Mayfield Magic

 

 

CHAPTER 28

SOCAL BASEBRAWL DAY-6

INTERNATIONAL FUN

 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2

 

<Carlsbad Resort>

 

Since the Utah team had gone home and the Tucson Sun Kings were no longer playing, the resort was able to assign the Mounties and Yard Goats to separate eating areas through the use of room dividers. Both teams were seated and eating by seven-fifteen. As much as some of the players on both teams would have loved to intermingle, the coaches agreed the teams should remain separate. Their friendships could resume after the game was over.

 

That didn’t stop some intermingling from happening after the teams ate, however. The players greeted each other and wished each other good luck (“But not enough good luck to win,” Warren chuckled). More waving and some good-natured kidding occurred in the resort lobby as the boys gathered to board their transportation. For the Goats it was their minibus and for the Mounties it was three vans. As the players piled into their transportation, they noticed Coach Hallion and Coach Malone, the Mounty coach, standing in the loading zone, chatting and pointing at the bus and the vans.

 

“I wonder what they’re yakking about,” Aiden said to Nolan.

 

“They’re either agreeing to be BFFs, or it’s something we’ll hear about soon,” Nolan responded.

 

“I’m guessing it’s choice number two and we’ll be hearing about it soon,” Aiden said.

 

<Mission Sports Park>

 

The two teams departed the resort within minutes of each other and arrived at the Mission Sports park within minutes of each other. The Goats got off their bus, but the Mounties remained in their vans.

 

“I think it’s obvious what the coaches were talking about,” Aiden said to Nolan as they walked through the gate into the Mission Sports Park and headed to Field 1.

 

“Yep, they didn’t want fraternization between the players on the two teams,” Nolan responded.

 

“Wowsers, my boyfriend is using big words. I love it.” Nolan flipped Aiden the bird but flashed a big smile while doing it. “But, yeah, you’re right,” Aiden finished off.

 

The Goats had been assigned the first base dugout. They took their equipment to the dugout, grabbed some baseballs out of the ballbag that Rusty had carried in, and went out into the grassy area outside the ballpark to warm up.

 

The Mounties arrived at the ballfield shortly after the Goats and quickly went into their pregame routine, which included a team stretching session. The Goats took infield first, followed by the Mounties. The umpires called for the coaches to come to the home plate meeting. Coach Hallion came to the plate accompanied by Scott and Trent, and Coach Malone came accompanied by Edmund Stone, the Mounty captain.

 

After the umpires went through the usual ritual of going over the ground rules and the tournament rules, Jeff North, the plate umpire, said that the Mounties would call the flip. “This will be the last coin flip of the tournament, since the home team for the championship games is predetermined. Since they came the farthest, the Mounties will be calling the flip.”

 

Edmund called heads, but the coin came up tails. “I would have called tails and it would have come up heads,” Scott said quietly to Trent. Coach Hallion surprised nobody by taking the home team.

 

The PA announcer then asked that everyone stand and remove their hats for the National Anthems. Both teams ran out of their dugouts and stood along their respective foul lines. “The SoCal BaseBrawl would like to welcome the San Marcos High School Jazz Band, who will now play the Canadian National Anthem,” the PA announcer said.  The band played a beautiful, flowing rendition of “O Canada”, which earned it well-deserved applause and cheers from the Mounties, the Canadian contingent, as well as the rest of the spectators in the just over half-full bleachers.

 

The announcer then asked everyone to remain standing for the band’s rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner”. In keeping with the difference in the themes and tempo of the two anthems, the Jazz Band played a lively rendition of the American National Anthem finishing with another round of applause and cheers from the players and fans.

 

The Goat starters then ran to their dugout to retrieve their gloves and run to their positions. Mac took his position behind the plate. The umpire handed him a game ball which he threw to Cal who was on the mound. Cal took his eight warmups while the fielders tossed a couple of balls around until Mac yelled for them to throw the balls in. It was time to play ball.

