Chapter 22: Rockvale VS Nolensville

Layla Smith P.O.V

Since the beginning of the day I have been thinking about Stephen's first game I know it means a lot to him, I could see how excited he was on the ride back home yesterday. When I asked him if he was planning to finally tell his dad he just said that he didn't know yet with a wry smile and it was when I saw that smile that a voice in my head started saying 'You should be there for him' on repeat.

So I called my Grandfather to ask him if he wanted to go but sadly he couldn't since a friend from Washington was in town to see him then I asked my mother but she had work to do and of course, I couldn't ask my father even if he had apologized about his behavior and that he didn't mean what he said I wouldn't ask him to see a baseball game were Stephen was playing or any baseball game for that matter since I got to know that my dad was not a really big fan of the sports 

Not knowing why I was going to such lengths just to see a practice game I asked the only person who could still help me, Aria. When she accepted and told me to get ready I started panicking because I wasn't ready at all. So I ran toward my room to get ready which startled my Mother

''What are you doing such in a hurry'' asked my Mom

''Aria is coming to pick me up for the game hey, Mom what do you think I should be wearing for the game'' I asked her since she surely had gone see her boyfriend at one or two of his games back then

'' Aria? Is she one of the new friends you made in the past week and you should wear something comfortable and bring a hoodie or jacket just in case'' said my mother with a smile

''Yes she is also Stephen's cousin, alright thank you'' I said before climbing the stairs

20 minutes later I was waiting outside the house for Aria after she texted me that she was almost there not long after a grey car stopped right beside me and the window on the passenger side rolled down showing a smiling Aria sitting on the passenger seat

''Layla, come on in if we don't hurry we won't be able to eat before the game'' said Aria

''Aria, why don't you sit in the back with your friend? said the beautiful woman driving the car 

''Oh that's a good idea'' said Aria stepping out of the car and climbing in the back while keeping the door open for me to enter

''So did you tell Stephen that you were coming'' asked me Aria 

''No I didn't tell him anything ...I wasn't sure if I would be able to go before asking you for a ride'' I said while shaking my head

''And by the way Layla, this is my Aunty Catherine, Stephens's mother and Aunty this is Layla my friend'' said Aria pointing to the lady who was driving

''N...n... nice to meet you Ms. Smith'' I said getting shy without knowing why

''Nice to meet you, Layla so you decided to come cheer for my son. You are a good friend hehe'' Stephen's Mother said 

''Ah no... I mean yes ... I will cheer for him'' I said still shy from earlier

''Don't be nervous Layla Aunty is a nice person outside of school she isn't our Principal but just Stephen's mother and the best Aunty in the world hehe'' said Aria laughing

''Nice try young girl but that won't get you more ice cream I'm afraid haha'' laughed Ms. Smith

''Was I not acting cute enough?'' asked Aria to no one in particular

Their banter finally helped me relax enough to talk normally the ride to Rockvale took an hour our talk during the ride mostly revolved around Stephen Aria would tell story about their childhood and Ms. Smith would add details here and there. The Stephen they were talking about was completely foreign to me so I soon began asking questions and without knowing we were already in a restaurant parking lot near Rockvale High School

Terrence P.O.V (Head Coach of Nolensville Knights)

In the bus 15 minutes away from Rockvale High School I decided to talk to the boys since when we arrived at school we would get 30 minutes to eat and then 15 minutes of warm-up before the game begins

''BOYS, attention on me, please ...Thank you!'' I yelled standing up on the aisle 

''I know I already told you about the lineup yesterday I just want to remind you that I plan to let the game play itself even if you make mistakes I won't take you out of the game this is a practice game and I hope that you take this chance to show what you are made of. The only thing that changed is that I also put Tanner in the lineup, so except for our new teammates here every pitcher will get a chance to pitch today'' I said looking at Stephen

''Coach can you not put more salt on the wound please'' said Stephen with a wry smile which made everybody laugh 

''Haha sorry sorry, I needed a scapegoat to let everyone relax hehe. Moving on, I want to see clean baseball don't yell at refs, and stay calm it's only a practice game there's no need to get worked up if you all play like in practice we will win this game I have no doubt about it and more importantly ... have fun in there, alright that's all we are almost there so pack your thing and don't rush when stepping out of the bus'' I said sitting back into my seat with my assistant by my side, Rick Boon

