Coach always said work as a team, but somehow Jimmy didn’t think this is what he meant. Jimmy was easily the strongest kid on the team, the next strongest wasn’t even close, so this job was left to him.
“You don’t have to do this!” Mark’s voice quavered as he pleaded with his teammates. Two boys held his wrist and hand, another held his shoulders in a full nelson while two more held his other arm.
“Yes, we do,” Denis said. “Otherwise, your father will put you in as pitcher again at our next game.”
“I can tell him I don’t want to!” Mark reasoned, desperately.
Kevin laughed out loud. “You’ve never stood up to your old man before. What makes you think you can now?” He looked to Jimmy and cheered him on, “Do it!” he said encouragingly. Mark’s jailers pulled his fore-arm up across the vee of the tree. Tears flowed freely from Mark’s eyes.
He knew that back here in the gully, nobody was coming to save him. The teachers never looked over the edge, it was off limits and why would any student go there?
The sun was beating down on the team as they took the field. The Royals were up by two runs, and there were only two innings left. Jimmy took his usual position in center field, Mark in right-field and Denny in left-field. Kevin was at short-stop, and Derik was on the mound. Tom, Mike, and Ryan held first, second, and third bases.
The other team, the Angels, were having a hard time hitting off of Derik. He was a lefty with a wicked curve that looked like it was going to hit you. All they had to do was keep the other team from scoring, and they were ready. This was the sixteenth game of the year, and the Royal’s had not lost yet.
The coach was strict. No gum, no soda. Anyone he thought was overweight did extra laps. He was a fanatic when it came to exercise, and we complained at first. Then we won our first game. Not only did we win, but it was also an easy win.
At the next practice, the boys complained less. The exercise was easier than it had been in the beginning, and they could see the results. Some of the boys began doing extra laps for no other reason than they could.
There were two outs when the coach interrupted the game for substitutions. He pulled Derik off of the mound, and Mark out of right-field. We were expecting him to put Mitch on the mound. His fastball was hot, but a bit unpredictable, he walked almost as many as he struck out, but no one had ever hit a fair ball off of him this season.
There was a commotion in the dugout. Mitch was screaming at the coach and threw his glove on the ground before screaming some more. While he screamed, Mark went back on the field and began tossing back and forth with the catcher. The team watched as Mitch collected his stuff and jumped on his bicycle.
Doug jumped up from the bench and took a position in the right-field. He shrugged his shoulders to Tom as he passed. “I don’t know what’s going on,” he said as he passed.
Mark concluded his warmup pitches, and the umpire restarted the game. The batter stepped up and took his position. Mark pitched, and the batter swung hard at it. The crack of the bat announced the fly ball’s birth. It was headed over Denny’s head, so he began running back. Kevin ran behind him for the relay exactly as they had trained.
Denny reached the ball, grabbed it, and threw as hard as he could to Kevin. The batter was rounding second by the time Denny threw. Kevin caught the ball in time to turn and see the batter rounding third, he threw hard to home, it was going to be close.
The catcher, Steven, had played the position for two years, and he was good at it. He wasn’t afraid to get run into, but he knew he had to let the runner through too. He leaned forward, caught the ball, and tagged the runner as he passed by.
“You’re out!” the umpire roared.
A cheer went up from all the Royal’s as well as the parents that were watching the game.
“Nice throw!” Ryan said as Kevin passed him on the way to the bench.
“Why are you pitching?” Kevin asked Mark.
Mark looked down at the ground before answering. “Dad wants me to.”
“You have a problem with that?” the coach asked Kevin.
“Well, I was hoping we would finish the season undefeated,” he answered defiantly.
The coach got really red and began ranting. “If you don’t like my coaching, you can take off and join Mitch. Neither one of you will play the rest of this season.”
Kevin sat there quietly and bit his tongue.
“That’s what I thought,” the coach said as he moved away and read from the batting list. “You’re up, Derik.”
The team didn’t play as well as they usually did, but they did manage to make another run before taking the field again. They were still winning; the score was three nothing.
Again Mark took the mound at his father’s direction. The next pitch was wide. “Ball one,” the umpire called.
Mark was clearly shaken by the earlier hit, and he walked the batter.
“Get it together, Mark,” Kevin yelled.
“Keep it to yourself,” the coach yelled at him. “You can do it, Mark. Concentrate like you did during practice.”
“Practice?” everyone thought at the same time. Mark had never practiced pitching that they knew of. Were he and his father practicing after practice?
It was known that the coach was Mark’s father. They didn’t hide it or anything. The coach for every team was usually one of the boy’s fathers. It was a volunteer position, and not everyone was qualified to do it.
Two batters popped out, and two more batters were walked. “Bases loaded, stay sharp guys,” Kevin yelled to his teammates.
The new batter connected solidly with the next pitch. You could always tell by the sound the bat made. This one went between center and left fields. Jimmy was closest and began running to where he thought the ball was going to land. There was no chance of catching it. The ball came down twenty feet in front of him, and he chased it. He threw hard and got it to Mike at second base, but the runner was crossing home by the time he turned to throw.
The game was now four to three in the Angel’s favor with two outs. There was no need to continue; they had lost.
Jimmy lined up and punched as hard as he could. A loud snap sounded as at least one of the two bones in his arm broke. An instant sweat formed on Mark’s forehead. “It looks like you fell down and will not be able to pitch at tomorrow’s game, Mark,” Jimmy said.
“Wait until I tell my dad!” Mark cried as the others released his arm.
“Grab his leg,” Jimmy said. Mark looked shocked as he cradled his right arm in his left.
“What are you doing?” Kevin said, shocked.
“Hold his leg up,” Jimmy said in a deadly serious voice. “If he’s going to tell his dad, I’m going to take revenge now while it’s easy,” he reasoned.
Mark fought as best he could with a broken arm, but the team managed to get his leg up against the tree.
Jimmy paused and looked into Mark’s eyes. “It’s your choice. Tell your dad you fell down, or we break your leg. Cross us, and I’ll break them both.” Mark looked in Jimmy’s eyes for a long time.
“I can’t believe I was so clumsy,” Mark finally said.
“What you can tell your dad is how the team helped you out of the woods after your arm broke,” Jimmy said. “Help him get to the nurse, Kevin.”
“Why me?” Kevin complained as he moved closer to Mark. Jimmy didn’t answer him, so they began moving towards the school.
“Mark,” Jimmy called to him. He hadn’t moved since giving orders. “Don’t make me drag you down here again. I won’t invite the others; it will be just you and me.”
Mark shuddered at the thought and promised himself to keep this secret until he died.
Mitch missed the next game. The coach would not let him play without an apology, which was more than he was willing to do. Derik could not pitch in the last game, so the team begged him to apologize, and he gave in. Mitch pitched the best game of his young life, and the Royal’s won again.
In an eighteen game season, they won seventeen. Mark’s father never coached again because Mark changed schools. Most of the boys suspected that Mark ratted on them, but Jimmy was sure he had not.