Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2023 00:59:46 +0000
From: Douglas DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: Mayfield Magic Chapter 30

Greetings and welcome back to the Yard Goat's third game of the day—this
one for all the marbles. Be sure to check out the new chapter of East
Harbor Boys, which should post on Nifty the same time as this chapter.
You'll be able to get the perspective of the East Harbor boys on the long
day of baseball.

Please donate to the Nifty Archive to show your appreciation for what they
provide.

Your emails are always appreciated, especially as the BaseBrawl draws to a
close. thehakaanen@hotmail.com.

Douglas

CHAPTER 30
SOCAL BASEBRAWL-DAY 6
SUNDAY, AUGUST 2

NEVER GIVE UP-PIXIE DUST

It seemed to the Goats that they had just settled into their seats when
Coach Hallion told them to go into the outfield and warm their arms
up. Aiden and Mac had already gone to the Field 1 first base bullpen to get
Aiden ready to pitch.

During the break between the Championship game and the IF game, a program
of baseball songs, including "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" and
"Centerfield", was played on the Field 1 PA system and many fans sang along
with the music.

Always one to notice details, Eric took a look at the flags flying over the
center field scoreboard.

"Wind's blowing out to left center," he remarked to Hallion. "Anything hit
that way is gonna get some help. And it's a high sky today, too."

"Agreed," Hallion said. "I think center is the sun field here on Field 1 -
it could get tricky out there in the later innings."

Larry, Phil, Paul, and Arnie had taken seats behind the third base dugout -
Rita Emerson, carrying her flag made from a Yard Goats T-shirt, was sitting
with them. Larry saw coach Dallas Baker and two of the Huntington Beach
Wave players coming up the steps and beckoned them to join them.

"Greetings, Dallas," Larry said. "Feel free to join us."

"Thanks, coach," Dallas replied. He introduced the two players with him as
team captain Bryce Rushton and pitcher Russell Livingston and handshakes
were exchanged. Bryce, a tall handsome fourteen-year-old, was Huntington
Beach's first baseman and had brought his glove with him.

There were no pregame ceremonies before the IF game - those had all been
taken care of before the Playoff game. The PA announcer greeted the fans
and announced the lineups.

"The visiting team, coached by Robert Parker, the Torrance Bulldogs!
Leading off, in center field, #10, Howie Duran!  Batting second, at third
base, #15, Edwin Spears! Batting third, at shortstop, #18, LeBron Redding!
Batting cleanup, in right field, #20, Maurice Wagner!  Batting fifth, at
first base, #2, Carl Isabelli! Batting sixth, the DH, #25, Rhett Gunderson!
Batting seventh, in left field, #17, Mike Kenyon! Batting eighth, the
catcher, #14, Royce Dixon!  Batting ninth, at second base, #9, Clay
Corrigan!  And the pitcher, #22, Alan Peterson!"

"The visiting team on the scoreboard, coached by Robert Parker, is the
Torrance Bulldogs! Leading off, in center field, #10, Howie Duran. Batting
second, at third base, #15, Edwin Spears. Batting third, at shortstop, #18,
LeBron Redding. Batting cleanup, in right field, #20 Maurice Wagner!"  The
announcer paused a moment for effect and then went on. "Batting fifth, at
first base, #2 Cal Isabell. Hitting sixth, the designated hitter, Rhett
Gunderson. Batting seventh, in left field, #17, Mike Kenyon. Batting
eighth, the catcher, #14. Royce Dixon. Batting ninth, at second base, #9,
Clay Corrigan! And pitching is #22, Alan Perterson!"

The Yard Goats wouldn't be running out on the field when their names were
announced but they got a thrill out of hearing them. For them, this was the
big time.

"The home team on the scorebaord, coached by James Hallion, is the Mayfield
Yard Goats!  Leading off, at shortstop, #2, Gordon Lansing! Batting second,
in right field, #7, Scott Keller! Batting third, at third base, #20, Trent
Hallion! Batting cleanup, the DH, #13, Mudrak Babik!"

The announcer was reading the names as they appeared in the official
tournament program. A couple of the Goats had to wonder for a moment who
Mudrak was, but Muddy quickly popped into their heads. The announcer
continued his animated introduction of the Mayfield lineup.

"Batting fifth, at first base, #22, Nolan Moyer! Batting sixth, the
pitcher, #3, Aiden Miller! Batting seventh, in center field, #6, Riley
Newton! Batting eighth, the catcher, #28, Mackenzie Dixon! Batting ninth,
the left fielder, #9, Grant Foster! And at second base, #11, Mason Johnson!

"The umpires are Mike Lewis at the plate, John Wells at first, and Ken
Cassen at third."

Following Aiden's eighth warmup toss, Mac fired the ball down to Mason at
second base. The Goats pegged the ball around the infield from third to
short to second to first. Nolan lobbed the ball to his boyfriend on the
mound with a look in his eyes that said, "Go get 'em, Sweet Cakes."

The plate umpire hollered "batter up" and Howie stepped into the batter's
box. Aiden drew a cheer from the Mayfield crowd with a fast ball for a
called strike one and the IF game was under way. Howie then blistered
Aiden's second pitch to right center for a solid single.

Everyone wondered how Aiden would react to the quick setback. Would this be
the Aiden who was the unflappable number two starter during the season or
the Aiden who had melted down in his tournament start against Torrance?

For his part, Aiden knew Howie had hit a mistake pitch and vowed to bear
down and throw better pitches to Edwin. Throwing his usual mix of fastballs
and changeups (with an occasional curve in the mix) he struck out Edwin on
a 2-2 change that Mike Lewis called strike three. Edwin thought the pitch
was outside and gave Mike a quick glare before returning to the
dugout. Mike made a mental note of Edwin's number to aid his memory should
the batter decide to make a more emphatic protest in a subsequent at bat.

With one out, Aiden now had to face LeBron, the Bulldogs' best hitter. To
make it worse, he would have to face him with a runner in scoring position
as Howie stole second on the first pitch to LeBron. The second pitch was a
sinking fast ball at the knees on the inside corner that LeBron somehow
turned into a double off the left field fence to score Howie with the first
run of the game. Aiden then walked Maurice on a very close 3-2 pitch. The
Bulldogs had visions of a No Mercy victory. Coach Hallion was considering
who to send to the bullpen to warm up.

Eric asked for time and trotted out with Mac to chat with Aiden. Normally,
he would have let Mac handle a first inning threat, but Coach Hallion was
worried about Aiden's frame of mind and asked Eric to make a mound visit.

"Settle down," Eric said calmly. "Let's control the damage." Eric looked
directly at Aiden and was pleased to see the fire was in his eyes, which
hadn't been the case in Friday's slaughter.

"No worries, coach. I made a mistake to Howie, that walk came on some close
pitches—I thought I was right there on two of them—and LeBron is a
great hitter and hit a good pitch. I'll hold them," he said confidently.

"His pitches have good movement, which wasn't the case the last time he
pitched," Mac noted.

"I saw that, too," Eric said. "Keep up the good work."

When play resumed, Carl came to the plate ready to keep the line moving and
knock in a run or two to start the inevitable slaughter. As he settled into
the batter's box, he sneered at Aiden and mouthed, "I own you." But Aiden
ignored him and backed up his promise with a vicious 0-2 sinker that Carl
grounded to Mason, who fielded it and tossed it to Gordy at second to start
a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. The damage had been limited to one
run.

As they entered the dugout Aiden high fived Mason. "It's always good to
know you have a great second baseman backing you up," Aiden, the Goats'
regular second baseman, grinned. Mason felt a glow of warmth for the
recognition he received from his best friend.

As Alan took his warmups for the Bulldogs, he tried to shake off the bad
feelings he had about his experience as one of the Torrance pickup
pitchers. The feelings had been chasing him since his first workout with
the team and he couldn't shake them off. Outside of a couple of players, he
didn't like his teammates, who he thought were too full of themselves, or
the coaches, especially Coach Parker, who he thought had treated him
unfairly. But despite all the negatives, here he was the starting pitcher
of the championship game. That, by itself, was a big help in fighting off
his negative feelings.

Alan might not have liked the situation he was in, but in the end he was a
competitor who loved pitching and he was determined to give his best effort
to the Bulldogs because that was what a competitor was supposed to do.

The Goats went down in order. Gordy fouled out to left, Scott grounded out
to short, and Trent struck out. The half inning went so quickly, Aiden had
no time to review his work in the top of the first except to be grateful he
pitched the way he was capable of pitching and was able to limit the damage
to one run.