 

Cal made quick work of the Mounties to open the game. A routine grounder to Scott at short, Warren grounding out to Aiden, and a popup to short had the Goats quickly running off the field. Cal had thrown only nine pitches.

 

Asher showed what kind of pitcher he was when he blew two fastballs past Gordy to open the Goats’ half of the inning. After taking ball one, Gordy struck out swinging on the next pitch. Aiden then grounded to third and Trent hit a line drive to Warren, the left fielder, who didn’t have to take a step to catch the ball that came right to him. Asher had thrown 12 pitches.

 

The second inning wasn’t much different from the first. Tommy struck out on a nasty changeup, Brad, the designated hitter, grounded out sharply to Trent at third, and Vic, the catcher, hit a weak comebacker to Cal who threw him out at first. Cal had thrown 10 pitches in the inning, giving him 19 for the game.

 

The Goats went down just as quickly. Muddy struck out on three pitches, Scott grounded out to short, and Calvin flied out to center. Asher needed only seven pitches to get through the inning. Like Cal, Asher had thrown only 19 pitches over the first two innings.

 

“Well, that was a quick two innings,” Paul Moyer observed.

 

“Those are two good, quick working, pitchers out there,” Larry responded. “Neither one of them is afraid to challenge the hitters. Cal has a sneaky quick fastball, and a wide array of off-speed pitches, including that changeup he learned at the baseball clinic. He gives the hitter a lot to think about.”

 

“It’s hard to believe he mastered the change-up as quickly as he did,” Phil said. “But Aiden said that while Cal gives the impression of being laid back, he is an obsessive worker and worked his ass off throwing to whoever would catch him so he could master that pitch.”

 

“Mac said that the kid just about wore him out throwing to him,” Mac’s father, Arnie, chuckled.

 

“And Asher has a great power fastball, but not a lot of confidence in his off-speed stuff, which is mostly breaking balls. I have yet to see a good change-up from him. Except for his fastball he’s been inconsistent, throwing a few decent off-speed pitches mixed with a lot of mediocre stuff,” Larry added as the umpire called for the batter.

 

Across the field in the third base stands, Frank Parker, the Torrance coach, was chatting with Ellis Rohrs, his assistant. “I love what I’m seeing,” Frank said. “Both coaches burning through pickup pitchers who haven’t pitched much and both teams flailing away helplessly. By the time the Canadian hitters see our pitchers their confidence level will be right at zero if it’s even that high.”

 

“You still going for ‘No mercy” if we see those Mayfield pricks?” Ellis asked.

 

“That ain’t even gonna be an issue. From what I’ve seen in the first two innings, my prediction is a 4-0 win for those damned Canucks. That Aussie kid simply has a way better fastball than that yahoo the Mayfield dumb shits picked up. And after they win, they could end up giving us a hard time this afternoon. I doubt they will, but they could. They’re without a doubt a better team than those Mayfield assholes.” Parker looked out at the field. “Looks like the Canucks are ready to start swinging their bats.”

 

The bottom of the order for the Mounties did swing their bats, but they got nothing for their efforts. Centerfielder Seung Park hit a high pop up to Riley in left, who had to fight the sun, but never lost sight of the ball. Riley soon camped under it and made the easy two-handed catch. Lyndon, the right fielder, struck out on one of Cal’s “sneaky” fastballs. Asher, who was batting ninth, was the first Mounty to hit the ball hard, but Gordy ran it down in right center to make a nice catch over his right shoulder for the third out. It had been a nine-pitch inning for Cal.

 

Asher was even more dominant in the bottom of the inning when he struck out the side on 12 pitches. Mac and Max went down swinging on hard fastballs up in the zone, and Riley took a called third strike on a sharp breaking curve ball.  After three innings, the score was 0-0 and there was yet to be a baserunner.

 

“Amazing. Calvin has now pitched seven innings in the tournament without giving up a hit,” Larry said as the Goats took the field for the fourth inning.

 

“Careful you don’t jinx him,” Paul said. 

 

“Since when do judges believe in jinxes?”

 

“Since they started hanging around baseball coaches and players.”

