Out of Left Field: Marlee's Story (22 page)

She looked at Christy and anger boiled in her gut. Christy had hit Susie. More than once. And, oh yeah, Christy had taken Marlee out the last time their two teams met. Marlee took a deep breath and turned the heat down on her anger. Now was not the time. She focused on Jeri instead. Jeri always had trouble hitting against Christy, but Marlee kept her fingers crossed that the tide would turn in her favor. It did. Jeri blooped a single just over the first baseman’s head.

“There goes her no-hitter,” Lisa and Marlee yelled out to Jeri simultaneously. Marlee breathed easier.

Julie, their number two batter, was up next. Jeri stole second base on the first pitch. On the pitch after that, Julie popped out to left field. Marlee did not watch the ball as it traveled.
The Northwood left fielder is out there,
she thought,
nobody I know
.

“Good girl,” Lisa said.

Marlee usually hit in the number three spot, but Coach Spears said she wanted to change things up a bit and moved Marlee to the number five batting spot. The Cougars’ current number three hitter smacked a single to center field. Coach Spears could have waved Jeri in to score, but decided to play it safe and stopped her at third base. The Clarksonville Cougar fans roared their displeasure at Coach Spears’ decision.

Christy must have been rattled because she walked Lisa in four pitches. Marlee thought the walk was intentional, but either way, Marlee was up with the bases loaded. She couldn’t believe that the first time she had to face Christy Loveland after the “accident” would be with the bases loaded. She adjusted her helmet and hoped she wouldn’t need its protection. A granite pebble settled in the pit of her stomach, but she took a deep breath and stepped up to the plate. She tried to look strong and confident.
It’s the Northwood pitcher,
she reminded herself,
just the Northwood pitcher.
She concentrated on the Northwood pitcher’s release point.

Marlee squeezed the bat tight. She had already decided that she wasn’t going to swing at the first pitch. She wanted at least one pitch to steady her nerves. This was, after all, the pitcher that had sent her to the hospital. Marlee watched the first pitch land in the dirt.

“Ball one!” the umpire barked.

Marlee was proud of herself. She hadn’t even flinched. She held her hand up for time. She stepped one foot out of the batter’s box and took a deep breath. She pulled her foot back in and readied herself for the next pitch. She was ready to swing this time, but the pitch was so far outside, the catcher had to dive for it. “Ball two,” the umpire said.

“Ducks, batter, ducks. You’ve got ducks on the pond. Hit us in, #3. Hit us in,” Jeri yelled to Marlee from third base.

The East Valley coach called time out and went to the pitcher’s circle for a conference with Christy. Marlee could hear Christy whine to her coach that she was concentrating and that she was trying to throw strikes. Marlee grinned and met Coach Spears halfway up the third base line for their own conference.

“Marlee, she’s way behind in the count,” Coach Spears advised. “A walk is a run, but you know what I’ve always told you. If she throws you a sweet one, you’ve got the green light.” Coach Spears winked and patted Marlee on the helmet. “Oh, sorry. Broke my own rule.”

“Batter?” The umpire requested Marlee’s presence in the batter’s box.

Marlee dug in her heels and waited for the next pitch. A big fat meatball practically floated down the middle of the plate. Marlee felt like she was in slow motion. She swung hard and when the ball hit the sweet spot on her bat, she knew at least one run, probably two would score. She didn’t realize how well she’d hit the ball until it sailed over the left field snow fence. She had just hit a homerun with the bases loaded, a grand slam—her first ever. She slowed down to a homerun trot and punched a fist into the air. She saw Susie staring at the ball on the other side of the fence.

Her teammates mobbed her when she crossed the plate. Lisa grabbed her in a bear hug, forcing her teammates to hug both of them. Once she extracted herself from the mob, Coach Spears came over, reached out to shake her hand, thought better of it, and wrapped her in a hug.

Marlee found Jeri in the melee and asked her, “Hey, Jeri. ‘Ducks on the pond?’ I never understood what that meant.”

“Me either,” she said and laughed. “It worked though, didn’t it?” They laughed about it until they had to take the field again. After one full inning, the Clarksonville Cougars led by a score of 4-0.

“See this catcher’s mitt,” Lisa said as she walked Marlee to the circle for the top of the second inning. “I want you to think about why it’s called a mitt and yours is called a glove. That is all you will focus on. You will not look at batters. Understood?” Susie was obviously due up next.

“Yes, dear,” Marlee answered subserviently.

Marlee knew that Susie was waiting for some kind of sign, some kind of sign about their future together, but Marlee’s heart and head were still battling it out and Marlee couldn’t bring herself to take off her hat.

Susie stepped into the batter’s box. Marlee struggled to stay focused on Lisa’s catcher’s mitt, because she knew that if she shifted her vision to the right slightly she would be looking right at Susie. Instead, she tried to read the brand name printed on Lisa’s mitt, but couldn’t quite make it out.

Lisa wanted a fastball, low and inside. Marlee threw it. Susie swung and missed. The second fastball exploded into Lisa’s mitt for strike two. Normally, Lisa would call for a change-up, but this time she asked for the rise ball.