Aiden pitched a perfect second inning. In his Friday game against Torrance,
he was so off kilter mentally he didn't perform his main job, which was to
focus on throwing his pitches. His pitches, especially his fastball, had no
movement, and he was throwing everything up in the strike zone. The first
inning had been an improvement and in the second inning he was throwing
what he and Mac considered to be his pitches—pitches with movement that
were usually low in the strike zone.

Rhett, who was the Bulldog DH, grounded to Gordy at short for the first
out. Mike, the left fielder, grounded to Mason at second for the second
out. That was followed by Royce, the catcher, grounding to Trent at third
for the third out.

"You had them pounding the ball into the ground," Mac complimented Aiden as
they headed to the dugout. "Good work."

"Plus, I spread the wealth. The whole infield was in on the fun," Aiden
said. The fact that Aiden said something that wasn't dead serious wasn't
lost on Mac. Grunts and growls were pretty much all he had to say on
Friday; Aiden was in a much different space in this game.

The Goat bats woke up in the bottom of the second. Muddy started the inning
by flying out to deep center. Coach Parker had Howie, the center fielder,
playing deep making the catch of the hard-hit ball relatively easy. Nolan
then doubled into the left/center gap for the Goats' first hit. Aiden hit
the ball to his off field, grounding out to first. It was what many
considered to be a "productive" out, however, since it moved Nolan to
third.

Riley then drew a four-pitch walk, which frustrated Alan. He could live
with the double—good hitters hit the ball, even on good pitches, which
is what Nolan had done. But in his mind, there was no excuse for walking a
little pissant like Riley on four pitches. That brought up Mac. Alan was
determined to start the at bat with a strike and ended up grooving the
pitch which Mac lined to dead center for an RBI single. Mac's single had
Arnie leaping out of his seat whooping and hollering, happy to see his son
contribute a big hit and tie the game at 1-1. Grant ended the inning by
striking out swinging.

Aiden threw another scoreless inning in the top of the third. Clay hit a
lazy fly to Grant in left. Howie followed that with a single for his second
hit of the game. With Edwin at the plate, Howie took off for second on the
third pitch. Aiden's fastball on the outside corner was a perfect pitch for
Mac to catch and throw on. His throw was right on the money to Gordy, who
was covering second, and Howie was nailed for the second out. Edwin then
bounced a grounder to Aiden's right. Aiden's first reaction was to try to
field it, then he remembered who his shortstop was. Aiden let the grounder
go, allowing Gordy to race up to the ball, snatch it up on a tough
in-between hop, and nail Edwin by a step at first for the third out.

"Those Goats have one tough infield," Dallas told Russell, one of the
Huntington players who had come to the game with him.

"Good job by Aiden of letting the ball go. I don't think he would have had
a play if he'd fielded it himself," Russell, who was a pitcher, observed.

Dallas nodded in agreement since Russell was technically right. But Dallas
knew that Aiden was an outstanding fielder and couldn't help but wonder if
he might have been good enough to get the out. The fact that Aiden did the
right thing said it all, however.

Gordy snapped out of an 0-for-9 slump with a solid single to lead off the
inning. He clapped with pleasure after reaching first. "Nothing to be happy
about," Carl, the first baseman, said. "You know you guys are doomed and
your single isn't gonna mean bleep." Gordy ignored him. The Goats knew that
the only way to battle the mouths of the Bulldogs was to keep their own
mouths shut and score more runs than them.

Like the Bulldogs in the top of the inning, the Goats put the game in
motion. Unlike the Bulldogs they were successful. Gordy just beat the tag
at second for a stolen base. Scott then surprised Torrance by dropping down
a bunt up the third base line, which Alan fielded. Seeing he didn't have a
play at third, Alan threw Scott out at first. Scott's sacrifice bunt moved
Gordy to third.

On Alan's first pitch to him, Trent fouled the ball up into the third base
stands behind the Goats' dugout.

"Heads up!!" Larry shouted.

Bryce Rushton held up his gloved hand and snared the ball cleanly to cheers
from the Mayfield fans. He looked around and spotted a eight year old
red-headed boy wearing a Mayfield cap, who was sitting in the row behind
him. He handed the ball to the youngster even though he knew he was
expected to throw it back to somebody in the field.

"Here ya go, buddy."

The glow in the boy's green eyes was unforgettable. "Oh, thank you!!" he
said appreciatively. The boy had told him that he lived in Oceanside and
that his father was a Mayfield High School graduate who had played baseball
there.

"You're welcome!" Bryce said. Bryce learned later that he had played for
Coach Larry Sanders and that his old coach had mailed the Mayfield cap for
his son to wear.

Trent singled Gordy home to give the Goats a 2-1 lead. Muddy then struck
out, Nolan walked, and Aiden grounded sharply to short. LeBron fielded the
ball and went the short way to Clay at second to force Nolan and end the
inning.

LeBron led off the fourth inning. Once again Aiden was reminded what a
great hitter he was. Aiden threw him a sinker on a 2-1 pitch. It was a good
pitch but didn't quite sink enough. LeBron was able to get enough of it to
send it over the left field fence to tie the game. Aiden thought that while
his pitch had been a good one, it hadn't been a great one, and LeBron, who
was a big, strong kid, was able to get all of it.

Friday's Aiden might have folded right then, but today's Aiden was able to
battle back to strike out Maurice on a changeup. Carl came to the plate
with a smirk. "I totally own you," he mouthed as if his first at bat hadn't
happened. He then drilled a single on a poor pitch by Aiden. That mistake
pitch irked him way more than LeBron's home run had. Aiden ignored Carl's
fakes to second, figuring correctly that the first baseman wasn't a base
stealer. Instead, he concentrated on Rhett, who hit a 1-2 pitch at the
knees for a hot shot to Trent, who fired the ball to Mason at
second. Mason, who often joined Gordy and Aiden in the practices in Aiden's
back yard, turned a perfect pivot to get Rhett by two steps at first to
complete the tailor made around the horn double play. It was the Goats'
second double play of the game.

"That kid's probably played five innings at second all year and the little
shit turns a perfect double play pivot," Coach Parker moaned to Coach
Rohrs. "I can't stand it."

"We know it's all about pixie dust," Coach Rohrs said.

"Whatever. I'm just trying to figure out what I've done to earn the
punishment of watching what they're doing to us."

Parker's mood improved considerably in the bottom of the fourth. He had
told Alan that this would be his last inning and Alan decided to go out
with his fastball blazing. The result was his striking out the side. Riley
took a called third strike. Mac and Grant both went down swinging. Alan's
four inning performance earned him some respect from his teammates, but it
was after the fourth inning that he felt like a part of the team for the
first time.

The Bulldogs went into the top of the fifth stoked by Alan's performance
and ready to run up a string of runs. Even though the bottom of the lineup
would be coming up, they were ready to break the 2-2 tie and put together a
string of runs.

As the inning started, Paul noted that nobody was warming up for the
Goats. "What does Aiden's pitch count look like?"  he asked Larry.

"My count says he has 18 pitches left. If he pitches like he has been, he
should be able to complete the inning. It looks to me like James has Riley
in line to pitch next seeing as Calvin just ran out to center field. Oh,
and I just noticed that Emmett has replaced Scott in right, which means
Scott could be the next in line and not Riley. Calvin is out of the mix
since he's maxed out his pitches. I guess more shall be revealed."

The attention went back to the field where Aiden was ready to face Mike,
the left fielder, who had grounded out to second his first time up. Aiden
enticed him to hit another grounder. This bounced to Nolan's right. Nolan
deftly fielded it and flicked the ball to Aiden, who had hustled over to
cover first, for a nice 3-1 putout.

Royce, the catcher, hit the ball hard to right field. Emmett ran back on
it. He ran a poor route and almost lost track of the ball, but he picked it
up in time to run to his left and reach for the ball. He caught it after
turning a relatively easy play into a difficult one. That didn't stop his
teammates and the Mayfield fans from cheering his catch.

Aiden then struck out Erik, who was pinch hitting for Clay to end the
inning and his stint on the mound. He had more than made up for his
performance on Friday by pitching five solid innings when James and Eric
were hoping to get four innings from him. He gave up five hits and two runs
while walking one and striking out three.

Marshall was the new pitcher for the Bulldogs and Clay re-entered the game
and continued at second base. The Mayfield fans noted that Riley was now in
the bullpen warming up with Lenny.

Marshall hadn't pitched much in the tournament. He had been a workhorse
during the regular season, a role which put a lot of wear and tear on his
arm. Marshall had complained that his arm felt tired. Because of the
one-sided wins the Bulldogs enjoyed, Coach Parker kept his use of the
pitcher minimal.  But now the team was in a close game fighting for the
championship. When asked, Marshall said that his arm felt fine and he was
ready to pitch. The bottom of the fifth started out with a cluster fuck of
a play that wasn't Marshall's fault but made him wish he had begged off
pitching.