 

Larry replied with a hearty laugh as Cal prepared to throw his first pitch of the inning. It was a mediocre fastball in Corbin’s hitting zone that ended up landing in front of Gordy in center field for the first base hit of the game. Loud cheers rang out from the Canadian fans as well as the Torrance coaches and players seated in the first base bleachers.

 

“You jinxed him,” Arnie Dixon said to Paul.

 

“I did?” Paul asked, half seriously.

 

“I think it was a poorly placed fastball that did him in,” Larry said. “Corbin saw the pitch well all the way to the plate. Let’s see where it goes from there.”

 

Warren was the next batter for the Mounties. He took a fastball below his knees for ball one. Corbin took off for second and made it easily when Mac had trouble exchanging the ball from his mitt to his hand. The Mounties now had a runner in scoring position with nobody out.

 

Warren then dropped a perfectly placed bunt up the third base line. Trent, who was playing in for the bunt, charged the ball and threw Warren out by five steps. Corbin made it easily to third.

 

Coach Hallion had the Goat infield playing back, looking to concede a run for an out. Coach Malone told Corbin to go on contact, meaning he was to break for home on a ground ball, hoping to catch the Goat infield napping. It was a difficult play for big leaguers to pull off successfully and more often than not it ended up resulting in an out at home.

 

Edmund hit a grounder to the right side of the infield. Corbin broke for home as Aiden charged the ball. In one smooth movement, he snatched it up in his glove and fired it home to Mac, who was eagerly waiting. Mac caught the ball and turned to put a tag on Corbin, who was trying to slide away from Mac. Mac caught the runner’s left foot with his glove just before it touched the plate. The home plate ump was in perfect position to call the play and signaled an emphatic, “OUUUUUUT!!!” as soon as he saw that Mac had the ball safely in his glove.

 

Mac jumped up to check on Edmund, who had made a wide turn at first and taken a few steps toward second. Mac fired a bullet to Max who put the tag on Edmund who discovered he had taken too many steps and made a desperate, but late, dive back to first. The first base ump made the out call with the double play ending the inning. Cal had thrown only six pitches in the wild top of the fourth.

 

“Way to go, Mac!!” Arnie shouted to his son.

 

“That was a major league quality play all the way!” Larry yelled over the roar of the Mayfield fans. “Aiden has told me that Jim Hallion has had the team practice that play - it sure paid off that time! That was beautiful!”

 

“And thank you, Edmund, for overrunning the base,” Phil added with a grin. “We’ll take all the help we can get.”

 

“Mac was the key to the play,” Larry said to Arnie. “If he hadn’t stayed alert to what Edmund was doing we never would have gotten the DP.” Larry and Arnie exchanged high fives.

 

Meanwhile, over on the third base side, the thinking wasn’t quite as positive.

 

“That Mayfield team is the luckiest goddamn team in existence,” Coach Rohrs said to Coach Parker.

 

“Hey, watch your language. Don’t use the Lord’s name in vain,” Coach Parker retorted. “But, yeah, they are fucking lucky.”

 

“You said fucking, so what are you bitching about?”

 

“Fuck is a perfectly good cussword, but goddamn is not. Let’s just leave it at that and root for that Aussie/Canuck pitcher, or whatever the fuck he is, to strike out the side.”

 

The bottom of the fourth started out with Gordy hitting a hard ground ball to the left of second base that Henry, the shortstop, made a great play on when he snagged the ball on the run and nailed Gordy at first by a half step. That brought up Aiden, who lined a 1-2 pitch that dropped in front of Warren in left field for the Goats’ first hit.

 

Aiden then mimicked Corbin, who’d had the Mounties’ first hit, by stealing second on the first pitch after he reached base. Trent then broke the scoreless tie by hitting a ringing double to left-center that scored Aiden. Muddy then struck out for the second time in the game and Scott hit a soft line drive to Tommy at third to end the inning. The Goats ran out on the field leading 1-0 after four complete innings.

 

“Oh my, Calvin’s coming out to pitch the fifth,” Phil pointed out. “You gotta like it.”