'' Are you sure about this Terry, when Stephen starts next week's game with the first string Antony will feel like he isn't the Ace anymore that could be a problem'' Whispered Boon in my ear

''Listen, with how Antony had been acting recently I didn't have a choice to put Stephen with the regular team at least once before the start of the season'' I said

''But don't you think that doing this could make things worse'' said Boon

''I know but, Antony is in his last year here I really don't want to do this but you saw it just like me for the last week his pitches have been worse and worse it's almost at the point of where he was when he first entered the club if he can't get a hold of himself his teammates will lose confidence in him and I won't have a choice to make the best decision for the team I hope that by doing this something will snap in him and he will come back to his sense, I know its a bet but we do not have a lot of choices here, sigh'' I said with a tired sigh at the end

''Tsk, I know that seeing Stephen pitching made him feel the pressure but I do not understand how there can be such a difference between him and Caden, if Stephen hadn't shown up next year Ace would have been Caden but instead of being worse his pitches got better'' said Boon clicking his tongue

''Well, unlike Antony who barely talks with Stephen, Caden is always talking with him I even told them on breaks to work on their pitching motion, if nothing changes in this game we will need to have a talk with him and Jalen'' I said

''Why Jalen?'' asked Boon

''Sometimes hearing your problem from a friend and the men you trust the most on the field has more impact'' I said thinking back to my younger days

Stephen Rose P.O.V 

As soon as we stepped out of the bus and saw the baseball field in front of him a wave of different emotions crashed on me, now I could feel it this was real I would play on a baseball team with my friends and teammates, I could feel adrenaline running throughout all of my body I was so pumped up that I wish we could hope onto the field right away

''Hehe so how are we feeling now 'Kong Lion' '' asked my new friend and teammate Caden

''Hehe better than ever and I told you to stop calling me that, it's so cringe. Seriously couldn't you guys come up with something better for my nickname '' I asked with a wry smile

'' What are you talking about you hit balls like King Kong and the ball you are throwing roars when they come at me, this nickname has been approved by unanimity, you are lucky I wanted to call you princess bomb but Jalen shut me down hahaha'' said Caden laughing at me

'' I will pray for your future children in advance'' I said joining hands in a prayer gesture

''Shut up hahaha let's get our bag we have 20 minutes to eat then we need to get changed'' said Caden playfully punching my arm

After a light meal, we went inside the locker room for the visitor team and started changing ourselves since it was an away game we were wearing black tops paired with white pants and a blue belt, blue and white socks, and a blue cap with a shield and sword logo on it. I must say blue wasn't my favorite color but I was looking sharp I thought looking at myself in the mirror bathroom pouring cold water on my face to calm myself 

After entering the field for our warmup we began playing catch in pairs and I was so out of it that I missed a ball Caden threw and received it directly in the middle of my chest which made most of my teammates laugh this also allowed me to snap out of my daze and start warming up seriously, I couldn't let my emotions affect me like this I thought.

After our warm-up, we went back to the locker room to let the home team warm themself up too and as we were waiting Terry came up to us for a last talk before the game

''Alright kids after talking with Boon on our way here we finally decided on the final batting lineup I just gave our sheets to the student commentator here I didn't know there would be a commentator on a practice game but it seems we aren't the only one needing practice hehe ok enough about that here is the batting order'' Coach said while giving the sheet to Jason first who then start passing it around until it came to me

1st batter-Jason Davis

2nd batter-Mike Freeman

3rd batter-Chase Riggs

4th batter-Stephen Rose

5th batter-Ryan Hendrickson

6th batter-Nathan Stein

7th batter-Ashton Dunsworth

8th batter-Mason Sweeney

9th batter-Dylan Bo

Not long after everybody looked at the batting order a light knock was heard on the door and a young boy said that it was time for the game to start. We made a huddle in the middle of the locker room and Jalen screamed 

''1,2,3 Knights for the win'' After the countdown we all shouted with him then started walking to the visitor dugout with our bags after having put down our things we all formed a line in front of our dugout and waited for the American national anthem to start looking at the stand I could see that even if was a practice game quite a bit of people were there, of course, the majority of people where here to root for the home team but then right behind our dugout I spotted my Mom, Aria and to my utter surprised Layla.