Gordy led off the inning. Marshall looked sharp as he quickly went ahead
0-2. He threw a shoulder high waste pitch that Gordy let go by. It was the
next pitch that had Coach Parker ready to tear his hair out and brought the
frustrations of the Bulldog fans almost to the breaking point.

Marshall's 1-2 pitch was a curve ball that broke down into the dirt. It was
a pitch that Gordy would normally lay off of, but Marshall executed the
pitch so well that it fooled Gordy and he swung and missed as it hit the
dirt. Unfortunately, it also fooled Royce, the catcher, and skipped by him
to the backstop. Hearing his teammates yell for him to run, Gordy saw Royce
chasing after the ball and took off for first.

Royce grabbed the ball and felt he had a good chance of throwing Gordy out
at first. He took a couple steps to his left to get a good angle for his
throw and fired the ball to first. However, he overthrew the ball, and it
sailed over Carl's head into short right field. Gordy took off for second
as Carl ran down the ball. Carl decided to end the play right then by
throwing Gordy out at second. The first baseman didn't take into account
Gordy's speed, however, and ended up overthrowing LeBron, who was covering
second. Since the play happened in front of him, Gordy hit the base and
kept on running to third. Howie, the center fielder, backed up the play but
saw he didn't have a throw to third and threw the ball to Clay, who was set
up near second base.  Clay asked for time, which Mike Lewis granted. But
the Bulldog mess still had one more trick left.

The play was scored a strike out, a wild pitch, an error on the catcher,
and an error on the first baseman. The result was Gordy standing on third
with nobody out and Calvin coming to the plate. Marshall's first pitch to
Calvin was over the plate at eye level. Royce rose up from his crouch and
raised his mitt to catch the ball.

That led to the finale of the mess; Royce didn't catch the ball. The ball
glanced off his mitt and flew to the backstop. Gordy broke for home as
Royce chased it down. Marshall came down to cover home plate, which was the
pitcher's job when the ball got past the catcher with a runner on
third. Royce picked up the ball and threw it to Marshall at home. Marshall
had to reach for the throw as Gordy slid safely across the plate. Gordy had
gone all the way around the bases and scored a run without a bat ever
touching a ball. The Bulldogs had just handed the Goats a 3-2 lead in the
bottom of the fifth. The play was scored as a passed ball on Royce.

"I totally don't believe what I just saw," Parker ranted to Coach Rohrs. "I
know I've been saying that, but what just happened is just totally beyond
belief. I've never seen even the worst team let a guy come to the plate and
make it all the way around the bases without anybody hitting the
ball—and that bunch just did it. It's pixie dust, I tell you...fucking
pixie dust."

"No offense coach, but those guys didn't do anything. We did it for
them. That was all on us and that had nothing to do with pixie dust."

After the real dust settled, the scoreboard indicated that the count on Cal
was 1-0. Cal swung at the second pitch to him and followed up the "pixie
dust" play with a single up the middle. He stole second on the first pitch
to Trent who then hit the next pitch into the gap in left center for a
run-scoring double. The Goats now had a 4-2 lead and there was still nobody
out.

Coach Parker asked for time out and headed to the mound to settle down not
only his pitcher and catcher, but his entire infield. "Hey, look at it this
way," Parker told his players. "What happened at the start of the inning
has never happened to the Torrance Bulldogs in their history and it will
never happen again. So, let's get our minds off it, get out of the inning,
and spend the next two innings being the Torrance Bulldogs who are the big
favorites to win this game and this tournament."

Next up was Muddy and he ripped a 2-1 pitch from Marshall right up the
third base line, but Edwin made a diving catch for the first out. Nolan
then hit a sharp grounder to the left of second that looked like it was
going to head into the outfield for a hit. But long-legged LeBron snagged
the ball and threw it to first to nip Nolan by half a step on a spectacular
play. The Bulldogs, who'd had few opportunities to do so, roared their
approval.

"I hate to say it, but it looks like the Bulldogs have recovered from their
big lapse and have broken out the leather," Phil observed.

"They're a good team that just finished embarrassing itself and are
recovering the way good teams recover from adversity," Larry said. "They're
not going to roll over and die because the situation got out of hand. In
the end, as bad as it looked, it only cost them a run."

Aiden ended the inning by grounding out to Edwin as the third baseman made
another good play. Trent was stranded at second and the fifth inning ended
with the Goats holding a 4-2 lead.

James made numerous changes at the top of the sixth. He re-entered Riley
for Emmett. Riley replaced Aiden on the mound. Lenny replaced Mac at
catcher, Mason moved from second base to right field, taking Emmett's place
on the field, and Aiden moved to second base in place of Mason. Miles
substituted for Grant and went to center field bumping Cal to left.

During Riley's warmup, Lenny could tell that Riley wasn't sharp. Riley
admitted that his arm felt tired as they left the bullpen for the
dugout. He had pitched more in the tournament than he had since the Titan
JV season ended in the spring. Lenny told Riley he was going to tell Eric
about him being tired. Riley nodded in reply as he took a seat on the
bench.

Lenny told Eric what he had observed and what Riley had told him. "Thanks
for telling me, Lenny. You did what a good catcher does."

Eric shared the issue with James. James called Mac and Lance and told them
that Lance might be warming up before the inning was over. With Riley not
being sharp during his warmup, the Goat coaches and Lenny weren't surprised
when he walked Howie on four pitches.

Riley threw strikes to Edwin, but his pitches had no zip. Edwin lined a 2-2
pitch to right center that Miles ran down for out number one. He got the
ball into the infield quickly preventing Howie from advancing.

That brought LeBron to the plate. Coach Parker decided that with the Goat
pitcher obviously struggling, he would send Howie to second. He took off on
the first pitch and made it easily to second for a stolen base. He stole
first on the pitcher because of his inattention instead of on the catcher
for a poor catch or a poor throw. Coach Hallion told Eric to have Lance
warm up. Riley's strength as a pitcher was the extra zip and movement he
usually got on his pitches, and he was showing no zip at all.

LeBron was ready for the fat pitch Riley threw and ripped it to left-center
for an RBI double. He had knocked in all three of the Bulldogs' runs with
two doubles and a home run.

"That wasn't much of a pitch," Phil observed, "but damn that LeBron kid can
play. He's as good as anybody in the tournament."

"The people I've talked to told me that college scouts are already giving
him a look and he just turned 14," Larry said. "I wouldn't be surprised
that some pro scouts may have him in their sights soon."

Riley then walked Maurice which brought James out to the mound. He signaled
for Lance to replace Riley.

"Sorry, coach. I just couldn't get anything going," Riley said as he waited
for Lance to arrive on the mound.

"It's okay, Riley. We worked you pretty hard and you gave it your
best. Lance is good at keeping inherited runners from scoring. We'll get
out of this," Coach Hallion said. What he didn't say is that they had
worked Lance pretty hard as well. Lance replaced Mason in the lineup. Riley
was sent to center field and Miles moved over to right field.

"Lance has to be as worn out as Riley," Phil said to Larry. "I'm surprised
he isn't using Scott, who is one of the top three pitchers on the team."

"Think extra innings," Larry responded.

"But..."

"If you don't have Scott, who do you put in if we go extras?"

"Point made, but still, somebody has to get them through the seventh. And I
guess that would be Max. And if Max doesn't come through you have Scott and
the hope there are no more than two extra innings since I think that's
about all Scott can handle with the number of pitches he has remaining."
Dallas knew Larry was a student of the game and he and his two players
listened intently as the two men discussed the alternatives.

With two runners on base and one out, Carl was eager to knock them both in
and put the Dogs into the lead. Instead, in his eagerness, he rolled his
wrists reaching for an outside fast ball and he slapped a grounder to Gordy
who flipped the ball to Aiden. Aiden made another ballet move at second
with a beautiful turn and threw Carl out by four steps to complete the
double play. It was the third double play turned by the Goats and the
second time Carl had hit into one, something that made all the Goats feel
good since Carl was their least favorite player on the Dogs. The game moved
to the bottom of the sixth with the Goats holding a 4-3 lead.

"Gordy, Aiden, and Nolan are a double play machine," Bryce commented
admiringly. "Man, they're good."

"They practice that play over and over in our back yard," Larry
replied. "It's a pitcher's best friend."

"I'm a pitcher and knowing they're behind me would make me feel pretty
good," Russell added.