 

“He’s pitching well and hasn’t thrown many pitches,” Larry said. “Getting another inning out of him puts a lot less stress on the bullpen.”

 

“I’d say that he has thrown remarkably few pitches,” Paul said. “I don’t know what his maximum is, but I suspect he isn’t close to it.

 

“Because of the number of pitches he threw yesterday, James told me he has a 50-pitch limit. He’s thrown 34 so far, so this will be his last full inning if he makes it that far.”

 

Cal’s pitch count went up in a hurry as he needed eight pitches to strike out Tommy, the Mounties’ cleanup hitter and used six more walking Brad. Then, with one out, Vic hit a pitcher’s best friend—a double play ball. This one went from Aiden to Scott to Max for a neatly turned 4-6-3 twin killing. Cal needed only two pitches to get the final two outs, but he had thrown 50 pitches, so his work was over. Lance was warming up in the first base bullpen area.

 

In the Goats half of the fifth, Cal was slated to bat first. Because he had not yet been officially substituted for, he was able to take his turn at bat. He took advantage of that situation by lining a double up the first base line. That brought Mac to the plate. He singled through the hole between the shortstop and the third baseman to put runners on first and third with nobody out. Max then walked to load the bases and the Goats had something cooking.

 

Coach Malone bounced out of the dugout, ready to make a pitching change. He called for Benny Griesel, a lefty reliever, to enter the game and face the next batter, who was Riley. Even though he was a lefty hitter, he grounded up the middle to knock in Cal, giving the Goats a 2-0 lead. Gordy followed with a soft fly to center that Seung easily caught for the first out. Aiden then hit a sharp grounder to third and Lyndon threw Mac out at home for the second out. The Mounties were unable to complete the double play, which brought Trent to the plate. Trent lofted a fly to deep center where Seung made a fine over the shoulder catch for the third out. After five innings, the Goats had a 2-0 lead.

 

Lance came into the game to pitch, and Lenny replaced Mac at catcher. Emmett was entered in Max’s spot in the lineup and went to left field. Riley moved from left to center, which moved Gordy to short, where he replaced Scott, who was shifted to third. Trent took over first base.

 

The murmur of the ballpark was shattered by the loud cry of “TWIN POWER!” that was initiated by Connor and Cooper as Lance and Lenny took their positions. Lenny looked up into the bleachers. His grin was hidden by his catcher’s mask.

 

“James is doing quite a job of juggling his bench,” Larry observed.

 

Lance made quick work of the Mounties. Seung grounded to first for the first out. McCoy, who was pinch hitting for Lyndon, hit a grounder to the left side of the infield that Gordy made a brilliant play on with a diving stop followed by a throw from his knees that Trent scooped up at first for the second out. Lewis Fisher pinch hit for Benny and flied out to Riley in center to end the inning. The Mayfield fans cheered their approval - a few of them were beginning to smell victory.

 

Lyndon came in to pitch the bottom of the sixth. Lewis took his place in right field. The first batter Lyndon faced was Muddy and Lyndon slumped quickly when Muddy caught his third pitch directly on the barrel and hammered a no-doubter high over the leftfield fence to give the Goats a 3-0 lead much to the delight of the Mayfield contingent. Just from the sound of it they knew it was gone and a welcome insurance run. It was Muddy’s third home run of the tournament, tying him with LeBron, of Torrance, for the tournament lead. Muddy trotted the length of the dugout trading high fives with all his cheering teammates.

 

Hmmf,” Coach Parker said. “This is the seventh game for those asswipes and LeBron’s done it in just four games. Plus, he plays a sick shortstop while fatso plods around as a DH.”

 

Up in the stands, Larry, Phil, Paul, and Arnie were admiring the play of the Goats and cheering them on.

 

“Every time Muddy bats, you gotta admire the power of his swing,” Paul remarked. “Yeah, he strikes out a bunch but the kid can belt some majestic home runs. That last one got outta here by plenty - and in a hurry!”

