Sparkplug

Come on blue!" I said aggravated at the terrible call.

    Someone had stolen second from the visitors, the Crainwood Crusaders. Matt Hunt, one of our guys, was there and down with the ball in his mitt way before the other second baseman was there, and was called safe.

     The whole crowd of Stillwater and then some were booing, and then cheered in satisfaction as the Stalls coach, Ed Myzak, call time and jogged out slowly to meet with the umpire at second.

     Matt went to first and talked with Joey, while the coach and umpire talked out the call at second.

     "How could they miss that?!" Mike yelled.

     "Cue three blind mice," Drew Price said with a sneer.

     I was sitting next to Ryan and Drew, with Mike and Noah in front of us trying to flirt with some sophomores shamelessly. I rolled my eyes.

     The meeting escalated to Mr. Myzak going from calm voice to the low threatening voice he reserved for the idiots in my Social Studies class.

     Like magic he was also joined by the home plate umpire, the only other umpire besides the one who call the play.

    An indignant huff and a return to the dugout later, the game was back on. I was still gawking at the terrible umpiring when a softly hit ground ball turned into a play at first. The inning was over, and the Stalls pitched out of it.

    "What's the score?" Mike said after sitting in our row now instead of by the sophomores. They had thrown some popcorn at him, and sat somewhere else. It probably didn't help that he caught all the pieces in his mouth, despite the fact that their throws were terrible.

      "The scores still 5-3 Stillwater. Do you ever know the score at these games or are you too busy flirting with girls?" Adam interjected while coming back with popcorn and a can of soda in hand.

     "He wasn't even here and he knew the score!" Drew said in aspiration, chuckling a little when Mike gave him a dirty look.

     A one-two-three inning for our offense later, we were in a good old clutch situation.

     "Kid Jones is pitching? Why?" Noah asked in astonishment. I was just as surprised as he was. Kid Jones moved from New Jersey all the way to Kentucky two months ago, is still the talk of the small town of Stillwater.

     "I can't believe my eyes. He's gonna blow this freaking save. You don't just all of the sudden bring out someone like Jones in the ninth inning!" I said lowly.

"Sit down!" Some guy shouted from a couple rows behind us to Adam, who hadn't sat yet.

     "Sorry sorry," Adam mumbled, and sat down at the end of the bench.

     "Here we go," Drew said as the first pitch was dished out by Kid.

     It was a high change-up, and the batter swung at it feverishly. The ball was smoked in seconds, barely foul.

     "He's so lucky that was foul, and so lucky that he missed it," Ryan said.

     "He's got only a curve, fast ball, and change up right?" I asked Ryan. Pitchers keep up on the information of other pitchers.

     "And this is why you guys are best friends, because nobody else knows what the heck you're talking about," Noah said with a snicker.

    "I guess so. Anyways, yeah, that's all he has. He shouldn't even count his change-up because it's high and any batter can crush it," Ryan said with a crooked smile, "Even Zac."