"And it's not like the Bulldogs have hit one lazy pop fly after another,"
Dallas said. "They've kept the defense on its toes in both infield and
outfield."

Mike, who had been playing left field for the Bulldogs, came in to pitch
the sixth. Rhett, the DH, took Mike's place in left field, which meant
Torrance no longer had a designated hitter. The Goat fans noted that Max
was warming up in the bullpen.

Riley was the Goats' first batter. While his arm was tired, his bat was not
and he led off with a single up the middle. Lenny then dropped a beautiful
bunt just out of the pitcher's reach and moved Riley to second with the
sacrifice. The Goats now had a runner at second with one out.

But the Goats couldn't take advantage. Miles struck out and Gordy fouled
out to third to end the inning.

Max came into the game to preserve the lead and get the save. Aiden was the
pitcher of record and would get credit for the win if the Goats hung on to
win the game.

But Max wasn't going to get his save and as a result Aiden wouldn't get a
win. Rhett was the first batter for the Bulldogs and showed that LeBron
wasn't the only one who could muscle the ball out of the park. Max fell
behind 2-0 and Rhett got hold of a belt high fastball down the middle,
sending it over the fence in left center field. Cal and Riley started for
the fence, but it was quickly apparent that the ball would clear the fence
with a lot of room to spare. The score was now tied in the top of the
seventh.

"That's what we've been waiting for. That's a Bulldog clutch hit," Parker
shouted from the third base coach's box. "Now let's add on and take the
lead and end this thing."

Max recovered from his disappointment and retired the next three
batters. Mike struck out, Royce hit a routine fly ball to right that Miles
pulled down, and Clay grounded out to Aiden.

Parker entered Tino Suarez into the game for Mike. Tino, who was one of the
mainstays of the Bulldog pitching staff, hadn't pitched a great deal in the
tournament. He was well rested, and his pitch count wouldn't be a factor as
long as the extra innings didn't pile up.

Scott's situation was much the same as Tino's. Calvin and Nolan, the Goat's
pickup pitchers, each had started two games. Trent and Aiden also started
two games apiece and Scott started one game. As a result, he was well
rested as a pitcher and, as with Tino, his pitch count wouldn't be a factor
unless the extra innings started piling up.

Scott had felt put out because he wasn't being used much as a pitcher. The
thought occurred to him as he warmed up during the seventh inning for a
potential eighth inning pitching appearance that he was right where he was
meant to be—pitching extra innings in what was the championship game of
the SoCal BaseBrawl.

The Goats went out routinely in the bottom of the seventh. Scott and Trent
each flied out to left. Muddy belted a solid single to left. With his bench
emptied, James had no one to pinch run for him even though the slow-footed
DH was the winning run. It made no difference because Nolan struck out on a
3-2 pitch.

As soon as Nolan made the last out of the seventh, Scott and Mac left the
bullpen area and made their way to the field. Scott took the mound and
threw his first warmup toss to Mac as the Goats threw a ball around the
infield. Coach Hallion announced his lineup changes to Mike Lewis. After
his eighth warmup toss, Scott surveyed the field. Nolan, Aiden, Gordy, and
Trent made up the infield from first to third. Scott was certain he
couldn't ask for a better set of players to play behind him. He also saw
Clay at second base. Clay was the "ghost" runner. In extra innings, each
team started their offensive half inning with a runner on second base. That
runner was the player who made the last out in the previous inning. In this
case that player was Clay, who had grounded out to second.

Coach Parker disliked using the sacrifice bunt. He had always been
confident that his teams had the hitting prowess to not need to bunt a
runner over a base. But this game against the Goats and their pixie dust
made him nervous. As a result, he decided to have Howie, who was leading
off the inning, bunt Clay to third even though he was already in scoring
position. There were more ways to bring in a run from third than from
second. Parker was afraid even single runs would be hard to come by and was
going to try to get what he could get when he could get it. In other words,
he was going to try some of his own pixie dust.

While Howie was adept with the bat, as his .326 average for the season
indicated, he hadn't bunted much during the season. Parker didn't like
wasting batting practice time on bunting since he had no plans to bunt
runners over. The Yard Goats, like most teams, did spend time
bunting. Coach Hallion required each player to lay down six bunts at the
end of his batting practice turn. Parker decided that since Howie was a
skilled batter and had probably practiced bunting in school ball or the
previous summer, he would be able to lay down a bunt to move Clay over to
third.

But Howie fouled off two pitches trying to bunt and would now have to hit
away. Bunting foul on a two-strike pitch was an automatic out. Parker
called on Howie to hit the ball to right, where a ground out would still
move Clay to third. But Howie didn't get the pitch he wanted and ended up
grounding out to Trent at third. Because the ball was hit in front of him,
Clay couldn't move up. `Well, at least we didn't make a baserunning mistake
in this situation,' Parker thought as Howie went to the dugout and Edwin
came to the plate.

Mike Lewis noted Edwin's number. Since Edwin had been fine in his two
at-bats since his striking out, Mike wasn't too concerned about him. Still,
he wanted to stay aware of players who gave him any concern. The first
pitch was a ball. The second pitch was a belt high strike on the outside
corner, almost in the same spot as the called strike three had been. Edwin
gave Mike a quick glance then dug in for the next pitch, which was on the
outside corner at the knees for a called strike two.

Edwin gave Mike a longer look. Mike clapped his hands and said sternly,
"Let's go, batter."

The next pitch was farther outside, and Mac had to reach for it. Mike
called "Ball", but Edwin either didn't hear him or didn't want to hear
him. He turned and said loudly, "I suppose you're gonna call that a strike,
too."

"BATTER, YOU'RE GONE!" Mike turned to face Coach Parker, who was in the
third base coach's box, and said, "Coach, fifteen is out of the game."

Parker ran down to home plate and faced up to Mike. "What did he say,
Mike?" he barked. Mike told him.

"Well, the catcher did have to reach for it," Parker pointed out.

"Yeah, so? That happens when the pitch is a ball," Mike responded.

"It was?"

"Indeed, it was and I called it a ball. And that said, get a pinch hitter
up so we can get the game restarted."

Parker shook his head and faced the first base dugout. He knew Mike Lewis
was a good umpire and a fair umpire. He also knew that too much arguing
about ball and strike calls would shorten Lewis's fuse quickly, so he
didn't pursue the discussion. "Julio, grab a bat and finish the at bat," he
called out.

Julio grabbed his bat and Parker started back to the coach's box. "I
thought he struck out," Julio said to his coach.

"The count is 2-2," Parker responded. "We need a hit."

In the dugout, Edwin turned to Carl, his best buddy. "Why is Julio hitting
for LeBron?" he asked.

"He's not. He's hitting for you because you got ejected for whatever it was
you said."

"But that was strike three!"

"The ump called it a ball. And let me tell you, it's a good thing you're
one of my best buds or I'd have to tell you what a dumb shit you are."

"You mean that kid actually got ejected for arguing a ball call?" Paul
asked Larry.

"Yes, he did, believe it or not."

"I have to believe it, but that team is getting weirder and weirder. I'm
just glad Nolan doesn't play on a team like that. I don't think either he
or I could have handled it."

"I got a chuckle out of the way Parker didn't push it," Phil laughed. "He
knew damn well he'd get the heave-ho from Lewis if he kept talking."

Down on the field, Julio, who had to come up to bat cold, swung and missed
a high fastball out of the strike zone. Mac had decided to have Scott tempt
the unprepared batter with the high pitch and it worked perfectly.

LeBron was the next hitter. He took care of business on the first pitch as
he hit his third double of the game to drive in Clay from second.  Maurice
then lofted a long fly ball to center that had `routine' written all over
it and Riley ran it down for the third out.

The Bulldogs now led 5-4 as the game went into the bottom of the
eighth. Coach Parker kept Julio in the game. Julio would be playing second
base and Clay was moved to third base, which was where Edwin had been
playing. Suarez remained on the mound. And for the Goats, this time it was
do or die time.

Since Nolan had struck out to end the seventh inning, he was the "ghost"
runner in the eighth. Aiden quickly turned his boyfriend into a run scorer
when he doubled to left, sending Nolan home standing up to tie the game
5-5. Aiden would have loved trying to stretch his double into a triple, but
the Dogs did a good job of getting the ball back into the infield. The
double put him into scoring position, and he would have been an easy out if
he'd kept going. The Goats had the winning run on second with nobody
out. Stopping at second was what was best for the team.

