shouted. I was so shocked that I can’t move or do anything he dropped me and gave me a punch in the face I fell down you must think I was hurt but to be honest I don’t feel anything I feel numb I was looking at the catcher lying on the plate, “Is he dead?” I wondered

I saw Max and Jason pull Gareth and punched him as well I can only watch them I crawled towards the plate where the catcher was lying I looked at him and saw blood flowing I felt numb and I just sat there crying as I looked at the man bleeding I don’t even know if he was alive or dead and I’m not sure I want to know with the amount of blood I am looking at now.

It felt like hours passed but in reality it had been a couple of minutes before the police came and separated my teammates and the other team from the fight they were having and we all went to the station except for the catcher who was taken by the ambulance.