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On Thursday morning, the softball crowd had doubled. Who is watching the baseball game? Emily wondered. But then she decided she didn’t care. She had long known that softball was the superior sport. The island was just catching up.
Jake Jasper joined her at the bench. “Still OK if I help?”
“Absolutely.”
“Great. I won’t step on your toes or anything. I just want to help.”
“Happy to have it.”
“I’m not saying it’s a bad idea to have the girls coaching first, but well, I think some of the girls don’t quite have a grasp on the rules yet.”
She laughed. “That’s an understatement.”
“You mind if I warm Juniper up? Give MacKenzie’s knees a break?”
“No, not at all,” Emily said, feeling guilty for not having worried about MacKenzie’s knees herself. He trotted off toward his daughter.
The day was bright, clear, and 60 degrees. It finally made sense to be outside. The girls seemed almost giddy going through the warmups. “Well, would you look at that,” Emily said to Thomas, “the girls are 0 and 2, and yet they’re still having fun.”
“Shh,” Thomas said playfully, “don’t call their attention to it. Hey, Miss M?”
“Yeah?”
“You might not want to let Jake help.”
Emily groaned. “Ugh. You’re right. I didn’t even think of that.”
“Yeah, well that’s why I’m here.”
“Really? I thought you were here because of the team full of girls.”
“Well, yeah, that too.”
“He’s the only parent who’s offered to help, and he’s probably one of the few who knows anything about softball. You’re right, Thomas, but I think I’m going to stand by my decision.”
“OK,” Thomas said, shaking his head.
“What?” Emily asked, knowing he had more to say.
“Oh, nothing. It’s just sometimes I wonder if you like conflict.”
She chuckled. “I assure you. I don’t.”
Hailey approached Emily then. “Can I speak to you in private?”
Thomas didn’t move.
“Thomas, could you give us a second?”
He made a big show of looking put out, but he did toddle off.
“What’s up?” Emily asked, even though she knew exactly what was up.
“Some girls on the team were wondering why we didn’t vote for captains?” Some girls on the team. So, you.
The truth was: they hadn’t voted for captains because Emily had forgotten all about captainhood, but she didn’t want to say that. So she said, “I didn’t want the captain voting to be a popularity contest, so I just picked them.”
“But why them?”
Now Emily was annoyed. She loved Hailey very much, but sometimes Hailey could just be so ... Hailey. “I would think it would be obvious. And though I don’t have to explain myself to you, I will give an explanation to the whole team, OK?”
So before the pre-game conference, Emily called everybody in. “I hear there’s been some questions about your captains. So, even though I am not obligated to explain my decisions to you, I’ll tell you my thought process on this one.” Even though said thought process took me all of three seconds. “I picked MacKenzie and Ava because they have been rock steady reliable since day one. They show up, work hard, do what I ask, and are kind to their teammates. Any questions?”
Emily should’ve known: the first chance Hailey got, she asked, “Don’t I show up, work hard, and do what you say?”
Emily looked at her. “You absolutely do, Hailey. You also spend an awful lot of time thinking about your own glory. Will you please just relax? Just go play the game.”
In the first inning, Hailey made contact for the first time in her softball career—Emily thought maybe she’d been energized by anger toward her coach. It technically wasn’t a hit; it just took an awkward hop that caused the shortstop to bobble it, and Hailey beat the ball to first.
Ava, up next, fouled off a few pitches, but then Richmond threw a change-up and Ava screwed herself into the ground. Strike three. Two outs.
Hannah was up. Still riding high on yesterday’s triple. She watched the first pitch go by. Then she cocked and swung at the second, but it was high, and she fouled it off. Emily gave Hailey the steal sign. The pitcher wound up. “Here comes the change-up!” Emily shouted to Hannah, and then, as the pitcher released, Emily saw Hannah put her weight back on that back foot and wait for the pitch, which was indeed a change-up. And then Hannah drove it right up the middle. But the Richmond centerfielder was no slouch. She scooped it up and cocked to throw it toward home before Hailey had even rounded third. Emily sent her anyway. Hailey did have wheels with those long strides, and it looked like she had a chance. And then, inexplicably, because Hailey wasn’t a softball player yet and was functioning on mere instinct alone, she dove headfirst toward the catcher’s shins at home plate. Emily gasped, watching Hailey’s young life flash before her eyes, imagining the sound of Hailey’s neck breaking, when the ump made the safe signal, and the crowd blew up.