 

“Aiden told me that Muddy is working seriously on being more disciplined at the plate,” Larry added. “But he’s still got that urge to swing for the fences.”

 

Scott, the next batter, grounded out to third. Lance flied out to right for the second out. Lenny then singled to center. Coach Hallion substituted Skip into the game to bat for Emmett. Skip hit the 2-1 pitch to left for a single, which got his grandma Rita waving the flag she’d constructed from a Yard Goat t-shirt and shouting, “Go Ralphie!” Riley then hit his second RBI single of the game, scoring Lenny from second. Gordy kept the Mayfield crowd lively by drawing a walk to load the bases. Aiden was the next batter and drew a lot of noise by hitting a hard line drive to left which was snagged by Warren. But even with the out, things were looking good for the Goats as they went to the top of the seventh with a 4-0 lead.

 

Coach Hallion had some more lineup juggling to perform. He brought Max in to pitch. Max replaced Skip in the lineup and Mason replaced Lance and went to right field. Miles replaced Grant in the outfield but was switched from right to left. Because Max, who was without question the most temperamental player on the team, felt more comfortable pitching to Mac than to Lenny, Mac replaced Lenny in the lineup. If he were asked about the change, Coach Hallion would deny it was done to placate Max’s ego. He would say that the change was made to have the older, more mature catcher on the field at the end of the game.

 

The Kendall twins led the East Harbor group into another cheer, this one going, “G.O.A.T.S.S.S., Yard Goats are the Best! Best! Best!”

 

Unfortunately, Max was having trouble finding the strike zone, and no amount of encouragement from Mac seemed to help. The Torrance coaches, who were disgusted that they would be playing the worst team in the tournament for the championship, decided to leave early. When Max fell behind 3-0 to Corbin, the Mounties’ leadoff hitter, they changed their minds and found some empty seats. Max issued a four-pitch walk and then threw two balls to Warren that were nowhere near the strike zone. Eric asked for time and sauntered out to the mound to have a chat with the Goat’s closer who seemed to have developed a case of the yips.

 

“You’re better than this,” Eric said. “You know you’re better than this, so pitch like the closer we know you are.”

 

“I’m not getting the corners from the ump,” Max whined.

 

“The ump isn’t going to give you the corners if you don’t hit the corners,” Mac said in his tough, matter-of-fact way. He gave Max a whack on the ass with his mitt. “Just hit my target and life will be good.”

 

“Listen to your catcher,” Eric said. “Quit beating yourself up out here and make them beat you.” Eric and Mac then left the mound for the dugout and home plate respectively.

 

Mac then threw ball three, and then finally threw a strike, generating some catcalls from stands. His next pitch was fouled back and, with the count full, Max issued his second straight walk.

 

Then it came time for the Goats to put their defense to work. Edmund hit a long fly ball to deep center field. Riley turned and ran to the fence, leaped up, and snagged the ball in his glove for the first out. As he landed on his feet ready to throw, he saw that Corbin and Warren had both tagged up. He could see that he had no play on either runner and fired the ball to Trent, who was the cutoff man. Trent saw that Warren had made a wide turn at second and that Aiden had snuck in behind him. He threw a hard strike to Aiden, who slapped a tag on Warren who was still a foot or so off the bag. The situation looked like it was going to be runners on second and third with one out. Instead, it became runner on third with two outs.

 

Once again, Riley showed that he was not the shy, frightened boy who had moved to Mayfield during the school year. Instead, he had become a key ballplayer on a good baseball team.

 

Coach Rohrs, in spite of himself, was beginning to recognize and admire the talent the Goats were showing. “Your guess of a 4-0 final score is looking good,” he remarked to Parker, “but you got the teams reversed.”

 

“How the fuck does that bunch of pissants keep pulling off lucky plays like that?” Coach Parker whined.

 

“Good coaching and smart, talented ballplayers?” Coach Rohrs asked, knowing he was going to be shot down by the head coach. “Bad baserunning by the Canucks helps them, too.”

