Small Victories (1)

Linus came into the dugout and was immediately surrounded by the other kids on his team as they all started crowding around him, offering fist bumps and pats on the back.

"Hey, nice one, man!" one of the older boys said, grinning as he bumped Linus's fist.

"Yeah, didn't expect that, but hey, we'll take it!" another chimed in, laughing.

Linus couldn't help but laugh along with them, even though he still felt like he didn't fully understand what had just happened. Sure, he had swung at the ball — and yeah, it made contact — but what happened after that was a blur. He turned to Liam, who had just jogged into the dugout after him, still looking composed as ever. Linus furrowed his brow, trying to wrap his head around the situation.

"Okay, seriously though, what just happened?" Linus asked, his tone genuine but laced with confusion. "I thought they were going to throw the ball to first to get me out. But then somehow the catcher ended up with the ball behind home plate, and I'm just... lost."

Liam stopped as he was about to grab his catcher's gear, turning to Linus with an amused smile. He placed his hands on his hips for a moment, clearly enjoying this.

"Yeah, that was a bit of a mess, huh?" Liam said with a chuckle before explaining, "So after your, uh… let's call it a 'creative' hit, the third baseman picked up the ball. He was a little slow, though, and since he was already facing home plate, he decided to try and stop the runner from scoring instead of going for you at first."

Linus nodded, still not fully understanding how that made sense.

"But why didn't he just throw it to first? I thought I was the easy out," Linus pressed, frowning.

"Well that might have been true, but you came out running pretty fast," Liam said with a shrug. "So the third baseman probably thought it would have been easier to make the play at home plate instead. — well, he tried to."

"Tried?" Linus repeated.

Liam smirked. "Yeah, the runner on third had a big lead, and he was really close to home, so he decided to do an underhand throw — you know, to get the ball there faster. But he ended up throwing it way too hard, and it sailed over the catcher's head. The ball bounced back to the wall, and our runner easily crossed the plate. The guy from second was thinking about going for it too, but he saw the catcher grab the ball quickly, so he stopped at third."

Linus slowly understood, thinking that all the things Liam said made sense with what he had seen himself.

Liam laughed and lightly bumped Linus in the chest with his fist. "But hey, a hit is a hit, no matter how ugly." He chuckled again, heading back to his bag to start putting on his catcher's gear. "But seriously, man, nice work. Not bad for your first time. You even got an RBI."

"RBI?" Linus asked, tilting his head. It felt like there were always new terms to learn in this game.

"Run Batted In," Liam explained as he adjusted his shin guards. "It means you helped a runner score with your hit. Doesn't matter how you did it, just that it brought the runner home."

"Oh," Linus said, nodding slowly as he felt a small surge of pride. Even if it had been pure luck, he had still contributed to the team in some way. That felt good — better than he had expected.

As the boys went back out onto the field, preparing to defend again. Linus grabbed his glove, taking a deep breath as he followed his teammates out.

The third inning was about to begin, and Linus found himself stationed back in right field. As he stood there, waiting for the action to unfold, his mind wandered. Baseball, he thought, was both simple and complicated at the same time. Sure, it had a lot of stop-and-start moments, and the rules could be hard to keep track of, but for now, his role seemed clear: either catch any balls coming his way or throw them to one of the bases. And, of course, hit the ball when it was his turn to bat. That was simple enough, at least for today.

The rest of the game passed by quickly. Linus got another chance to bat in the fourth inning, but this time, he struck out. He frowned in disappointment, but no one seemed to give him a hard time about it — just a few encouraging words from his teammates and a reassuring pat on the back from Liam.

Out in right field, Linus didn't need to do anything too special either. Two balls made it past the first and second basemen, and all Linus had to do was retrieve them and toss them back to 2nd base. Easy enough.

As the game moved into the sixth inning,Liam told Linus that this would be the last inning. His team was up 4-2, and unless they lost the lead, they wouldn't bat again. Linus watched from his spot in the outfield, a strange mix of relief and disappointment settled over him.

With two outs and a runner on second, the batter from the opposing team stepped up and hit a ball farther than anyone had hit all game. It sailed high, heading straight in Linus's direction. His heart pounded as he took a few steps back, his eyes locked on the ball. The sunlight wasn't in his eyes and he could see the ball clearly the whole, and that gave him the confidence he needed.

The ball began its descent, and Linus steadied himself, reaching up with his glove. The sound of the ball landing safely in his mitt echoed around him. He stood there for a moment, relieved that he hadn't dropped it and smiled.

The game was over.