Mayfield Magic

                   

CHAPTER-24

 

FRIDAY, JULY 31

BASEBRAWL-DAY 4. NO MERCY

 

 

 

The house phones in the Goats’ six bedrooms all rang simultaneously at 6:30. All 18 boys were soundly sleeping, even Aiden, and let out a collective moan at the insistent ringing of their house phones. The same was happening in the six Surrey rooms since the Mounties had an 8:30 start as well.

 

Despite the early hour and their desire to hide under their covers for another hour or two (or three) the desire to play baseball finally woke the Goats up. They showered solo, in pairs, and in three rooms all three boys showered together. (Skip, Lenny, Riley; Aiden, Nolan, Mason; Warren, Tommy, Asher). While a couple of erections popped up, the boys were too tired and too into baseball to do anything about them, with the exception of Asher who squirted over Warren’s smooth butt cheeks, more because of the close contact than from intent. Plus, breakfast was waiting, and they wanted to eat and get to the sports park.

 

Aiden was one of those who didn’t sprout a boner. He was too upset with himself for not being able to find his zone and showering with two sexy boys wasn’t helping the matter; his cock remained dead. Aiden headed to breakfast with Nolan and Mason.

 

“Hey, Aiden,” Cal greeted as he sat across the table from Aiden. The resort had set up a breakfast buffet because of the differing starting times of the teams. Since the Goats and the Mounties were both in the winners’ bracket they had 8:30 games. Tucson and St. George, Utah had lost their games the evening before, which meant they were out of the main tournament and in the consolation tournament. They would be playing at noon. The bad news was they would be playing each other and the loser of that game would be completely out of the BaseBrawl tournament.

 

“Hey, Cal,” Aiden grumped as he dug into his stack of pancakes.

 

“Are you ready to show those Torrance dudes who their daddy is?”

 

“Not really. I just can’t get focused.”

 

“Fuck focusing. Just go out and pitch and have a little fun.”

 

“I do have fun when I can get my mind focused.”

 

Cal shook his head. “You worry too much. I just go out and pitch and let my catcher do all the worrying.”

 

Aiden took another bite of pancakes and said nothing until he’d swallowed. “Everybody does it different.”

 

“And a good thing. It would be boring if we didn’t.”

 

Aiden had loved Cal’s positive attitude, even when Cal was his opposing pitcher. He always had a sparkling look on his face, even when he was totally serious. Aiden wasn’t sure how he did that. It was that attitude that made Aiden happy when Cal was chosen to be a pickup pitcher. However, at the moment that sparkly persona was becoming tiresome to him. He went back to eating his breakfast in silence when Riley, Lenny, Grant, Lance, Skip, and Max entered. 

 

Lenny pointed at Riley and said, “Guess who’s a teenager today?”

 

Riley blushed and tried unsuccessfully to duck behind Lenny, but his boyfriend who was bigger and stronger held him out in the open. Mason, of course, led everybody in the singing of “Happy Birthday.”

 

Aiden stopped eating long enough to sing along with his teammates; he almost grinned during the singing. Riley turning thirteen meant that he had become a teenager without yet sprouting pubic hairs. Aiden realized he was not alone. He then went back to finishing his breakfast, ignoring the conversation around him, before saying he had to go upstairs to brush his teeth and get his equipment bag. He left the dining room without acknowledging anyone.

 

“Is he always that way before a game?” Cal asked after Aiden left. Cal knew Nolan was Aiden’s boyfriend and Gordy was his best friend and figured they could tell him more about why Aiden had become so moody. “You don’t have to tell me, but Aiden’s become my best Goat friend since I joined the team. I’ve never seen him like this, and I want to help him if I can.”

 

Gordy and Nolan said they were willing to answer whatever they could. The three of them were now alone in the dining room.

 

“I’ve seen him cranky at times when we’ve done Skype or Facetime, but hardly ever when we’ve been together,” Nolan said. “But, this is the first time we’ve been on a team together.”

 

“He could get pretty moody and cranky when he first got into this ‘being in a zone’ business,” Gordy answered. “But during the last couple of league games and through the playoffs he became very focused before games and would clam up and not want to be bothered but was never sulky like this. Like I said, he didn’t talk a lot, but he was still the Aiden we all love.”

 

“With him being here in California so far away from home he’s so far out of his game zone he doesn’t know how to find it,” Nolan said. “I’ve been thinking about talking to his pop about him, cuz I’ve tried and haven’t gotten anywhere talking to Aiden. But it’s kind of late now with us having to be on the bus in fifteen minutes.”

 

That was a hint for them to put their dishes into one of the dirty dishes tubs and get their gear. On the way out they passed Zach and Paulo of the Sun Kings who were arriving.

 

“Hey, good luck guys. Kick their fucking asses,” Zach said.

 

“Thanks,” Nolan said. “You guys are up kind of early, aren’t you?”

 

“We couldn’t sleep. We’re totally bummed about being two and out.”

 

“It bums me out, too. You’re a bunch of good guys and fun to play and I wish you were still in it. And damn, Paulo, you’re one hell of a shortstop. You almost beat us single handedly with your glove.”

 

“Yeah, but almost doesn’t count in the final score.”

 

“Well at least you still have the consolation tournament,” Gordy said.

 

“Which isn’t exciting a lot of peeps,” Zach told him. “We’re gonna have a meeting about doing the best we can in that tournament and not have the season end in three games. Coaches might be doing some ass kicking since some guys are bitching about having to play games that don’t count for shit. I plan on getting on a couple of asses myself.” Zach was the team captain.

 

“From the way you play I have feeling you guys are going to do your own ass kicking today,” Nolan said. “I mean, Utah might be staying here, and they seem like nice enough guys, but they’ve been keeping to themselves the whole time. You guys are, like, totally friendly. Anyway, kick ass. We gotta go.”

 

Teeth were quickly brushed, gear was gathered, and Nolan, Gordy, and Cal were on the bus barely on time. Nolan knew that the two pickup pitchers being late wouldn’t look good and was happy Mr. Reliable Gordy was with them.

