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Their next games were another Saturday doubleheader, this time at Valley High School. This meant another long bus ride, with Emily too sick to read and almost too sick to even be civil to her athletes. She wondered if maybe this should be her last softball season.
But after a few minutes of breathing fresh Maine forest air, those thoughts fell far behind her. It was finally spring in the northeast, and the temperature was behaving accordingly. Which made it extra strange that Hailey was still wearing her undershirt.
“What’s with the long sleeves?”
“Aw, Miss M, I can’t stand it. These shirts are so scratchy. I’d rather be hot.”
“Oh. Well, maybe we can get some new uniforms for next season.”
“Or just let us wear T-shirts? These things are so ugly!”
“Your mom’s from Valley, right? Do you have family here?”
“No, not anymore. Do you want me to warm up for pitching?”
“I would like you to, yes, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have to pitch.”
“I know that. Thanks, Coach.”
It had been happening since basketball season, but she still wasn’t used to being called Coach.
Juniper started off strong, and the Valley girls had a lot of trouble hitting her. Occasionally, they got a piece of it, but it never went anywhere.
Valley’s pitcher wasn’t fast, but she was accurate. Ava, Juniper, and Hannah hit the ball, but Valley’s fielders didn’t give them any wiggle room. Their infield was solid, and as Hannah learned at one point, their outfield wasn’t bad either. Piercehaven got a couple of runners on, but then left them there.
At the end of the sixth inning, the score was still zero to zero.
“This is crap,” Hannah spouted in the dugout. “We ought to be able to hit her. She’s not even that fast.”
“Well, you’ve got to hit it somewhere where there isn’t a player,” Hailey said.
“Or hit it over the fence,” Hannah said.
Hailey laughed. “Yeah right.”
“What, you don’t think I can?”
Hailey snapped her gum. “No. I definitely don’t think you can hit it over the fence, Hannah.”
“Hannah,” Emily interrupted, “please don’t try to hit it over the fence. If you do, you won’t hit the ball at all. Just concentrate on hitting it, and eventually, you’ll get on base.”
“Yeah, and then what?”
“And then let your teammates hit the ball. Believe in them. You’re not the only one who can hit,” she said with more conviction than she felt.
There were two outs and no one else on base when Hannah stepped up to the plate. She swung at the first pitch fast and hard and missed. Emily frowned. “Just hit the ball, Hannah,” she said sternly. She knew what Hannah was trying to do, and she didn’t like it.
Valley threw the second pitch. It came in straight, right down the middle, and Hannah swung that bat like a punishment. There was a satisfying pop and the ball shot in the other direction, right over the left fielder’s head. Hannah just stood there watching it. “Run!” Emily screamed. Hannah ran, still watching the ball as it dropped from its arc. Wow, that might actually make it. Down, down it came, hit the top of the fence, and ricocheted behind it. Hannah began to jump up and down. She hadn’t even made it to first yet. “Run!” Emily screamed again.
Hannah ran, her chin up and chest out. And Emily wasn’t even angry that she hadn’t done as she was told. How could she be angry? The kid had hit a homerun. And now they had a lead.
But then it was Valley’s turn to bat. And it was the top of their lineup.
The leadoff bunted. MacKenzie came out to field it, but Ava crashed down from third to field it. They each deferred to the other and no one fielded it. By the time MacKenzie picked it up, it was too late. The next batter squared up to bunt, but missed—on purpose, Emily thought—as the runner on first went for second. MacKenzie threw down, a beautiful throw that Hailey actually caught, but the runner was fast and beat it out. Now the batter really did bunt. MacKenzie fielded it, looked at the runner leading off second, looked at first, and decided not to throw. Emily wished she’d gone for the out, but she understood why she hadn’t. Valley had two runners on.
The next batter cracked a double into right field. Hannah took off after it with all she had, but by the time the ball made it to home plate, Valley had scored.
Their cleanup bunted, MacKenzie held the ball again, and now the bases were loaded.
“You’ve got to throw them out, MacKenzie,” Juniper snapped, “or this will go on all day.”
MacKenzie fired the ball back to her with some extra force.
They had no outs. Emily had no hope. She knew they were going to lose. She tried to hide that knowledge. “The play is at home,” Emily shouted. “Throw the ball home!”
The next girl up tried to work Juniper, but Juniper was having none of it. She struck her out. Emily exhaled a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Thank you, Juniper,” she called out.
Juniper went right after the next batter too, but this girl was a swinger. She hit the ball to Chloe, who fired it to home, but the ball went way left of where MacKenzie was waiting, and Valley’s winning run slid across the plate.