“Hannah, I love you!” Emily hollered over the din, and then jogged over to where Hailey was wiping the dirt of her circa 1980 pinstriped pants. “Hailey, that was some beautiful base running, but please don’t ever slide headfirst into home again.”
Hailey looked at her blankly.
“Just ... feet first next time. Good job, kiddo,” she said, bursting with affection, and patted the top of Hailey’s helmet.
Emily jogged back to her spot beside third base and looked at Hannah standing on second. “Two outs, kiddo. You’re running on anything. Also, if it goes by her, get here.”
Hannah nodded and got down and ready.
Emily snuck a look at the Richmond coach. He didn’t look happy.
Juniper stepped up to the plate. Emily hadn’t let her hit the day before, as she’d been using a designated hitter in an effort to try to get more girls in the game. Juniper swung at the first pitch, and drove it right at the shortstop, who caught it on one hop. But Hannah, not really sure what was happening, knowing only that her coach had told her to run to third, was bearing down on the shortstop, who looked up at Hannah, confused. She made as if she was going to throw it to first, but then reconsidered, apparently thinking it would be easier to tag Hannah, who was only a foot away, but Hannah, finally sensing the danger she was in, turned around and ran back toward second. The shortstop threw it to second base, narrowly missing Hannah’s head and completely missing the second baseman’s glove. The ball sailed into the outfield. Hannah, seeing this, turned and resumed her run to third. But Richmond’s centerfielder was a pro, had seen the whole debacle coming, and had already recovered the ball and thrown it, with alarming speed, to third. “Get down!” Emily screamed and brought both her arms down hard and fast as though she were desperately bowing before some third base god. Hannah got down, and miracle of miracles, her cleat smashed into the corner of the base just as the third baseman’s glove came down. Tie goes to the runner.
The Richmond coach was furious. “All you had to do was throw it to first!” he screamed. “All we needed was the out!”
Emily saw then, with dismay, that she had put DeAnna next in the lineup. At the time, she’d just been trying to give everyone a chance. Now it seemed as though that hadn’t been such a good idea. She had runners on first and third, two outs, and DeAnna at bat. Shoot. She gave Juniper the steal sign.
They gave Juniper the base. And DeAnna struck out without swinging the bat.
Juniper stormed off the field. When she got to the third base line, she took off her helmet and heaved it underhand at the bench.
It hit Thomas, who was looking down at the scorebook, in the shin. “Ow!” he cried.
“You wanna tell me why she’s even on the team?” Juniper hollered to no one in particular.
Her father took several quick steps from behind her, grabbed her by her arm, and yanked her around. Emily was grateful it wasn’t her throwing arm. He said something Emily couldn’t hear, but everyone could hear Juniper’s response. “She’s not an athlete! She’s white trash! And she’s making this team a joke!”
Again, Emily knew she should bench Juniper. But she also knew that would be throwing away the game. For someone who didn’t care about winning, Emily cared an awful lot about winning.
So because she didn’t know how to handle the situation, she let Jake handle it, and soon, a red-faced Juniper was throwing her pre-inning pitches, extra hard, into his glove.
Her fury didn’t lend itself well when she threw to the actual batters, however, and she walked in a run. Again, Emily thought, I should take her out. Again, Emily had no one else to put in. Both Ava and Hailey could get it over the plate, but they were at third and shortstop right now. They hadn’t warmed up, and she’d have to make a scene to pull them from the game to let them warm up now. So, she let things stand, and finally Juniper got them out of that inning having given up only that one run.
As Piercehaven got ready to bat, Emily told Ava to go warm up for pitching. Juniper saw this and tried to sizzle Emily with her eyes.
“Just in case,” Emily said to her.
“Just in case what?”
When Emily had first said it, she’d meant, “Just in case you keep walking in runs,” but now she saw a teaching moment. “Just in case you decide to call one of your teammates white trash again.”
Juniper recoiled as if slapped. Then she turned her face toward the field, leaving Emily to think maybe her threat had worked. Here’s hoping she doesn’t call my bluff.