 

 

 

As the bus headed for the Mission Sports Park, the Goat players speculated as to how the Bulldogs players would act. The Goats knew Torrance would have to tone things down some because of the amount of visible adult authority that would be at or around the field, but they might still give out subtle jabs.

 

“You guys gotta get those assholes out of your heads,” Cal said to those around him. “You’re letting them take over your thinking, which has got you beat before the first pitch.”

 

Even though the Mayfield players resented Cal making those comments as an outsider, they also knew he was right. Trent put things in perspective. “Cal’s right, dudes. Cal shouldn’t be the one to have to say those things. It should be me or Scott as team captains. I don’t know how Scott feels, but I know I’ve been thinking like Cal describes. I seem to give more of a shit about the crap they’re saying to us and not enough about the baseball we gotta play to beat them.”

 

The conversation ended when Mrs. Emerson parked the bus in the bus zone and turned off the engine. The Goats stood up and disembarked in their usual organized chaos.

 

The teams went through their regular pregame rituals of warm up and taking infield practice. The Goats had been assigned to the first base dugout and had the field first for infield. For the most part the Bulldogs were quiet while the Goats took infield, with a few disparaging remarks slipping through when a player thought he had a good chance of getting away with it. What they didn’t do was hide their disdain for their opponent by sending looks of contempt their way anytime they could.

 

Aiden warmed up with Mac, who would be his catcher, in the first base bullpen. Aiden wasn’t feeling much better than he had during the night, even after eating a breakfast of pancakes and bacon. He knew he was being governed by fear and he couldn’t find a way to get around it. His usual mental tactics weren’t working. Instead of being in his zone, his mind was a jumble. Mac could sense the difference in Aiden’s demeanor and worked hard to send encouraging words his way. Mac knew that Aiden didn’t have his good stuff and what he was throwing wasn’t going to get past a mediocre team, let alone a powerhouse like the Torrance Bulldogs.

 

Tournament director Robert Perez had informed the coaches of the four early morning games that the umpires would be holding their home plate meeting between twenty and fifteen minutes before game time to allow time for the teams to line up on their foul lines for the singing of the morning’s two patriotic songs.

 

The Goats game was scheduled on Field 1, so Mason, who was slated to meet with Quinn in the press box at eight, could go directly there to get set up to sing “America the Beautiful.” He was joined by Samuel Carter, a sophomore music student at San Diego State University, who would be singing “God Save the King”, the Royal Anthem of Canada.

 

As Mason left for the press box, his teammates crowded around him giving him shouts of encouragement. Mason was both pleased and embarrassed by the attention. The Bulldog players wondered what the fuss was about and why the pesky little Mayfield blond who was popping up everywhere was going up to the press box.

 

When the time came for the home plate meeting, Coach Hallion and his two captains, Scott and Trent, came to the plate representing the Yard Goats. Coach Parker along with his regular captain Carl Floyd and his captain of the day, LeBron Redding, represented the Bulldogs.

 

The introductions were made. The captains shook the coaches’ hands first then the Goats extended their hands for the Bulldog captains to shake. While LeBron shook hands with Scott and Trent, Carl kept his hand to his side and simply said, “No Mercy.” Coach Parker fought off a grin while LeBron glared at his teammate. He knew the snub was going to happen and didn’t like it, but he felt there wasn’t much he could do about it.

 

The umpires wondered what the refusal to shake hands was about and hoped it didn’t portend trouble during the game. It was time for the coinflip. Since Mayfield had traveled the longest distance to the game, they got to call the flip. Trent and Scott had already agreed that Scott would call the flip. Scott decided that because of the bad vibes generated by the Torrance team, he would skip his “tails never fails line” and simply called, “Tails!” The coin came down heads and the Bulldogs took the hammer.

 

“Suddenly tails seems to always fail. How about you take the next flip,” Scott told Trent as they walked to their dugout. Trent simply nodded figuring he and Scott could decide who called the flip later.

 

Up in the press box, Mason and Samuel Carter introduced themselves to each other. Mason thought the tall college sophomore was a sexy looking guy and wondered how big his cock was. He quickly shook that thought out of his head; he had an important task ahead of him to concentrate on.

 

For his part, Samuel looked down at the little blond and wondered what kind of voice he had. ‘The kid’s gotta be pretty good to be picked for something like this,’ Samuel thought. ‘But how could somebody from all the way up in Washington get picked to sing in California?’

 

He decided to find out the answer. “How did you get picked to sing today?” he asked.

 

“I guess Carol saw a video of me singing the Anthem before a game I had and decided to pick me,” Mason answered. He knew that wasn’t a complete answer but figured that it was close enough to what happened. “What about you?”

 

“I’m a Canadian. I’m from Edmonton, Alberta, and decided to go to college where it was warm and sunny. When my voice coach at the school heard about the tournament looking for singers and that the Canadian anthem was going to be sung, he thought I’d be perfect and gave them my name.”

 

“Are you guys set to go?” Quinn asked the two singers.

 

“Yeah, I warmed up on the bus and when I walked into the park,” Mason answered. “But some water before I start would be great.” Quinn handed him a bottle of water and Mason took a short swig.

 

“I’m good to go,” Samuel said.

 

Down below, the players on the four fields that had eight-thirty games lined up along the foul line in front of their dugout for the singing of the patriotic songs. David Fry, who was a regular PA announcer for Mission Park, asked the fans to stand for the singing of ‘The Maple Leaf Forever’ followed by “America the Beautiful.”

 

“Singing ‘The Maple Leaf Forever’ will be Samuel Carter, a student at San Diego State who hails from Edmonton, Canada,” Fry announced.

 

In his clear tenor voice Samuel started right in singing, “In days of yore, from Britain’s shore, Wolfe the dauntless here came and planted Britannia’s flag on Canada’s fair domain…” He soon finished with the chorus:

“The Maple Leaf

Our Emblem Dear,

The Maple Leaf Forever.