Suarez buckled down and enticed Riley into popping up behind first
base. Carl and Julio both went for it, but Julio had the better angle and
called Carl off, catching the ball a couple of steps into foul
territory. Mac hit a routine fly to left for the second out. Miles then
rapped a ball that looked like it would go through the infield for what
would be the game winning single. But LeBron surprised nobody by moving
left and scooping up the ball just before it passed him. He fired the ball
on the run to Carl at first to get Miles by a step to end the inning. But
the game would be moving to the ninth as once again it was tied.

Scott went to the mound for his second inning. He got two quick strikes on
Carl, but he couldn't close the deal on the much despised first baseman and
Carl hit a weak grounder on the 0-2 pitch. While the ball hadn't been hit
hard, it was hit out of the reach of the pitcher and the charging third
baseman and Carl ended up on first with an infield single. Maurice, who was
the "ghost" runner, advanced to third on the play.

Rhett, who had hit the game tying home run in the seventh inning, did
himself one better in this at bat. While he didn't homer, he did hit a
solid double off the right field fence to knock in Maurice and Carl. The
Bulldogs now had what looked like an insurmountable 7-5 lead that had them
celebrating hard in their dugout. They still had no outs and had Rhett in
scoring position.

Eric came out of the dugout for a mound conference. "How's his stuff?" Eric
asked Mac.

Mac wasn't expecting the first question. His experience with Eric told him
he would talk to Scott first because he almost always started his mound
conference talking to the pitcher. "His stuff is good. That bleeder by Carl
was a killer, though."

Eric looked at Scott. "It was kind of evil. But the double was solid, so
shake them both off and let's let that runner die on second. You're the man
Scott—so take it the rest of the way. You're good and I know you can do
it."

"No doubt about that," Mac said. Mike Lewis broke up the conference. Eric
headed back to the dugout and Mac returned home and squatted behind the
plate.

Scott got a big first out by striking out Mike Kenyon on a 1-2 curve. But
he wasn't close to out of trouble yet as he walked Royce, the catcher, on a
3-1 pitch. That brought up Clay, who was the number nine hitter in the
lineup. Scott knew that getting this out was huge and he had to shake off
walking Royce. Scott threw two fastballs that he wanted to cross the plate
low in the strike zone. He was too low both times and was behind 2-0. His
next pitch was exactly what he wanted to throw—a fastball at the
knees. Considering the count, it was a pitch that Clay should have let
go. Instead, he took an aggressive swing and hit a hard ground ball
directly to Aiden who scooped it up and flicked it to Gordy at
second. Gordy threw to Nolan at first to complete a "room service" 4-6-3
double play to end the inning. It was the fourth double play turned by the
Goats.

Mac squeezed Scott's shoulder as they walked off the field. "Great
pitch. Great job. Now we'll get those runs back."

"Even better, we'll get those runs back and add another one to end this
game so we can party," Scott grinned. Mac was glad to see Scott return to
his loose self. He wasn't used to seeing Scott getting rattled on the
mound. "We need two runs back plus one," Scott announced as he entered the
dugout.

Cal had been talking things up in the dugout. He grinned as Scott had his
say. "Okay guys, you all know that Goats never give up—they just lower
their heads and butt through everything."

"Then let's butt our way through these turkeys," Aiden said. "This is the
last team we want to see win the game, let alone the championship, so we
gotta get two plus one. Get us started, Gordy."

Gordy came to the plate and nodded to Miles, who was the "ghost" runner at
second, as if to say he was going to knock him in. He didn't knock Miles
in, but he did get on base when he hustled to first on a routine grounder
to second that Julio fielded cleanly but juggled the ball removing it from
his glove. He regained control and fired the ball to first, but it was too
late. Gordy beat it by less than a step. Gordy had shown everybody why a
player should always hustle to first no matter how routine the play
looked. His hustle meant that Scott was coming to the plate as the winning
run. Miles advanced to third on the play, which he would have done even if
Gordy had been thrown out.

Scott hit the second pitch from Suarez high and deep to Howie in left
center. The crowd came to its feet with a roar.

"That one's up in the sun!" Eric shouted. "Could be a tough catch!" Several
of the Goats jumped to the dugout rail to watch the play.

The wind grabbed the ball and sent it deeper than Howie figured. For a
moment, he lost the ball in the sun but by holding his left hand above his
face to shield his eyes, he managed to get the ball back in sight and made
the catch. He saw Miles tag up and head for home - his eyes were still
smarting from staring into the blazing sun. He fired the ball into the
infield but instead of playing good fundamental baseball and trying to hit
Clay, the cutoff man, Howie tried to throw Miles out on his own. There was
no way he was going to get Miles, but the missed cutoff man meant Gordy was
able to motor to second, which put the tying run in scoring position. Once
again poor fundamentals had cost the Bulldogs. Advantage: Goats.

"How did this team win so many games playing such poor fundamental
baseball?" Paul asked Larry.

"Superior talent," Larry said matter-of-factly. "And they are the more
talented group of players on the field in this game, but we have a better
TEAM. Now we'll see which comes to the play here in crunch time."

The Goats now trailed 7-6 and had the tying run in scoring position with
one out. Trent was the batter. Cal's words went through his head. "The
Goats never give up," he had said. `And this was the time where the Goats
show what they are made of' Trent thought.

And while he didn't think it, it was also the time where Trent would show
what he was made of. Suarez took a deep breath and started Trent with an
inside pitch that moved him back. Ball one. Trent glanced up into the
stands and saw Rita Emerson cheering and waving her Yard Goats flag - he
smiled and felt his confidence level surge.

Suarez's second offering was a fastball that was just a whisker high. Trent
started after it but checked his swing. Royce, the catcher, asked the plate
umpire to appeal. Mike Lewis pointed to the first base umpire who
immediately signaled "no swing". Ball two.

"Good eye, Trent!" Hallion hollered.

The Mayfield fans started the chant: "Hal-yun! Hal-yun! Hal-yun!" The sound
of the fans and of his coach's compliment seemed to feed additional
confidence into Trent.

Suarez's 2-0 pitch was a strike that was in the perfect spot for Trent to
show what he was made of. The muscular fourteen-year-old saw the pitch
clearly, got all of it, and everyone, including Tino Suarez, knew from the
moment the ball left the bat that the game was over. The ball sailing over
the left field fence confirmed it. Bedlam broke out as Trent circled the
bases.

The Goats patiently waited in the dugout. They had been warned many times
to not celebrate a home run on the field until the home run hitter touched
home plate. Nobody wanted a rule technicality to screw things up. The
players were ready to charge the field as soon as Trent, who was racing
around the bases, touched home plate. He was running fast because he knew
his impatient teammates were totally poised to run onto the field to
celebrate.

Fans and players alike cheered loudly when Gordy scored the tying run. As
Trent rounded third the Goats edged onto the field and when he finally
touched home, they raced onto the field and tackled the hero of the
game. There was a big dog pile as the players rolled around and on each
other and the fans cheered the celebrating Goats.

Not all the fans were happy of course. Most of the Bulldog fans were
naturally very disappointed but still sportsmanlike. However, one
loudmouthed fan spoke for many of them when he screamed at the umpires as
they dashed off the field. "You idiots know you won the game for them. You
know you took the championship away from the best team in the tournament
and the one who deserved to win. I hope you guys can sleep at night."

"The umpires didn't create the fifth inning chaos that led to a pretty big
run scoring," Larry pointed out to Phil, Paul, and Arnie. They nodded in
agreement and like all of the Mayfield fans and almost all of the other
fans, they knew that on that day the better team won the tournament.

Mike Lewis and his partners couldn't help but laugh at the lunatic in the
stands, but they also knew that some of those lunatics could get involved
in violent lunacy. As a result, they continued their dash with the
assistance of security guards until they reached the admin building.

Back on the field, the Yard Goats finally got back on their feet. They
gathered together as Calvin put his trumpet to his lips and blew the
"Charge" fanfare with the Goats yelling, "We are the Goats...Gooooooooo
Goats," in near perfect unison. Cal blew a two-note coda and the players
came down a little from their high long enough to see if there were any
hands to shake.

They didn't expect to see any and were surprised to see four Bulldog
players standing patiently in front of the first base dugout: LeBron,
Julio, Erik, and Marshall. LeBron, who was the leader of the group, stepped
forward and said, "Sorry my teammates are gone, but they headed over to
Field 2." Chairs had been set up on the Field 2 infield for the two teams
to sit in. A podium, a large table, and a PA system had been set up between
the two sets of seats. More chairs were also set up in the middle for
tournament dignitaries.

"I suppose we'd all better head over there," Nolan said.

"I think there's still time," Aiden said. "They have to wait until
everybody in the stands moves over to Field 2 for the ceremony."

"It is kind of weird that they didn't just set everything up here," Julio
commented.

