Page 113 of Baseball and Shifters

Liam releases the pitch and spins, twisting his hand behind him. He pops up with his hand in the air and a cocky smirk on his face as he holds the ball up in an amazing move seconds after the ball leaves his hand. That’s going on his play compilation track for sure!

“Holy hell, Barker! How’d you do that?!” Van Blair yells over the sound of the crowd losing their minds.

We run to the sideline, and pile on Liam, clapping him on the back for that amazing play before getting in the dugout.

“Dude! Your reaction time is crazy!” Elliott cheers as he drops onto the bench.

“For real! I didn’t even know he hit the ball until you held it up like that. That was epic!” Prowler hoots.

Liam is all fucking smiles as he puts his batting helmet on and jogs out to another round of ruckus cheers. The pitcher winds up and lets loose the ball. Liam swings hard, nailing the fucker in the gut. The pitcher doubles over while Liam tosses his bat and runs for first.

“How’s it feel, blood sucker? You gonna start fucking pitching now and stop hitting my teammates?” Liam snaps from first as the ump checks on the wus vamp.

The entire dugout erupts in cheers until Coach gives us the stink eye. But he can’t stop the fans from cheering on Liam’s heroic act.

Bas takes the box next, hitting the first pitch, sending it to left field. Elliott hits two foul balls before walking to first. When D steps up to the plate everyone holds their breaths. Did the fucker learn his lesson form Liam or is he going to intentionally walk Derrick again?

He stares down D before finally nodding to the catcher and winding up the pitch. And D nails it! Smashing a two-run double off the wall. Liam and Bas both make it home before they get Elliott out at third.

The next batter gets on first then it’s my turn. I’m bringing D home this time. The pitch flies toward the plate and I swing, the bat connecting with a satisfying thwack. It sails through the air to center field, a perfect line drive. I run to first as Derrick runs home and Axel rounds second.

He’s not quick enough. He won’t make it.

Sure enough, the third baseman tags him out. Two outs. But three runs. That’s our best offensive inning so far.

Sadly, I don’t make it home. We get our final out with the first strike out of the inning and it’s back to defense. We go another inning with neither team scoring and we enter the top of the ninth 4-1. We just gotta hold them off one more time.

Liam’s arm is getting tired. He shouldn’t be pitching the entire game, but he’s a determined asshole and after what happened in the seventh when he tried to take a break… There’s no way he’s sitting out the fucking ninth.

After two foul balls, the Arcane batter finally gets a good hit. Too bad for him, it’s a pop up fly directly to Jordan. AndOnce again, he proves to be a better player than Trent when he actually catches the ball. Trent would have fumbled the fuck out of that.

“Whoo! Nice catch, Prowler!” I cheer, and I swear his face flushes at the compliment.

Liam strikes the next batter out but I can tell he’s almost done. One more out and we win this thing.

“Give ‘em a freebie. I’ll get him for ya!” I call to my twin letting him know it’s not on him to get this guy out.

Standing tall, he takes a deep breath, nodding his head once before he lets the ball fly. It’s a hard grounder down the line right at me. I scoop it and fire it across the field to Bas for the game-ending out.

We did it!

We won!

The bond goes crazy as does the stands as we converge on the mound, celebrating our win.

Coach Mace strides out, pride shining in his eyes. “That’s how you start a tournament, boys. Ice up, get some grub, and rest up, tomorrow we scout. Tournament’s ours to lose.”

When we get back in the locker room, I pull my phone out to find a new picture from Rachel. She, Helene, and the girls, all in glitter paint, hold up one finger cheering for our victory.

Liam

Rachel and I finish our Math final at almost the same time. We both rise from our seats and deliver our papers to the front before meeting up with Bas and Maya in the hall. Aubree is still working on her final so we all take up a post and wait for her to finish.

“So what are you guys up to tonight? Are you going to watch Shadowpeak and Lunarcrest get their asses kicked?” Maya asks.

“No, actually Derrick is making a celebratory end of semester dinner tonight,” Rachel answers.

“Yeah, Coach Mace said we’re doing shifts. Half the team sits out every day unless we’re playing,” I add with a shrug. “Saves energy.”

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