God save our King and heaven bless,

The Maple Leaf Forever.”

 

Everyone could hear the cheers coming from the four fields. The cheers were loudest on Field 4 where the Surrey Mounties were playing. 

 

“And now, please join Mason Johnson, from Mayfield, Washington, in the singing of ‘America the Beautiful.”

 

Mason stepped up to the microphone and started right in, and in his sweet boy soprano sang not only with the conviction he had shown during his sound test on Tuesday, but also with the emotion he had displayed the night before when he sang with At the Majestic. Quinn was amazed by how Mason’s voice and diction were even more beautiful than they had been during his test. ‘That boy is a real talent,’ Quinn thought as he listened to Mason’s words.

 

“O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America! God shed His grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!”

 

After he finished on a high note, drawing out the last “sea”, the loud cheers and whistles from the players and fans on the four fields carried up to the press box.

 

Samuel gave Mason a tight hug, wrapping his long arms around the young boy. “Incredible job, absolutely incredible. You are an amazing singer,” he said before releasing his hold.

 

Quinn and David Fry nodded their heads in agreement. Mason left the press box ahead of Samuel, so he could hurry down to the field and join the Goats.

 

Before Alan, the Bulldog starting pitcher, began throwing his warmup pitches in the bullpen, Coach Parker had told him he wanted him to throw the way he would in a pregame scrimmage. “I don’t want you wearing yourself out on these yahoos. Save your best stuff for your next start. Vary your speeds and throw strikes just like you would in a scrimmage game,” the coach told his pitcher.” Even though he had been the number three starter during the regular season, Alan had posted a 6-1 record with a 2.45 ERA for the powerhouse team. “Just don’t try to blow the ball by anybody,” Coach Parker concluded.

 

“Whatever you say, coach,” Alan said. He didn’t agree with his coach. He wanted to start out the tournament showing his best stuff. After all, he had averaged 8.5 strikeouts per seven innings. He saw the little losers from Podunkville as his best chance to show everybody what he had right off the bat. But Coach Parker was Coach Parker and as great as he was to play for, you didn’t want to cross him. 

 

The game got off to a good start for the Goats. Gordy led off with a single. But that was negated when, after receiving the steal sign from Coach Hallion, Gordy was thrown out attempting to steal second by Salvador, the Bulldog catcher. Scott grounded out to short. Trent walked and advanced to second base when Alan threw a wild pitch in the dirt that Salvador couldn’t get to. Alan was not looking at all comfortable on the mound.

 

Then Muddy hit a shot that woke up the Bulldogs, hitting a long, high fly ball that cleared the left field fence and scored two runs. The Goats started out with a 2-0 lead and showed the players, coaches, and fans, that they were more than small town pussies.

 

Coach Parker was granted time and jogged out to the pitchers’ mound. Salvador, the Bulldog catcher, joined him. “The scouting report said that kid couldn’t hit the ball solidly. Either it was wrong, or he got lucky,” the coach said. “So, how about showing these guys what you really got.” That was his way of saying he had made a mistake with his pregame instructions.

 

During the mound conference, Alex, Josh, Jaden, and Isaac talked excitedly about the Goats taking a quick two-run lead.

 

“If they win this, the cookies I brought will taste extra good to them,” Alex said, referring to the sack of cookies parked on the seat to his right.

 

On the mound, the Bulldog coach gave Alan a pat on his back and returned to the dugout. “These losers don’t stand a chance now,” Salvador told his pitcher. He gave Alan a pat on the ass and returned home.

 

He squatted down and called for a fastball. Alan threw a sizzling fast ball past Miles, who swung and missed. The next pitch was a changeup that led to another swing and a miss. His third pitch was a fastball inside, which drove Miles away from the plate. And the fourth pitch was another hard fastball on the inside corner that froze Miles, who took it for a called third strike.

 

“We got the lead, now let’s shut these dudes down,” Mac said to Aiden as they left the dugout. As Aiden went to the mound to take his eight warmup pitches, he knew he should be feeling good with a two-run lead. ‘So why am I feeling like I’m three runs behind?’ he asked himself before winding up to throw his first warmup.

 

Aiden’s warmup pitches may have been the highlight of his first inning. After a hard-hit line drive by the leadoff batter was snagged by a leaping Max, the Bulldogs scored five runs on four hits and a walk before the Goats got another out. The big blow was a three-run homer by LeBron Redding over the left-center fence. On the next pitch, Kent Bosworth hit a fly ball that curled around the inside of the foul pole for a solo homer that made the score 5-2. It was like the Goats’ early two-run lead was nothing but a tease.

 

Mac asked for time walked out to the mound after the second home run. He thought for sure Eric would come out and join him, but he remained in the dugout. “What’s the deal here, Aiden. You’re throwing nothing but flat fastballs that have no movement and sometimes a changeup that isn’t much of a change from your fastball. And you’ve been shaking off every breaking ball.”

 

“It’s what I feel comfortable with,” Aiden said lamely, wishing Mac would go back behind the plate where he belonged.

 

“Well, you’ve got a choice. You can either feel comfortable or you can pitch. Why don’t you try choice number two just for the fuck of it.”

 

“I can’t find my zone.” Aiden knew Mac wasn’t going to accept that, but it was true. Besides, he couldn’t think of anything else to say.

 

“Fuck your zone. Just pitch.” Mac heard the umpire call for them to end the meeting and returned to home plate without giving Aiden a chance to utter more nonsense. Mac felt that while Aiden could get weird on occasion with his ‘in the zone’ crap he had never seen him like this. It was almost like he was afraid to pitch.

 

Mac called for a breaking ball and Aiden threw a curve outside. His next pitch was another fastball with no movement that Clay hit to deep center field. Gordy ran back on it and made a brilliant over the shoulder catch for the second out. The out made Aiden give a sigh of relief. He threw a rare sinking fastball on the first pitch to Salvador, the catcher, who hit it on the ground to shortstop where Scott fielded it and threw him out at first. The pitch may have been Aiden’s best of the game. It was the first fastball he’d thrown with good movement to it.