"That way they were able to set everything up before the game ended," Trent
pointed out. "They probably thought it was easier and quicker to set up
Field 2—I bet it was ready long before the seventh inning ended."

On that note the four Bulldog players started trading high fives, fist
bumps, and handshakes with the Goat players, who were pleased that the
Bulldogs had some players with class. "You're a wicked good player," Aiden
told LeBron as they shook hands. "I know you were on the other team, but
playing you was, like, pretty special." LeBron had gone 4-1-4-4 in the game
with three doubles and a home run.

"Thanks," LeBron said. "With all those triples you've been hitting, I was
almost rooting for you to stretch your double into a triple. Almost."

"I didn't even try, as you know. If I'd kept going for third I would have
been out by ten feet."

Nolan surprised LeBron by giving him a big hug. Feeling Nolan's big body
press against him and his strong arms wrapped around him sent a strong
tingle shooting through his body. LeBron was a very straight boy, but to
him a special feeling was a special feeling no matter who created
it. Nolan, on the other hand, also felt a strong tingle, only it was
between his legs.

"Good luck in your baseball future," Nolan said. "I hear scouts are already
chasing you."

"Yeah. It's both a special honor and a pain in the ass to be looked at like
they look at me, but I plan on working hard to get better so one of the big
schools will recruit me," LeBron responded.

"I think you'll do great," Aiden said.

Aiden, Nolan, Trent, LeBron, and Julio looked around and noticed the last
of the Goats and LeBron's two teammates leaving Field 1. They quickly
joined them.

<Field 2>

It didn't take long for the two teams and the parents and fans to get
seated. All of the seats on the field were taken and the bleachers were
filled quickly.

Robert Perez, the tournament chairman, approached the microphone and
welcomed the teams that had stayed to watch the finals as well as the fans
and parents. "Congratulations to the Torrance Bulldogs and Mayfield Yard
Goats for providing us with an exciting championship game." The crowd
cheered, with a few scattered boos thrown in. "And a big congratulations to
the Mayfield Yard Goats for being the first SoCal BaseBrawl champions."
This brought another round of cheers along with noisier and more annoying
boos from Bulldog parents and fans. "And for the boobirds, a reminder that
one of the big things the BaseBrawl stands for is sportsmanship." That
generated a couple of loud boos. All Robert could do was shake his head and
continue.

Robert got back on track by giving the awards ceremony agenda. First would
come the awarding of the place trophies. Next would be the naming of the
tournament All-Star team. That would be followed by the naming of the two
major individual awards: Mr. Hustle and Most Valuable Player. And finally,
the awarding of the trophy that the committee considered to be the most
important of them all—the team Sportsmanship Trophy. Jean Perkins, one
of the committee members, was Robert's assistant. She would take care of
handing out the hardware while Robert did the handshakes.

The top four teams would receive trophies. The San Diego Force took fourth
place. Coach Harley Wood and team captain Tim Whalen accepted the trophy
for the team. The individual trophies would be given to the players from a
table set up outside the main entrance to Field 2. Most of the team had
come to watch the final games and pick up their trophies. Since they wanted
to see all of the ceremony, they would pick up their trophies after the
function ended.

Third place went to the Surrey Mounties. The crowd gave the well-liked
Canadian team a loud round of applause. Coach Shelby Malone and captain
Edmund Stone accepted the team trophy. The players left their seats to pick
up their individual trophies.

The Torrance Bulldogs were second, of course. Coach Parker and Carl
accepted the team trophy. As with the fourth and third place trophies, the
players would pick up their individual trophies outside the ballfield. But,
much to their chagrin, they would have to wait until after Mayfield
received their trophies before they could pick up theirs.

"And now it is my pleasure to present the Championship trophy," Robert
Perez said. "It goes to a team many wrote off before they even played a
game and many more wrote off after their second game loss. But after seven
straight hard-fought wins they find themselves being the first SoCal
BaseBrawl champion. Could Coach James Hallion and his team captains please
come forward to claim the trophy."

James, Trent, and Scott were quickly standing next to Robert. Robert shook
all three hands and James stepped forward to accept the trophy from
Jean. The crowd broke into loud cheering with the East Harbor boys standing
and chanting, "Goats! Goats! Goats!"

Then half of them yelled out, "What is a Yard Goat?"

"A Yard Goat is a CHAMPION!" the other half answered.

"Coach, do you have any words to share?" Perez asked.

"I just want to say how proud I am of those boys. I couldn't ask for a
better group to work with. They were always together and always supporting
each other. They were a team of friends, a fact that powered them to the
championship," James Hallion responded. He walked away from the podium
amidst a chorus of cheers.

Trent quickly grabbed the mike and said, "Coach said it all. We were a
TEAM! And for us that meant `Together Everyone Achieves More" and we
followed that saying all season long. Go Goats!"

Trent turned away as the East Harbor contingent yelled out, "GO GOATS! GO
GOATS! GO GOATS GO!"

Robert signaled for quiet and was pleased to get it almost instantly. The
kids cheering for the Goats were obviously good kids. He called up each
Mayfield player to collect his individual trophy with Jean Perkins handing
each player his trophy. The Mayfield fans were pleased to see that Rusty
received a trophy even though he couldn't play because of his broken arm
and hoped he would receive a t-shirt as well.

As was prearranged Trent and Scott, the team captains, were the last to be
called. Each received a navy-blue championship t-shirt. "SoCal BaseBrawl
Champions" in gold lettering resting on baseball bat stenciled on the front
of the shirt. The two captains pulled the t-shirts on over their uniform
shirts and modeled them for the people in the bleachers.

"The coaches have two boxes of t-shirts to distribute sometime after the
ceremony," Robert announced. "Thank you, boys, for your fine modeling
job—the shirts look good on you." Scott and Trent returned to their
seats and removed their t-shirts, which were a tight fit over their uniform
shirts. They then took their jerseys and undershirts off and pulled on
their new championship t-shirts, grinning broadly as their heads popped out
of their shirt.

"And now it is my pleasure to announce the tournament All-Star Team as
voted on by the tournament committee. The team will have one player at each
position except for pitcher. Because of the greater number of players
starting at that position for each team, three pitchers will be named to
the team. Also, the outfielders were chosen as outfielders in general
rather than by specific positions.

"I would like each player and his coach to come forward when his name is
called to accept his certificate. If the player has already left, then the
coach can accept it for him. All of the All-Stars will have a plaque with
their name and position etched on it. A sample is on the table for the
players to check out. I will name the team in the order of positions from
one through nine."

"Any predictions?" Paul asked Larry.

"Like everybody else, I haven't seen everyone play, although I've heard a
lot about who the best players may be. This is why it takes a committee to
make the choices—they have their combined experience working for them. I
will say this much, however. I think three Goats have an excellent chance
of being picked and one other has an outside chance."

"And I'm willing to bet we're thinking of the same three," Paul commented.

"I'm in on that, including the outside chance since I know who Larry is
thinking of," Phil grinned.

"Ditto to the three," Arnie added.

Robert started his countdown by naming Miguel from the Huntington Beach
Wave as one of the pitchers, which brought a nice round of cheers since
many of the Wave players were in attendance, Miguel being one of
them. Ashley from the Surrey Mounties was the next pitcher named, but the
Mounties had already left for home, so his certificate would be mailed to
him along with his plaque. Not surprisingly, the third pitcher brought the
loudest and longest cheers. "And our third All-Star pitcher was dominant in
both of his two starts. From the Mayfield Yard Goats, number 22, Nolan
Moyer." Bedlam ensued as soon as his name was read.

Nolan left his seat and approached the table with Coach Hallion, where he
received a handshake and his certificate. He then joined the other two
pitchers who were standing together behind the chairs.

"Congratulations, Paul. I know you have to be proud of your son's
performance," Larry said.

"I am proud of him in an infinite number of ways. I wish his mother could
be here to share the moment with him."

"I've got a video to share." Phil had been using his camera to make a video
of the ceremony.

"Our next All-Star is the catcher," Robert announced. "I'm pleased to be
able to present this trophy to a player from our Canadian visitors; Vic
Perry of the Surrey British Columbia Mounties. Vic played outstanding
defense and was a consistent offense player for the third-place
Mounties. Since the Mounties have left to catch their flight home, Vic's
certificate and plaque will be mailed with Ashley's."

"Our first base selection hit a resounding .444 with two home runs and
seven doubles, which tied for the tournament lead. He was also tied for the
tournament in runs batted in with a resounding 16. His clutch hitting was
put on display in the championship game where he had four runs batted in,
including the game winning two-run homer. You all know by now I'm referring
to number 20 on the Mayfield Yard Goats, Trent Hallion." More cheers,
especially from the East Harbor boys who were going nuts with joy. Trent
joined the three pitchers.

