The big game was finally here and the team went through it's warm up drills while waiting to take the field. Kelly sat in the stands with some of the other parents; she was disappointed that Bill could not be here to watch.
Kevin finally took the mound and took his warm up pitches; he did not want to give the other team too many looks at his plethora of pitches. He has a fastball that clocks around the mid nineties, a nice breaking curve ball, a hard sinking slider and a circle change to keep hitters off balanced. He was finally warmed up and was ready to face the first batter from the other team.
Kevin struck the guy out and then the next guy as well, the third batter grounded out to the shortstop. If this inning was a sign of things to come this would be a long day for the other team. The first three innings were scoreless for both teams; both pitchers were pitching very well. Kevin was piling up some great stats for the game, five strikeouts so far and he had a base hit.
Jack on the other hand was not fairing too well he struck out swinging his first time up and nearly dropped a routine fly ball. Jack was getting ready in the on deck circle to bat again when the guy leading off the inning hit a double it was up to Jack to try to move him into scoring position. The coach gave him the bunt sign and Jack nodded his acknowledgement of the sign. Instead of laying down a bunt on the ground he watched as the ball bounced off his bat and into the air.
The catcher made a great play and dove to make the catch; the runner on second had already broken for third. The catcher flipped the ball to the pitcher who turned and made a great throw to second for the out. Jack removed his helmet and slammed it down in disgust, as he was walking off the field the umpire threw him out of the game for poor sportsmanship.
"You are out of here!" he shouted.
"What you got to be fucking kidding me!" Jack said turning back around.
"You heard me kid." The ump said.
"Jack, c'mon man." Kevin said pulling him by the arm towards the dugout.
"Fucking bullshit." He muttered allowing his friend to pull him off the field.
Jack sat down in disgust while Kevin took a seat next to him; Kevin sat there quietly for a moment. He always seemed to know what to say when Jack was having a rough time, yet did not know what to say at the moment.
The inning was over and the coach came to the dugout while Kevin ran back out to the pitchers mound. The coach is a large intimidating older man, he was very knowledgeable on the game, and even though he was firm with his players it was more of fatherly type firmness.
"Jack, I never thought I would ever see such an outburst like that from you." He said.
"Yes sir." He replied not wanting to make eye contact.
"Kenny you go take over for Jack on the field, Jack I want you to just sit quietly and watch the rest of the game." He explained. "Think about your little outburst."
"Yes sir." He replied. "Good luck Kenny."
"Thanks Jack." said the kid taking his place.
Kevin continued to progress through the game, it was now the bottom of the seventh and the game was still scoreless. Kevin had already had a great game with twelve strikeouts, one walk and given up only one hit. Now his team was threatening again, this time with two outs and runners on the corners.
Kevin was up to bat; he took his place in the batters box and stood to await the first pitch. The other pitcher was pretty tired he threw a ball, then another and then one that Kevin fouled off. Finally the kid threw a curve that seemed to hang in the strike zone rather than breaking. Kevin swung his bat and crushed the mistake for a long drive to left center, the ball bounced off the wall and the runner on third scored.
In high school baseball they only play seven innings so this was the game winning hit and everyone ran out to congratulate Kevin. The team was now the state champs and they had to hang around the field for team photos. When all the hoopla was done with the coach said they could all ride back with parents or on the bus to the motel. Then get ready to go to the team dinner at a local restaurant.
The boys decided to go back on the bus with the rest of the team, Kelly drove her car back to the motel. She got up to the room before the boys and got herself freshened up to go out to supper. The boys finally made it up to the room and Kelly told them to shower and then get ready to go to supper.
Jack and Kevin took turns in the shower and got dressed, they came out of the steamed up bathroom. They were finally to go to dinner with the rest of the team; Jack could not help to give an appreciative look at Kelly. She was dressed in a tight pair of jeans and a nice blouse the also fit a little snuggly.
The dinner was great at a nice Italian restaurant that had both pizza and some fine Italian cuisine to dine on. Kelly sat with a couple of parents she knew and the boys went to sit with the team. The dinner was a great success, yet Kelly could not help to notice that Jack was not having as much fun as the rest of the team.
She drove the boys back to the motel room, she let them get ready for bed first, the both brought shorts and t shirts to sleep in. Kelly went in and came out of the bathroom dressed in a night gown that came down to her knees. It was heavy enough not to be see through so she did not worry about being naked underneath.
The boys watched a movie on television for a little while and she sat on her bed reading from a book she had brought along. After the movie the boys settled down and went to sleep, Kelly turned off the reading lamp after she finished the chapter she was on.
Around an hour later Kelly heard one of the boys get out of bed and open the door to the room. She rolled over to see that Kevin was still sleeping in the bed so Jack was up and out of the room. She slipped on her slippers and got out of bed, she quietly left the room so not to wake Kevin to look for Jack. She wandered down the hall way and went outside to find the young man sitting under a tree out in the courtyard. She walked over to the tree, the young man did not look up to acknowledge her arrival, it looked to be he was crying.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Not really." He sobbed.
"You want to talk?" she asked again.
"Not really." He replied.