On The Field

Chapter 31- Blessings

"What's the count?!" I yelled, waiting for the batter to talk to her coach.

It wasn't 5 seconds before I got my answer. "2 strikes, 3 balls, 2 outs!" My team yelled back. I smiled and looked to Rose.

She was trying to calm herself. Pacing around the circle, she was in her own little daze. Her hand was wiggling around, as if pitching. Her brows were furrowed, and when she looked up to look up at me she smiled. Usually a good sign.

If Rose was ready, I need to be.

The score is 8-9, with us in the lead. Bottom of the 5th, everything was winding down. I've been making some pretty good plays and nothing has happened to stop that. My mom and dad are in the stands as usual, being way too loud. The scout is still sitting there, writing down something down every time my friends or I make a play. All the guys are here too, I think.

For the first time in the whole game, I let myself look in that area of the stands. Sitting on the outside of the group, staring into space, Josh sat. I drew in a short breath.

His head snapped in my direction and I told myself to look away, but I couldn't. His green eyes just stayed there, not moving an inch from my eyes. He kind of squinted a little, as if trying to tell me something through a look.

It kind of felt weird, something did, so I breathed in an awkward breath and turned away, noticing the batter is walking up to bat.

I put the helmet over my head and squatted down, looking to my coach through the legs of the batter. He gave the signal and I recited it to Rose and with a nod, she began her pitch.

Releasing the curve ball in the perfect area, the batter was smart enough to realize this was a perfect ball, and swung hard. I had my glove positioned where I knew it was to land if she missed.

But she didn't.

I heard the ring of the bat, and I flinched a bit, but right as I did I really regret closing my eyes, even for a split second. Instead of the ball going toward the field, it was barely tipped by the batter, leaving the ball to fling back, full force, at me. Unable to move my hands in time, the ball slammed into my left collar bone the only place my chest plate didn't happen to cover.

With an umph, I fell backwards and I heard the crowd gasp. The hit startled me, so everything was really shaky but I could see the commotion on the field and in the stands.

"Anna, are you okay?" Rose asked, helping me sit up. I felt my eyes focus on her and I laughed. She gave me a weird look and I laughed harder. "What?" She snapped.

I pointed behind her where my whole team was, concerned looks on their faces. I looked to the left to see my family and Josh trying to pile through.

"I'm fine." I stated, swatting her hands away and standing to my feet. I stumbled a bit and the whole crowd moved forward, as if I was going to fall. "I'm fine." I said more firmly. "Let's get back to the game, shall we?" I asked, forcefully.

The pain from my shoulder was kicking in but I'm not showing weakness. They all nodded, heading back to their positions.

I put my helmet back on, and looked to the door to the fence, my parents already went back to the stands, knowing I'm okay, but Josh stayed there, leaned against the fence.

Focus.

~

I don't know what happened. After getting hit, I keep screwing up. I didn't make a simple throw down, I missed about three blocks, causing runners to move forward. I'm up to bat now, and I need to do something and fast.