Before the sound died away, Robert started on the next position to keep the
line moving. "Our second baseman gave us all a lot of exciting moments with
his bat and his glove, including a tournament leading six triples. From the
Mayfield Yard Goats, number three, Aiden Miller." The noise level of the
cheers went up even higher when Aiden's name was announced.

"Those were my three," Larry said. The other three men in the group had the
same three picks. Now they wanted to know who the fourth player was that
Larry thought had an outside chance.

Nobody was surprised by the choices so far. Although Nolan was a no
brainer, there were other pitchers as deserving as the two others. Everyone
agreed those picks were tough ones.

The third baseman was Tim Whalen of the San Diego Force. He was wearing his
Force jersey and almost looked out of place lined up with three Yard Goats.

"It's about time somebody other than one of those fucking Goats was
picked," Carl said to Edwin. "You'd think they were the only team in the
tournament." With a couple of exceptions, none of the Bulldog players
applauded the Goat players who had been picked.

"Our shortstop," Robert read, "was the leading hitter in the tournament
with a .550 batting average. He also tied for the lead in doubles and runs
batted in. From the Torrance All-Star Bulldogs, LeBron Redding." That
brought raucous cheering from the Bulldog players, but also cheering and
applause from the Goats who not only had a ton of respect for LeBron as a
player but also as a person. They genuinely liked him.

Robert then announced the three outfielders. One of them, Howie Duran,
played for the Bulldogs, which placated their bruised egos some. Robert and
Jean congratulated the All-Stars as they posed for an official picture
before returning to their seats. He finished the All-Star picks by naming
Gregg Phillips of the Force the designated hitter. His .520 batting average
and 12 runs batted in were among the tournament leaders.

"It looks like your long shot didn't make it," Paul said to Larry.

"He still has a chance to be awarded something," Larry said.

"And now for the final awards: the Mr. Hustle Award, the Tournament Most
Valuable Player, and the Team Sportsmanship Award," Robert
continued. "First, the Mr. Hustle Award. The committee decided we should
present an award to a player who may not have had the big numbers but
seemed to be in the middle of a number of big moments, and maybe the
instigator of a few of those moments. We feel we picked the perfect player
for our first annual award.

"Our choice isn't a big kid, but he was quite the dynamo. He contributed
with his bat, coming up with several big hits. He had seven RBI and a .471
batting average. He contributed with his arm with some stellar relief
appearances. And he contributed with his glove, not letting the ground or a
fence keep him from making a highlight catch."

"I think he's talking about my fourth pick," Larry told Paul.

The eighteen boys in the Goat seating section were getting restless since
they had a pretty good idea of who was being described.

"Please put your hands together for the winner of the BaseBrawl's first
Mr. Hustle Award, from the Mayfield Yard Goats, number six, Riley Newton!"

Riley sat stock still and then turned to Lenny and asked in a shaky voice
that Lenny could barely make out over the rising cheers, "Was that me?"

"Yes, it is you, you silly dork," Lenny yelled into Riley's ear as the
crowd started to rise to its feet. "Now get your ass up to the table to
accept your award before I drag you up there." He gave Riley, who was
sitting in the last seat in their row, a shove. The Goats were on their
feet chanting Riley's name. "Rye-Lee, Rye-Lee, Rye-Lee." Every Goat from
Cal, who had just met him, to Lenny who was his boyfriend, loved Riley
Newton as a teammate and as a friend,

Riley got the hint and shook off his surprise at hearing his name.  He rose
to his feet and headed slowly to the table. Behind him, Lenny hoped Riley
hadn't seen him wipe his eyes. Riley was fighting tears of his own as he
stopped at the table, standing tall and proud as he shook the hand of
Robert Perez. Robert was certain there was a backstory to the short boy who
stood tall and proud as he accepted his trophy.

In the stands Paul turned to Larry and yelled, "That was a great choice."

All Larry could do was wipe his eyes as he thought of what an amazing story
of grit and resilience Riley had displayed from the moment he moved to
Mayfield as a lost, lonely, broken boy who turned out for the Titan
baseball team figuring he would get cut. Instead, his dogged determination
on the baseball field and innate kindliness won the respect, and more
importantly, the friendship of his teammates.

Another adult fighting tears was James Hallion, who saw Riley as one of the
hardest working players on the Goats and a great example of what hard work
could accomplish. The place the tears flowed was in the upper row of the
third base bleachers where Riley's mother, Glenda, wept without shame. She
remembered how Riley had been bullied and abused by many of his Burien
teammates and had come to Mayfield as a broken boy. And now her son was on
the field squeezing a trophy given to one of the top players in the
tournament.

Riley's dad put his arm around her, gave her a kiss, and squeezed her close
to him. "I love you," he said through the cheering and yelling. "Things
couldn't have worked out better for us."

In the Torrance section, Carl sat with his arms folded. "That group of
fuckers is winning everything," he groused to Edwin and Howie. "That little
pissant didn't do shit against us and he gets a trophy for it. I swear the
Goats sucked the dicks of that whole committee. I feel like showing those
faggots how I'm feeling right now. All I gotta say is, as much as I don't
like that asshole LeBron, he is my teammate, and he'd better get the MVP
because there's no doubt that trophy belongs to him and the Bulldogs."

Down on the field, Riley sat in his seat clutching his trophy. He knew he
would have to give it up before he left the park so his name could be
etched on it under the words that were already there: "SoCal Basebrawl
MR. HUSTLE," along with the date. It would be shipped to him. He was
assured he would receive it before the end of the month.

Robert called for the crowd to quiet down. "Our last individual trophy goes
to the tournament's Most Valuable Player. The winner tied for the
tournament lead in Runs Batted In ("That's LeBron," Carl said.), including
four in the championship game, including the game-winning two run home
run." That started a roar from the Mayfield supporters. "Yes, our MVP is
Trent Hallion of the championship Mayfield Yard Goats."

Trent wasn't surprised by the announcement, but he also knew his winning
wasn't a lock. He wouldn't have had a problem with LeBron winning; Trent
felt LeBron was, without a doubt, the best player in the tournament. The
Goats stood and cheered for their teammate. Many, including Trent, noted
that many of the Bulldogs sat silently, but that LeBron, Erik, Marshall,
Howie, Julio, and Salvador were standing and applauding.

Once again James Hallion had to get hold of his emotions. The battle to the
championship had been a long, hard one, and his son Trent had been a big
part of the team's comeback from their humiliation in game two. His
leadership as team captain as well as his outstanding play on the field had
been a huge factor in the team's turnaround.

"Three All-Star berths, Mr. Hustle, and the MVP...Mayfield has certainly
been recognized for its outstanding talent as well as its outstanding
play," Paul noted.

"A great deal of the credit goes to James Hallion along with Eric and Kevin
for their coaching work. They could have panicked after their big loss, but
instead they had their team come back a couple of hours later playing
within themselves and winning a game they could have just as easily lost,"
Larry pointed out.

"You know you stole that trophy from LeBron," Carl said to Trent as he
returned to his seat.

"Shut the fuck up, Carl," LeBron snarled.

"You shut up. You were never one of us from the start. And I'll tell you
this, if they win that fucking sportsmanship trophy I'm going over to their
seats and am gonna beat the face of one of those little shitheads to a
bloody pulp. This whole Mayfield worship shit is totally fucked."

"You know we aren't going to be winning any sportsmanship award."

"Yeah, I know and thanks for that, Edwin. But they did steal our
championship, and nobody can deny that, not even you, LeBron."

Before Carl finished his outburst Robert started in on the last award. "The
tournament committee decided that the Brawl should be emphasizing
sportsmanship in all forms. The winner of the first Sportsmanship Award did
that and more. This award was voted on by the tournament committee and the
umpires were also given a say in the choosing. You've all seen how the fans
and kids from the local area have latched onto them as well as many of the
other teams in the tournament. They played and conducted themselves with
class through the good and the bad. If I could have the coaches and
captains of the champion Mayfield Yard Goats please come forward to accept
the Team Sportsmanship Award. And if all of the Yard Goat players would
please stand as well to make it a complete team acceptance."

The cheering and clapping and roaring of the crowd was the loudest yet. The
Mayfield Yard Goats had made many friends during the course of the
tournament. James accepted the trophy and shook Robert's hand. He might
have been even prouder of his team than when they received the Championship
Tournament awards.

"Those boys did their coaches proud, their parents proud, and, face it, the
town of Mayfield proud," Larry said.

"I'd say the baseball future is looking pretty good for those boys," Arnie
said.