Aria and Layla both waved at me with a smile but when my Mom saw me looking in her direction she stood up and stretched her t-shirt so that I could read what was written on it 'You won't win against my son peasant, my son is a Knight'... omg Mom I need to tell her to never wear this again or the guys won't stop teasing me but it's then that I heard Caden trying really hard not to laugh his shoulder were trembling and he was biting his bottom lip so hard that I suspected it was now bleeding

''I'm screwed aren't I'' I said loud enough for him to hear when the anthem finally end

'' Hahahahaha you bet that's the most hilarious thing I've seen in my life God I need to get one for my mother too hahaha this is gold'' said Caden laughing his ass off

After returning to our dugout my teammates started wearing their batting gloves and put on their helmets I did the same thing while we were preparing ourselves the opponent pitcher was pitching a couple of more balls with his catcher I made sure to observe him. His balls weren't on the level I was hoping for maybe a little bit better than James but clearly worse than Tanner, the speed of his fastball looked to be in the low 80s and I didn't see his breaking pitch yet but if he makes the mistake to throw that kind of fastball to me this ball is as good as gone I thought before turning around and telling my observation to my teammates Jason who was also looking at the pitcher agreed with me than we start talking about tactics before we got interrupted by the coach telling us that the game was starting 

Jason was the first to bat he let the first two pitches pass by him one was a slider and the other one I wasn't sure about since the angle I had from here wasn't really good the count was 1-1 but Jason seemed eager to hit because, on the very next pitch, he swung with all his might, sadly he hit a line drive directly into the 3rd baseman glove for the first out of the inning

We all told him to not mind before we focused on the next hitter Mike took his place and hit the first pitch the pitcher threw at him he made contact but it was a short hit right in front of the first baseman he scooped the ball and then stepped on the base getting Mike out

again we all told him to not mind after having said that I made my way toward the on-deck circle since I was the next batter I started warming up while looking at the opponent pitcher I would match my swing with his pitches so as to have a little feel on the timing of his ball when Chase was 2-2 in the count he hit a hard long drive right on the foul line behind the 3rd base resulting in a double

I felt my heart going crazy when walked into the batter's box since the pitcher was right-handed I chose to hit from the left, it is easier to hit a breaking ball coming toward you than hitting it when it's going away from you I left the first pitch pass by to have a feel of course if it would have been a fastball down the middle I would have just blasted that shit I thought

The second pitch was breaking toward me and would hit me if I didn't move but I didn't want to go on base for the first time with a hit-by-pitch so I ducked by jumping back, I took a deep breath and then stepped back into the batter box. His third pitch was way too low bringing the count to 2-1 his fourth pitch was really better but the umpire decided that it was a strike well better not to let too much low ball pass this ref seems to think that I am 5'7 I thought

When I saw his next pitch coming toward me I could feel my blood burning with the desire to hit this ball, I could feel it this was the ball I was waiting for a fastball in the left upper corner of the plate a little bit outside of the strike zone but with the reach I had with my long arms it was as good as a strike for me and with a sharp rotation of my body put my bat on the trajectory of the ball 

-PANG

'Like the sound of a thunderclap' I thought while looking at the ball soaring into the sky I didn't even try to run at full speed I could feel it this ball was crushed so hard that even the kids waiting behind the fence would have to run farther to catch it when turning around the third base I could hear my teammates cheering and Caden the loudest of them screaming

''LET'S GO KONG LION THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT''

And for the first time since They had come up with this nickname I wasn't hating it or maybe I was just too happy to care about it. The rest of the game was a roller coaster Antony gave up 8 runs in the first two innings before Coach switched him for Caden Lucky for us I was dialed in offensively throughout the game and everyone in the batting lineup had a pretty good game I ended up with 4 for 4 with 3 HR, 1 double and 8 RBI once Caden took over he didn't allow a single run and Tanner who act as the closer for the 6th and 7th inning made quick work of the opposite team, it was sad for James to miss his chance to pitch but the game was to close to risk it and even if it was only a practice game nobody like to lose.

The final score was 10-8 for us a close win and with the face Terry was making I was sure there was a lot he wanted to say but now was not the time

''Pack your things and take a good day off tomorrow if your parents came to see the game there's no need for you to take the bus back to school with us, good game boys see you on Monday'' said Terry before turning around with Coach Boon in tow