 

Alan threw a quick 1-2-3 second inning, striking out two batters. Aiden was the first batter in the inning and was on deck to start. As a result, he didn’t have to talk to anybody. He hit a high popup to short for the first out.

 

When he returned to the bench, Eric came over and sat next to him. Aiden was going to have to talk between innings whether he liked it or not.

 

“I’ve never seen you like this, Aiden,” Eric said. "If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were pitching scared.”

 

“And maybe I am,” Aiden grumbled, surprising Eric and himself with his honest answer.

 

“We’re only two down. We’re still in this game, Aiden. If you think you can’t pitch, tell me now and we’ll get somebody warmed up as quickly as possible.”

 

“I can pitch,” Aiden said even though he didn’t believe it.

 

Mac and Max struck out back-to back to end the inning.  Aiden rose from the bench and started out to the mound. “Hey, dude, have fun,” Cal said as Aiden left the dugout. Aiden gave him a quick wave. When he arrived at the mound he wondered why Cal’s advice had given him a warm feeling.

 

Lenny went to home with a catcher’s mitt and mask to take Aiden’s warmups until Mac got his gear on. Mac made it out in time to catch the fifth and last warmup pitch. “Coming down!” he yelled before throwing the ball down to Scott at second base.

 

Aiden felt a bit more relaxed to start the inning and started pitching instead of just throwing, although he still didn’t feel right. His teammates seemed to fall into the same funk as Aiden. Aiden struck out Alan, the number nine hitter, but then things fell apart.

 

Howie hit a tough ground ball to short. Scott fielded it cleanly and then threw it into the ground and past Max who couldn’t scoop it up. Riley then misjudged a hard-hit fly to left and it fell in for what ended up being a triple, scoring a run. A clean single by Carl scored Edwin from third. Maurice hit a slow grounder to Scott, who threw to Emmett at second forcing Carl. Emmett pivoted to make the throw to first for the double play, but the ball hadn’t been hit hard enough to complete it. Emmett threw the ball anyway. In his rush he overthrew the base. The throw was so far off it sailed over the sideline fence and out of play. Maurice was awarded second base on the overthrow.

 

Aiden tried not to let his frustration show. While he wasn’t at the top of his game, he was pitching better. But with two errors and a misplayed fly ball behind him, it was like he was just as lousy as he’d been in the first inning. He had let his teammates down in the first inning, and now they weren’t covering his back. It was like TEAL was in force—Together Everybody Accomplishes Less.

 

He noticed that Lance was warming up in the bullpen. As much as he wanted to help his teammates get out of the mess they were in, he couldn’t blame Coach Hallion for warming up a relief pitcher. The next batter was LeBron Redding, who had homered the inning before.

 

Before Aiden could engage the rubber, Eric came out for a conference. Mac and Scott joined them.

 

“You’re throwing way better,” Eric said. “Get us through the inning and we’ll get it going from there.”

 

What happened was not the outcome anybody wanted. LeBron hit a 1-2 pitch off the left field foul pole for his second home run of the game. Aiden had thrown him a good two-strike pitch that was just out of the strike zone, but LeBron, who was a great hitter, managed to get a good piece of it. The score was now 9-2 and the romp was on.

 

“Maybe those cookies won’t be so good after all,” Josh said.

 

“They’ll be good, just not extra good,” Alex responded. “They may end up needing those cookies more than ever, especially Aiden.”

 

Aiden was mad and wasn’t about to give up back-to-back home runs this time. He focused his anger into his pitches and threw his best at-bat of the game, striking Kent out swinging on a breaking ball in the dirt for the third out.

 

Coach Hallion met Aiden as he left the field. “Lance will pitch the next inning. Even though the score doesn’t reflect it, you bounced back nicely from your first inning.”

 

“Am I going out to second?” Aiden asked.

 

“For now, I’m going to let Emmett stay out there.”

 

As much as Aiden wanted to get out on the field and put his pitching behind him, he knew that win or lose, the Goats would be playing a second game. He was certain he would be starting at second and could probably use the rest. He was glad Emmett was getting a chance to play, but wished it was in place of somebody else.

 

Larry was sitting with Nolan’s father, Paul, and Arnie, Mac’s father, in the bleachers. Paul had to attend an unexpected meeting at the Lewis County Courthouse the day before and had to switch his flight. As a result, he missed the Goats’ first game.

 

“I’m willing to guess that had to be one of Aiden’s worst ever outings,” Paul said. 

 

“That’s an accurate description.”

 

“I’ve only seen him pitching against us, and he pitched extremely well.” Paul was referring to Aiden’s games against Meadow Park, Nolan’s old team.

 

“He didn’t look like he was pitching at all. He was just throwing,” Arnie said. “The kid is a hell of a pitcher, but he didn’t show it until the second, and even then it wasn’t as good as we’re used to seeing.”

 

“It didn’t help that the wheels seemed to have come off for the entire team,” Larry pointed out.

 

“This Torrance team is damn talented and we’re not playing well at all. It looks like our second game today is going to be a loser out affair.”

 

“Yesterday we were playing well even when we were six runs down. I agree with you on this one—I don’t see a comeback in the works. They’re going to have to work hard to get closer than eight runs before the end of the fifth.”

 

“I thought the rule was a ten-run lead shut down the game,” Paul said.

 

“It’s a tournament rule. A team has an eight-run lead after five the game is over,” Larry told him. “The idea is to keep the games moving and the tournament on schedule.”

 

“I guess it’s a good thing I know the law better than I know baseball rules,” the judge chuckled.

 

As they were talking the third inning started with Riley striking out. Gordy and Scott then did the same as Alan struck out the side. That gave him five straight strikeouts. He walked off the mound pleased that his coach had let him do his thing, and he was able to show the losers what a real pitcher looked like.