That was met by murmurs of agreement from Larry, Phil, and Paul.

"By the way, I found out exactly what it was that Edwin said to Mike Lewis
that got him tossed," Larry said.

"Ok," Phil grinned. "And the answer is..."

"The second and third pitches were borderline called strikes - but they
WERE strikes even though Edwin didn't agree - he thought they were
outside. Then on the fourth pitch, which WAS a ball outside and Lewis
called it that way, Edwin got sarcastic and said rather loudly `So now I
suppose you're gonna call that a strike, too.'."

"I don't blame Lewis a bit," Paul said. "You don't show up the umpire."

Larry nodded. "Lewis had Edwin's number from a previous at bat and his
snarky remark pushed Lewis a little too far."

"And you probably noticed Parker didn't make an issue of the ejection,
either," Phil said. "He knew better."

Coach Parker and Coach Rohrs didn't notice any of the drama surrounding
their team. They left for the team bus ahead of the team. Parker had seen
and heard enough crap about the Mayfield Yard Goats to last him a
lifetime. They headed quickly for the gate from the field to the first base
bleachers but came across Robert Perez before reaching the gate.

"Congratulations on a good season," Robert said politely.

"Bullshit on a good season," Parker growled. "Like I told you earlier,
until your tournament quits inviting the out of state small town teams
nobody ever heard of, your tournament won't be worth crap."

"You did tell me that. And I also recall your predicting a 20-run victory
over Mayfield if you met them in the championship playoff game. Instead,
they're the ones walking out with the first-place trophy."

"The only reason we don't have that trophy is because we played that piece
of crap team. Playing them had my boys so overconfident they played their
worst baseball of the year. That wasn't their fault, it was the fault of
the tournament committee for allowing terrible teams like that to enter the
tournament. And then, on top of that, you add more insult by piling the
hardware on them. Three All-Star selections, the Mr. Hustle, the MVP, and
then the Sportsmanship Trophy. Their coaches must have done quite a job of
ass kissing. So, I'll make it official. This is the one and only time the
Torrance Bulldogs will play in this tournament."

Robert, who had been listening to Parker's tirade with quiet patience,
smiled and said, "Trust me, coach, you won't be missed." He turned and
walked back to the podium to soak in the joy that he was seeing
there. Parker stomped angrily off the field, his assistant following meekly
behind.

There were others who didn't like the Goats, and one of those stood up with
his fists clenched. Edwin stood right after him. The fact that their
coaches were leaving the ballpark gave them the confidence to take out
their festering anger on a tempting target.

"I think that Riley asshole would look way better with a bent nose and some
missing teeth," Carl snarled. He took three steps towards the Mayfield
seats when he bumped into a big, hard body.

"I'd stay where you are if I were you," LeBron said.

"Or what?"

"Or you'll be the one with the rearranged mouth."

"Oh, yeah? It's gonna be done by you and whose army?" Carl spun to his
right and tried to make his way around LeBron and bumped into Julio, who
Carl had thought of as a supporter. Standing to Carl's left was Marshall
and behind him was Erik. Then Carl saw Howie come forward and felt his
homies were ready to back him up.

But Howie stopped next to Julio and said, "Give it up, Carl. It was those
Goats who showed no mercy and we folded because they wouldn't. Don't go
spoiling the great season we had by being a total piece of shit. Let's get
out of here and follow Coach Parker to the bus."

"Edwin, you're with me, right?" Carl asked.

"Not anymore," was all Edwin had to say. The crisis was over. It took
hitting rock bottom, but the good guys on the Bulldogs now spoke for the
team.

The Mayfield players didn't notice any of the drama taking place in the
Torrance seats. As soon as Robert ended the ceremony, they were getting
their t-shirts from Coach Hallion and Coach Simmons. They quickly pulled
off their uniform shirts and pulled on their championship t-shirts. Rusty
was as proud of his t-shirt as anybody. They then started to exit Field
2. Trent gave his trophy to his mother, Jesse. Riley was behind him and was
about to reluctantly give up his trophy when his parents came rushing at
him.

"Riley, wait, I want a picture of you holding the trophy here in the
ballpark," his mother said.

"Mom, I'll get it back soon."

"I know but I want it taken here. You, in your beautiful new t-shirt,
holding your new trophy with the home plate, the backstop, and the
bleachers in the background."

 She embarrassed him with a hug and then stepped back and snapped a picture
with her phone. Jesse offered to take a picture of Riley holding the trophy
with his parents. Glenda gratefully accepted. As Riley moved to pose
between his parents, he noticed that his mother had some tear streaks. He
held his trophy high over his head and Jesse snapped the picture.

Before anybody could move, Riley told them he wanted one more picture. He
handed the trophy to his mother, who smiled at her son as she fought off a
second wave of tears as Jesse snapped another photo. Riley took the trophy
and traded it for his mom's phone. He gave his mom a surprise hug, then
gave one to his father. "Thanks for moving to Mayfield," he said. "I love
you and now I gotta go meet my teammates. Good night." He was gone in an
instant.

His teammates were on their way to the team bus. Eric, Rusty, and Scott's
cousin, Ronnie, had taken the team's equipment bags as well as the players'
bags to the bus, so all that the players had to do was get to the bus.

But it turned out not to be a direct route. They were stopped by the East
Harbor boys and the two groups high-fived, fist-bumped, and hugged each
other. One of the topics the Goats had talked about was inviting the East
Harbor boys to the Inn for treats and maybe even dinner. Their plans were a
bit nebulous, but they didn't want to leave their new friends with the
entire evening still ahead of them.

Trent, as team captain, decided to step up and make the invitation. He told
them what they had planned and was about to apologize when Lars, Zach,
Larry, and Phil, who were lurking just off the walkway, stepped in.

"Scratch those plans," Larry said.

"Huh?" came the chorus of disbelief emanating from both groups.

"We have made other plans," Lars told them.

"You mean we won't be able to get together?" Michael asked. "That's kind of
lame."

"Not at all. You see, the other plans we made involve all of you."

"Like maybe a party at our house?"

"Your son can think fast on his feet," Larry grinned. "And, yes, that was
exactly what the plan was."

The grunts of disbelief now became a chorus of cheers!

"Then we better get our rear ends moving, as my dad would say," Trent
said. "Okay, my fellow Goats, let's get on that bus, dump our bags, get
changed and PARTY!"

"Yeah, LET'S PARTY!" Michael, Lukas, Alex, and Jaden shouted out.

Michael stepped over next to Aiden and the two exchanged high fives. Nolan
was standing behind Aiden grinning. "We'll see you guys at the party,"
Aiden said.

"I assume there's gonna be plenty of food," Nolan said.

"If it's a party at our house, there's going to be tons of food!" Michael
responded.

"Good, cuz I'm starving. And I know I'm not alone."

"Hey, Michael," Aiden called out as the two groups started to split up.

"Yeah?"

"The anthem you and Lukas did was epic—and I mean TOTALLY EPIC. Best one
I ever heard."

"Thanks, Aiden. We played it for everybody, but especially for the Goats."
`And even more especially for you,' Michael thought. "Now let's quit
yakking and get moving."

The two groups split and moved full speed ahead to their respective rides.

The twins hesitated, however, and Craig almost ran off without them. He
turned, ready to tell his little brothers to move. "Hey, if they let us, do
you think we can go with Lenny and Lance to their hotel and ride to the
party with them?" Cooper asked Craig, his big brother.

"Don't even think about asking anybody," Craig replied. "I was given the
job of making sure you two made it to where you belonged, and that was
straight to the party," he told his twin brothers. "So, that's where you're
going. Whatever it is you two rug rats plan on doing with those two you can
do there."

"But...," Connor cut in.

"No buts. And besides, you two will have a lot more time to do it there."
Craig was certain that what the two sets of twins had planned would call
for them removing their clothes, but that would be none of his concern.
Right now his only concern was getting his mom's little "rug rats" to the
party in one piece. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the team
was on the bus and the door was closing.

As Mrs. Emerson eased the bus out of the parking lot, the Yard Goat players
knew that the tournament was over, but their journey was not. It was now
time to shift from focusing on at bats and fielding plays to focusing on
having a fantastic time with their new friends from East Harbor.

Next:  Chapter 31. The Party of Champions

Torrance All-stars Bulldogs (39-4)

1. Howie (CF)
2. Edwin (3B)
3. LeBron (SS)
4. Maurice (RF)
5. Carl (1B)
6. Rhett (DH) batting for Alan (P)
7. Mike (LF)
8. Royce (C)
9. Clay (2B)

Mayfield Yard Goats (29-8)

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