 

“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Parker groused as he gave the answer his assistant expected. “I’ve seen enough. We’ll be playing in an hour and fifteen minutes, so let’s round up the boys who play on a REAL baseball team and tell them that the Bulldogs will show No Mercy to a bunch of dumb goats. I mean, think about it, what the fuck is a Yard Goat anyway? And we know what a Bulldog can do to a team that’s down and out.”

 

As the two coaches left the stands, Tommy hit a hard line drive toward short. Gordy moved a few steps to his left and then went airborne, catching the ball in his glove before sliding along the infield dirt. He held the ball triumphantly over his head and broke into a wide grin as the umpire signaled the out.

 

The handshakes were quite emotional. The Goats could see the disappointment and tears on the faces of the Mounty players. But the Canadians shook hands, traded hugs, and exchanged high fives with the Mayfield players like the good sports they were.

 

“You guys put those Torrance blokes in their place,” Warren told the Goats. “Those pieces of defecation don’t deserve to win this tournament.” His teammates showed their complete agreement with what he said.

 

Aiden, Gordy, Miles, and Mason gave extra-long and hard hugs to Warren, Tommy, and Asher, the special friends they had made. They promised each other they would stay in contact.

 

The Goats had a hard-fought 4-0 win. In an hour and fifteen minutes they would be playing the Torrance Bulldogs in the championship game. That is, it would be the championship game if Torrance won, since they were given a 1-0 lead in the best of three series as a reward for being the only undefeated team left in the tournament. If Mayfield won the game, the series would be considered tied at 1-1 and the teams would play the IF game to determine the BaseBrawl championship.

 

The tournament committee had set up a gathering area for each of the final three teams’ players, coaches, and fans. Since the Bulldogs were the only team guaranteed to play in a final game, they were assigned to Field 2. The Mounties were assigned Field 3 and the Yard Goats had Field 4. Each field had a large canvas military tent that was set up and maintained by the San Marcos Junior ROTC. Tables and chairs were laid out in each tent to allow for team meetings and meals. The meals were provided by the Consolidated PTAs of East Harbor and San Marcos.

 

With their game over and warmups close to an hour away, the Yard Goats scarfed down sliders, chips, and donuts, which were a great way to fill the time until the championship game.

 

The Goats and some of their East Harbor followers could hear the Bulldogs over on Field 2 promising to play another “No Mercy” game.

 

“We win this game by 20 runs minimum,” Coach Parker boasted. "The dumbass committee is going to learn that if they want people to take their tournament seriously, they’re going to have to invite higher caliber teams. Now, let’s yell out long and hard what the Torrance Bulldogs are going to show in the one and only championship game of this second-rate tournament.”

 

The Bulldogs gathered in a circle, put their hands together.  “Let’s do it three times on three. Ready, one, two, three!” and on three the Bulldogs screamed out, “NO MERCY! NO MERCY! NO MERCY!”

 

“How many are we gonna win by?!!” team captain Carl Floyd yelled out.

 

“Twenty Runs!” the Bulldogs yelled back. “GO DOGS!”

 

Over in the Goats’ tent Cal wanted more than anything to shut the barking dogs up. “Can’t I play my trumpet as least once?” he asked Eric.

 

“For this game, we’ll let our bats, gloves, and arms do all of the talking,” Eric responded. “Sorry, Cal, but that’s how the coaches want it. I don’t know what you heard, but I didn’t hear even a simple strategic goal by their coaches. I think they believe this game is in the bag. We’ll show them otherwise in just a little less than a half an hour.”

 

 

Surrey BC Mounties (27-9)

 

1. Corbin-2B
2. Warren-LF
3. Edmund-1B
4. Tommy-3B
5. Brad-DH batting for Henry-SS
6. Vic-C
7. Seung-CF
8. Lyndon-RF
9. Asher-P

 

Mayfield Yard Goats (27-8)

 

1. Gordy-CF
2. Aiden-2B
3. Trent-3B
4. Muddy-DH batting for Grant-RF
5. Scott-SS
6. Calvin-P
7. Mac-C
8. Max-1B
9. Riley-LF