 

Lance gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in the bottom of third, making the score 11-2. The Bulldogs now had their eight-run lead plus one and Alan didn’t look like he wasn’t going to give anything more up.

 

“The Torrance pitcher certainly settled down since the first inning,” Paul said up in the bleachers.

 

“I think he must have taken the Goats lightly,” Larry speculated, not knowing that Alan had been following his coach’s orders by not throwing his best stuff.

 

“Win or lose the boys are going to be playing at 11:30,” Paul said as he checked his program. “I wonder who the starting pitcher will be?”

 

“If the game is the loser out game, my money would be on Nolan,” Larry said.

 

“Really?” Nolan’s father queried.

 

“Really. After being shellacked they’re going to need somebody who is capable of dominating a game and Nolan is that person. I don’t mean this as a slight, but another factor is that he is new to the team and doesn’t have the emotional investment in it that the rest of the pitchers have, which I think might help his concentration since he has less of an investment riding on the outcome. Calvin is the same as far as that goes and is an ace caliber pitcher. His stuff is well above average, but it isn’t the dominating stuff your son has.”

 

“And if they win?”

 

“Then your guess is as good as mine. And I’m not saying I’m right about Nolan. All I’m saying is that he is the one I would put my money on as the starter.”

 

“And it looks like we’ll be playing the loser’s bracket game. I think James is starting to clear the bench,” Arnold said as Mason came to the plate.

 

Mason was pinch hitting for Trent. He didn’t come to bat with the thought in his head that he was batting as a mop up player in a rout. He came with the same kind of approach with which he approached singing; to just do what he had to do. And what he did was rap a hard single up the middle on a 1-1 pitch.

 

“No mercy, no mercy, no mercy,” Carl, the first baseman chanted. Kevin, who was coaching first, looked over at the first base umpire.

 

“Shut up and play,” the umpire told Carl.

 

Carl, who was the team captain and should have known better, flushed with embarrassment and clamped his mouth shut.

 

Mason’s single, which was only the third Yard Goat hit, ended up being the highlight of the inning. Muddy ended any stray thoughts for a comeback by grounding into a 4-6-3 double play (second to short to first). Skip pinch hit for Miles and ended the inning by striking out.

 

The Bulldogs ran off the field and were met by the players on the bench. They made a circle and put their hands together. “NO MERCY!” they all shouted and dropped their hands. The goal of the Torrance team was to win by as many more than 10 runs as they could.

 

Grant relieved Lance on the mound. He would be facing the 5-6-7 batters and wasn’t up to overcoming the adrenalin flow of the Bulldog hitters. They were ready to feast. To them this was like being behind by a run in the bottom of the seventh and needing two runs to win. Only in this case they wanted to get two runs to make it a real slaughter, not the eight-run pussy win the tournament committee had come up with.

 

LeBron led off the inning looking for his third home run of the game. His teammates and the Torrance crowd was going nuts cheering for him. He hit a towering drive to center and the deepest part of the ballpark where it hit high off the fence. LeBron was thinking triple all the way, but Riley, who had moved to center field, got the ball into the infield in a hurry, holding the batter/runner to a double. Kent then singled him in, leaving LeBron with an amazing day at the plate: 3-for-3 with a double, two home runs, three runs scored, and five runs batted in. But what impressed the Goats the most, is that the players running out on the field between the half-innings to take their positions had noted that while LeBron had his hands in the middle of the circle the Bulldogs had formed, he kept his mouth shut when his teammates shouted “No Mercy” and hadn’t pushed his hands down with them. The run made the score 12-2 with nobody out.

 

Coach Hallion called Kevin to his side. “Go to the administration building and see if you can find somebody to reserve their meeting room for us,” he told his young assistant. “I think we’re going to need some serious privacy for a quick, but serious, meeting if we want a prayer of winning our next game. It’s loser out and I don’t want to go out—none of us do.” The loser would have a spot in the consolation tournament, but that wasn’t a goal of anyone on the Goats. Kevin nodded and took off on his errand.

 

Grant pitched as well as he could, but he was no match for the intensity with which the Bulldogs were playing in a one-sided game. The Dogs scored four runs on four hits and a walk. The low, as far the Bulldogs’ sportsmanship went, wasn’t their big mouths or not letting their bench players play.  It was when Alan, after hitting a two RBI double, stole third base with a 14-2 lead.

 

“I can’t believe those guys, I just can’t believe those guys,” Coach Hallion groused to Eric. “This is the worst display of sportsmanship I’ve ever witnessed in a youth game or any other game for that matter. The chants are one thing, but this is the coach’s call all the way.”

 

“It’s all because of me blowing my trumpet,” Cal said quietly to Trent.

 

“Hey, remember, the team voted for you do blow it,” Trent reminded him. “We thought it would be great fun. Fuck, nobody but them gave a shit about it. Just talking to the teams at our hotel, they loved the touch. So, fuck, those Bulldogs. They aren’t worth the effort it takes to think about them. Everybody knows they’re a bunch of ass waffles.”

 

Despite the score, the Goats had two high points in the inning. The first one was a fine running catch by Mason in right field on a fly ball off the bat of Howie. Alan tagged up and scored, but the Goats found something to cheer about. The other high point was when Edwin, who had a single, double, and triple came to the plate looking for a home run to hit for the cycle. That was a rare feat at the professional level and almost unheard of at the youth level. With his teammates and the crowd cheering him on, he took a ball and then swung and missed. He fouled off the next pitch, and then struck out when he overswung and missed a changeup that was low.

 

Alan was still the pitcher in the top of the inning. Larry commented to Paul that the Torrance coach must have a pretty deep staff to have one of his best pitchers throw another inning in a one-side game. It didn’t take Alan many pitches to get out of the inning as he put Lance (strikeout), Lenny (hard hit fly ball to center), and Max (strikeout) down in order.

 

The final score was 15-2.

