An Unlikely Slugger: The story of Cole Bassitt

Chapter 14: Afterwards

The dugout charged the mound. Danny, not knowing what to do, hugged the first person that got near him, which was Kai. Kai and Danny were joined by the entire team, jumping up and down. I couldn't celebrate as vigorously as the others with my gear. Drake and Kairo dumped the cooler on the coach. Bray chucked the ball into the dugout, nearly killing Kairo, before joining the pile. As the celebration died down, we were presented with awards, which nearly nobody knew about except coach. 

"And now, for the awards of the winners!" The old, frail commisioner, James T. Payne, came out, with a wagon full of trophies. "The Northeast Division Playoff Champions, the Warren Wildcats!"

It took Mr. Payne's announcement for me to realize that we were the playoff champs, the last team standing in our division. Mr. Payne passed our trophies out to each of us. It was a medium size trophy with a man with a bat on it. Then, he took out a gold, silver, and bronze baseball.

"The Bronze Baseball goes to the best defensive contributor of the game. Without further ado, today's Bronze Ball goes to Tate Short!" We all cheered for Tate as he came to the front to accept his award. He shook the commissioner's hand and went back to the group.

"The Silver Baseball goes to the best offensive contributor of the game. Today's winner of the Silver Ball goes to Drake Bullock!" Drake hobbled to the front line, half smiling, half grimacing. Everyone's sore after games. Drake accepted his award and returned to the group.

"The Gold Baseball goes to the overall most valuable player of the game. The recipient of the Gold Ball goes to Cole Bassitt!" Surprised, I walked up and shook the Commisioner's frail hand. He presented me a golden baseball and a proud smile, before my picture was taken.

I went into the locker room, cradling my golden baseball carefully and putting it in a suitcase, swaddling it around jogger pants. They seriously didn't give me a glass case? Whack. I took off my jersey, threw on a jacket and jeans, laced up my beat-up Vans sneakers, and headed out the door.

On the way out, I noticed Drake in the trainer's room getting his ankle evaluated by our team doctor.

"What's up with you?"

"Stress fracture." Drake mumbled, which was the first words I had wheedled out of him in months.

"Ack."

I decided not to let myself hear anymore bad news, so I decided to exit the locker room. I walked down the transportation tunnel and out to the luggage bus where I shoved my bag in and left.

When I went back to my hotel, Kellen was waiting for me.

"Hey. Don't go around thinking you're the star of this team." Kellen sneered.

"Woah, what's with the attitude?"

"You're parading around the locker room with that gold ball like you're something special, when you're not. All you are is a draft bust that I gave a second chance."

"Well, this draft bust-"

I couldn't get words out before Kellen slammed his fist into my jaw. I yelped in pain. He then cocked his fist again and rocked me with a right cross, dropping me to the floor. Before I could get up and swing back, Kairo and Kai, who shared the room next door, bolted in. Kai stormed to Kellen, seeing what had happened, while Kairo kept shouting "Ah mierda! Ah joder!" over and over. Catching onto the racket, Tate rushed in and dragged me out.

"Bro, what happened?"

"I don't know, he just decked me outta nowhere."

"Jeez. That's not like Kellen."