 

“Do we have to shake their hands?” Mac asked Coach Hallion.

 

Before the coach could answer, Trent said, “Somebody’s got to have some sportsmanship. It might as well be us. Let’s show them how it’s done.”

 

The Goats lined up for the traditional handshake, a gesture the Bulldogs weren’t expecting. But Maurice took the lead by not offering his hand and simply saying “No Mercy.” His teammates followed his lead, except for two players. Carl, who had been embarrassed by what he had said at first base earlier was now also embarrassed by the actions of his teammates, was one of them. The other one was LeBron. Both of them shook hands, high-fived, gave fist bumps, and said simply, “Good job guys.” Aiden, Nolan, Trent, Cal, and Gordy made sure to thank them for what they were doing. The Torrance coaches didn’t bother coming out of the dugout to shake the hands of the Mayfield coaches. Some of the Goat players heard Maurice giving  Carl, the team captain, and LeBron, shit for not supporting their teammates.

 

Coach Hallion called his players over for a meeting in front of their dugout. “Grab your gear and head for the administration building. We’re going to have a quick meeting in their main meeting room. Go through the front door. A tournament director will be waiting for you to get you into the room.” The coach said nothing about the game; that would wait for the meeting.  He looked at the time. It was 10:25 and their game was scheduled to start at 11:30. He would have to be quick. He didn’t have a clue about what to say.

 

He thought about asking Larry for advice, but he knew that Larry and a parent or two had gone to pick up an order of sandwiches and drinks for the boys to consume for lunch. He went back to thinking of his talk with the team when Trent and Scott, the co-captains, stepped up to him. “Dad, no offense, but everybody wants a players’ only meeting.” Trent wasn’t bothering to stand on formality.

 

“Oh? Everybody wants this?” James asked.

 

“Yes, everybody.”

 

James nodded doubtfully. “What do you expect to accomplish?”

 

“We don’t know, and we don’t care,” Scott answered. “All we know is we need it. We have to find the Yard Goats we seem to have lost and we have to find them fast.”

 

The fact that his usually pliant co-captain was being assertive about it was telling the coach a lot. He decided that since he didn’t have good plan about what to say, he’d let the players have their player only meeting. While it might not accomplish anything, it might just be what the players needed—the opportunity to find themselves.

 

“Okay, you can have your meeting, but understand it has to be quick since we have a game in an hour.”

 

“We’ll be at that game ready to play,” Trent promised. He and Scott ran to catch up with their teammates who were already on their way to the admin building. Both boys caught a glimpse of the Field 2 scoreboard and saw that Forest Grove and the San Diego Force were tied 4-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning.

 

 

 

Terry Pryor, a member of the tournament committee, was stationed at the main door of the administrative building. There were three buildings on the eight baseball field complex of the sports park. The eight fields were in two sections, each with four fields. Two were at the center of the two sets of fields laid in a circle facing in four different directions. They each had a concession stand, bathrooms, a small room with chairs and tables, an umpire’s locker room, and a storage area holding field maintenance equipment like rakes and brooms.

 

The main building was situated between the two sets of fields. It had the administrative offices for the sports park, two meeting rooms, each with table and chairs, a central computer room that held the equipment to control the park’s PA system and scoreboards, the park’s wi-fi, a garage where the larger equipment was stored like lawn mowers, field markers, field drags, and the like.

 

Terry tried to be as positive as he could around the glum lot that came through the door. While no one had expected the small-town team to accomplish anything in the tournament, losing the way they did still had to be devastating for the boys. They undoubtedly had not suffered such a loss against the level of teams they were used to playing. Just the fact that the Mayfield team had won a game had surprised most tournament observers, especially the way they did, coming back from six runs down.

 

Two boys who were obviously not on the team ran up to the entrance. One of them was carrying a large cloth tote bag. He called out, “Hey, Aiden, I got something for you!”

 

A player at the end of the pack turned and acknowledged the two boys. “Hey, Alex and Josh, whatcha got?” As much as Aiden wanted to be left alone, he knew he had to acknowledge Alex, or he would undo the work they’d put in the last couple of days to patch things up between them. Grant thought he had heard Alex’s voice come up behind Aiden.

 

“I got what was supposed to be your cookies for your comeback yesterday, but now I guess it’s just comfort food. It’s simple stuff, chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin. You guys can eat them or throw them away, it don’t matter, but here they are. And no matter what you do I want the bag back cuz it’s a special present. But I know I can trust you and Grant and everybody on the Goats to get it back to me.”

 

Aiden was impressed by Alex’s little speech. This wasn’t the same quiet, sullen, kid he had known in Mayfield. “I have a feeling your cookies are going to disappear into Goat mouths, and I personally guarantee you’ll get your bag back.”

 

“Thanks. Now, we’d better leave you guys be so you can talk about whatever you’re going to talk about.”

 

Alex and Josh turned to leave when Aiden stopped them. “Thanks, Alex, You’re getting to be a good friend.” Alex broke out into a wide grin and left with Josh, who gave Aiden and Grant a little wave. The little visit with Alex had made Aiden feel better than he’d felt all day.

 

“Cookies?” Grant asked.

 

“Cookies,” Aiden grinned.

 

“Looks like something went right for once today.”

 

Grant and Aiden were the last two to enter the meeting room. Grant took a seat next to Lance. Aiden pulled two covered plates of cookies out of the tote bag and set them on the table next to the sandwiches that Larry had brought in and then sat next to Nolan.

 

The chairs all faced the front of the room, where Trent was standing. As soon as Aiden sat down, Trent started right in, knowing time was short. “You guys noticed there’s no coaches here. Scott and I talked to most of you, and you all said you were good with a players’ only meeting. The only guys we didn’t get to talk to were Aiden and Muddy. Are you guys okay with that?” Both players nodded. “Good, cuz I told my dad that everybody wanted one. You guys who don’t have one yet can get up and grab a sandwich and a juice and an Alex cookie.”

 

“What are we gonna talk about?” Max asked as he got out of his chair as much to test Trent’s resolve as to get something to eat and drink.

 

“Whatever you want, but I hope the topic will be on how we can come together and win our game which is supposed to start in an hour. But, I’m sure most of you saw that the score for Forest Grove and the Force is tied and if it goes into extras we might be starting late.” As if had been summoned, Eric poked his head in the door and announced that the game was going into the eighth.

 

“I know I totally sucked,” Aiden said, “and I’m fucking sorry for that. I just couldn’t get in my zone and found myself being scared for some reason.” He felt Nolan reach for his hand and he quickly took Nolan’s hand into his.

 

“That was last game,” Trent said. “Nothing we can do about that game. We gotta talk about the next game. We know we’re playing another good team. In fact, that’s all we’re gonna be playing is good teams. The question is what are we gonna do about it?”

 

“Maybe we can remember that we’re a good team, too,” Cal said. “I don’t hear any of you guys talking about how good a team we are. All we’ve been doing is talk about how good everybody else is.”

 

“And I hear guys saying they were scared going into the game,” Nolan said. “My boyfriend wasn’t the only one who’s admitted it.”

 

“Can I say something?” Riley asked.

 

“Damn straight you can,” Trent said. “Everybody can have their say if they want it, at least until we run out of time. Think about it, the newbies have been saying more than you long-time Goats. Anyway, Riley has the floor.”

 

“Before I came to Mayfield, I’d been bullied a lot at my old school. A lot of my teammates were assholes as bad or worse than those Forest Grove dudes. And when we played them in Federal Way, you guys had my back all the way. You weren’t afraid of jack shit—instead you were my teammates and friends, and that was what was important for me. You didn’t let those ass waffles get into your head, you took charge and showed them that the Mayfield Yard Goats don’t get pushed around.

 

“Well, I haven’t seen none of that today. Not before the game, not during the game, and now not after the game. It’s like nobody thinks we can win anything against those California dudes. Those Arizona dudes we played were a good team and we beat them anyway, cuz we weren’t scared.”

 

Eric interrupted again. “Sorry dudes, but we think it’s important you guys know who’s winning and the situation, so you know then it’s time to get to our field to get ready to play. The Oregon Vikings scored in the top of the inning and are up 5-4 going into the bottom.” He didn’t wait for a response and left, closing the door behind him.

 

“And you did one hell of a job against those Sun Kings,” Miles told Riley.

 

“Thanks. Anyway, I’ll finish by saying we’ve had some big games this year against good teams and won our league championship. We didn’t do that by being scared. We did because of T.E.A.M. which is pretty strong stuff when we remember it and believe in it.”

 

The Goat players were totally impressed by Riley’s speech. They had never heard him speak his mind like that to everybody before.

 

“Riley said it,” Scott said. “Together Everybody Achieves More. When we believed that we’ve been tough to beat.”

 

“I can think of one more thing we need to do,” Nolan offered. “Since we ran into them at the Festival, we let the Torrance players get into our head. We thought about their ‘No Mercy’ bullshit instead of our T.E.A.M. stuff. I think the Oregon butt wipes are doing the same thing; living in our heads.”

 

“There is a difference. The Torrance players are just plain bad sportsmanship assholes,” Cal said. “Those Oregon dudes are, like, big piles of shit. They’re disgusting and what they did at the concert was beyond disgusting. There’s no way they can live in my head because I don’t have room for shit like that in my brain.” That was the first time most of the Goats had heard Cal curse.

 

“The Bulldogs were just bullshitters and we listened to their bullshit, but these Oregon fuckers are making it personal,” Aiden said. “That makes it different for me. And like Cal said. I can’t let shit sit in my head either.”

 

“I got one last thing to say and then I’ll shut up,” Cal said. “One of the things I’ve always liked about you guys is that you have fun playing and being with each other. I mean, you’re, like, serious on the field and all that but you’re having fun being serious, if that makes sense. Well, today, you weren’t having any fun so you got all too serious with all kinds of stuff in your head other than just going out and playing.”

 

Aiden couldn’t help but think a lot of what Cal was saying had been directed at him. He was partly right about that. Cal was directing his comments to the entire team, but he had Aiden very much in mind.

 

At that point there was another interruption by Eric. “The Force tied the score. It’s 5-5 in the bottom of the eighth.”

 

Before Cal could say more, Mason stood up. “We’ve all been thinking if we really belong here, and if we can ever beat these big-time California teams, and not thinking of things like what we said when we landed: ‘The Goats are here’! In our first game we showed some peeps what the Goats are all about, now we gotta show everybody. We gotta dream and dream big.”

 

Mason’s comments told Aiden where he was going. Aiden was sitting next to a window, which was closed because the air-conditioning was running. He opened the window. If he was right, the open window would let Mason’s voice carry out of the room to where others could hear him.

 

Mason went right into what he had planned and started to sing in his clear soprano voice, which was surprisingly sharp considering he hadn’t had a chance to properly warm up. He dove right into “The Impossible Dream” from “Man of La Mancha”.

 

“To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
And to run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
And to love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far

To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march, march into Hell
For that heavenly cause

And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable the unreachable the unreachable star.”

 

When Mason finished the room was totally silent for a few seconds and then the Goats broke out into loud cheers. Eric had stepped in just as Mason started singing. He felt himself fighting tears after the song ended. He couldn’t imagine any other team he would want to be associated with other than the Mayfield Yard Goats.

 

“The game is now in the ninth inning,” Eric said.  “And Go Goats!” He left and headed back to Field 2.

 

Coach Hallion entered the room as soon as Eric left. He was amazed by the emotion permeating the room. Instead of the unfocused nervous energy of the morning, the boys had an air of quiet confidence about them. The fact they had just lost a game by 13 runs in which the opposing team had rubbed their noses in their excrement was not apparent in their demeanor. His son had been right. Whether ‘everybody’ wanted one or not, it was apparent that a players’ only meeting was exactly what the team needed. The boys Coach Hallion saw sitting in front of him were the players he was used to coaching. They were the players he loved. The real Yard Goats appeared to have been found.

 

He had just heard Mason’s beautiful rendition of “The Impossible Dream”, which was the perfect end to the players’ only meeting. It was now time to take care of necessary team business.

“Nolan and Lenny will be the starting battery, which I told them right before they headed here for the meeting,” the coach said. “I want you two to go to Field 3 with Coach Corcoran and Coach Simmons and get your warmups started. That field is available to us. We’ve been assigned the third base dugout. We’ll see you there soon.” Kevin helped out Lenny by picking up his equipment bag which had his catching gear in it along with his cleats and the all-important protective cup. The two coaches left with the two players for their field.

 

Coach Hallion then gave them the starting lineup. Other than some batting order and position changes, the only new players from the morning game were Nolan, Lenny, and Mason. Mason would be replacing Grant in right field and Muddy would be DHing for him.

 

Just as Coach Hallion started out of the room, Larry arrived. He had taken over the job of bringing the game news to the team so Eric could supervise Nolan’s warmup. That was particularly important for Eric as pitching coach because this was the first time Nolan would be pitching for the Goats and Eric wanted to learn as much as he could as he watched his new pitcher warm up.

 

“Game over,” Larry said. “The Force beat the Vikings 7-5 on a two-run homer by your buddy Tim Whalen in the bottom of the ninth.”

 

“Wow, you go Tim, wherever you are,” Aiden yelled.

 

“Now we can go shut somebody’s mouths,” Trent said.

 

“We just need to be sure we concentrate on what’s really important, though,” Scott said. “And what’s that?”

 

“We play Hard! We play Smart! We play to Win!” The Goats shouted out their mantra as they had so often dating back to the Titans during the middle school season. It was the most raucous Larry and James had seen the team since arriving in California and they loved what they saw.”

 

Before Scott could say more, Cal shouted out, “And above all?”

 

Before the meeting the Goats might have been surprised at Cal asking the question of the team, but now he seemed the ideal teammate to shout it out.

 

“Above all, HAVE FUN!” came team response.

 

“Grab your gear and let’s get to the field,” Scott said.

 

Cal picked up his gear, the trumpet , and his trumpet case. “Are you going to play the trumpet charge?” Trent asked him.

 

“After what happened Wednesday, do you think I should?” Cal responded.

 

Before Trent could answer Aiden, Miles, Mac, Lance, Riley, Grant, Mason, and Scott said, Yes!” almost simultaneously.

 

“Sounds like your teammates think so,” Trent grinned. Since he hadn’t heard from everybody and wasn’t sure they had heard the question, he asked it loudly enough for everyone to hear. “Who thinks Cal should play “CHARGE! on his trumpet?” he shouted out. The remaining Goats all shouted approval.

 

“But play it after we get out of the building to make sure everybody hears it,” Aiden said.

 

“After the trouble you guys had with Torrance are you sure you want to go through that again?” Coach Hallion asked.

 

‘If I read the team right, James is going to get a resounding yes,’ Larry thought, which was exactly what he ended up hearing.

 

“The Goats are back and want everybody to know it,” Aiden told his pop. "We got knocked down, but not out.” Aiden couldn’t believe how much better he was feeling since he stepped into the multi-purpose room for the meeting.

 

Led by Trent, the Goats picked up their equipment and left the building. They stood together on the walkway in front of the building and waited for Cal to take his trumpet out of its case. While they were waiting, Aiden said something to Gordy, Mason, Miles, Rusty, and Riley. Cal did something with his mouthpiece then blew a few quiet toots. “I’m ready,” he finally said.

 

“So are we!” Riley said.

 

Cal put the trumpet to his lips and blasted the CHARGE! fanfare. The Goats then screamed out, “CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGE!!”, picked up their equipment bags and quickly left the room.

 

As the players started down the walk to Field 3, Aiden nodded and he, Gordy, Mason, Miles, and Riley yelled out, “The Goats are back!”

 

“Who’s back?” Trent yelled.

 

‘THE GOATS ARE BACK!” the entire team shouted as they approached the field.

 

The walkway was close to Field 3 where the Vikings were warming up. They had wondered when the Goats were going to show. Their noisy walk to the field was proof to the Forest Grove team that the gay boys from Mayfield were a weird and quirky group. The Bulldogs, who had already started their game on Field 2 took offense at the losers from Mayfield not learning their lesson. They were a bit sad that they wouldn’t get the opportunity to play those “weinies” again since there was no way they would last that long in the tournament. They wished they could find a way to shut the losers up for good. But if a 13-run loss couldn’t do it, they wondered what could.

 

The Goats didn’t care what those two teams thought as they entered Field 3 on the third base side determined to let the game take care of itself by playing hard, playing smart, playing to win, and HAVING FUN!

 

Next: BaseBrawl Day 4. Above All…Have Fun.

 

1. Gordy (CF)
2. Scott (SS)
3. Trent (3B)
4. Muddy (DH) Batting for Grant
5. Miles (RF)
6. Aiden (P)
7. Mac (C)
8. Max (1B)
9. Riley (CF)

Grant (RF)

 

1. Howie D (CF)
2. Edwin G (3B)
3. Carl F (1B)
4. Maurice M (RF)
5. LeBron R (SS)
6. Kent B (DH) batting for Jeff K
7. Clay P (2B)

8.) Salvador L (C)

9.) Alan G (P)

Jeff K (LF)

 

Game 13-Torrance Bulldogs, Mayfield Yard Goats (see the game account)

Game 14-San Diego Force 9, Forest Grove Vikings 7 (9 innings)

Game 15-Bonita 9, Huntington Beach 4

Game 16-Surrey Mounties 5, Orange CA 4

Game 17-San Antonio 8, Las Vegas 5. (loser to consolation bracket)

Game 18-Chula Vista 4, Pacifica 0. (loser to consolation bracket)