Marlee shook her head at Lisa as if to say, “She’ll expect that. I struck her out on that pitch last game.”

Lisa shook her head and flashed the sign for rise ball again as if to say, “Yeah, but she won’t be able to hit it even if she is expecting it. Just throw it and stop arguing with me.”

Susie swung so far under the rise ball that it surprised Marlee. It must have surprised Lisa as well since she almost dropped the ball, but hung on for the out. She sprinted out to the mound, gave Marlee the ball and said, “See? That wasn’t so hard. Now stop arguing with me while I’m trying to catch!”

The next two East Valley batters didn’t fare any better than Susie had. The East Valley Panthers had still not scored after two innings.

Luck ran for the Cougars in the bottom half of the inning because they did not get any runners on base and consequently didn’t score. At the end of the second inning the score remained 4-0 in the Cougars’ favor.

Marlee jogged out to the pitcher’s circle for the top of the third inning. Since she had gotten Susie’s at-bat out of the way in the last inning, she could concentrate on simply pitching and playing softball. The first Panther batter popped up to Lisa in foul territory making the first out. The second batter popped up to Jeri in shallow center field for the second out. Marlee struck out the third batter, but needed eight pitches to do so. Marlee hoped she wasn’t getting tired. Three outs for the Panthers and the Cougars were up in the bottom of the third inning.

Marlee got up to bat that inning and smashed a double up the left field line to score Lisa, who Christy had once again walked. Christy, it seemed to Marlee, didn’t feel like letting Lisa, an All-County batter, get any hits.

“Nice hit, P,” Sam said from her second base position.

“Thanks, 2. Feeling good today.”

“I can see that.” Sam scurried off to her position, ponytail bouncing back and forth.

The third inning ended with a score of 5-0 in the Cougars’ favor. The fourth and fifth innings proved to be unproductive for both teams and the score did not change. Both pitchers, it seemed, had found their respective groove.

Lisa escorted Marlee to the pitcher’s circle at the top of the sixth inning. She said, “I am so proud of you. You pitched great against Susie last inning. I can’t believe you’ve struck her out twice now. And you, uh, haven’t taken off your hat yet.”

“I still don’t know if I’m gonna take off my hat, Lisa. I can’t figure out what I should do. But aren’t we supposed to be concentrating on softball? Like the fact that your mitt is called a mitt because it has no finger slots, like a mitten. And my glove has finger slots, like, uh, a glove. And, hey, this is my circle. Take your big fat mitten and get out of here.” She banished Lisa toward home plate.

“I’m going. I’m going,” Lisa jogged back waving her mitt over her head.

The bottom of the East Valley order was due up and Marlee figured she could strike out at least two of the batters. Lisa mixed things up a bit and called for a variety of pitches including the new screwball they had been working on. And Marlee did better than strike out two East Valley batters, she struck out all three to end the top of the sixth inning.

Marlee, adrenaline pumping, ran to her team bench after the third strikeout, but found that no one would make eye contact with her. She asked Jeri what was going on. Jeri didn’t answer but simply pointed toward the on-deck circle and stated coolly, “I believe you’re on deck.”

Confused, Marlee grabbed her batting helmet and bat. She took a couple of practice swings and wondered what was going on.
Could they be mad at me for not taking off my hat for Susie?
With a start she felt the blood rise to her face.
Does the whole team know?
She felt light-headed. With her head so much into the game, she hadn’t been able to make a rational decision about Susie.

Lisa took her practice swings in the on-deck circle to get ready to lead off the inning.

Marlee joined her in the circle and whispered, “Does the whole team know about me? Me and Susie?”

“What are you talking about?” Lisa asked.

“Batter?” the umpire called for Lisa.

Marlee said hurriedly, “No one’s looking at me or even talking to me.”

“Geez, Marlee, you are so slow. And I shouldn’t even say it, but you sound paranoid. You have a perfect game going, dorkhead. And you know as well as I do it’s a jinx to talk to a pitcher who’s on her way to a perfect game.” Lisa marched toward the plate. “Yeah, it’s brain damage all right,” she said to no one in particular.

Marlee sighed in relief, for about three seconds. That’s when Lisa’s words penetrated.
A perfect game? Oh, my God. I have one inning to go.
Marlee felt her insides tremble. She looked over at her mother in the stands and felt momentary comfort. She wished her father could have been there, though. A new lump rose in her throat to replace the old one.
Does Susie know?
Marlee snuck a peek to left field. Susie smiled at her expectantly. Marlee looked away quickly. She had been so wrapped up with the game and with Susie and with Christy that she hadn’t realized that not a single East Valley batter had made it on base.

Lisa walked again. Marlee got up to bat and smacked the first pitch just out of Sam’s reach for a basehit. Marlee watched Sam say something to Lisa on second base. Lisa smiled, but quickly squelched it as if trying to keep her head in the game. From first base Marlee wagged her finger at Lisa who in turn stuck her tongue out at Marlee. Unfortunately for the Cougars, the next two batters fell victim to Christy Loveland pitching and struck out while the last Cougar batter of the inning popped up to Sam at second base. The sixth inning was over and the Cougars still held the lead by a score of 5-0.

The Cougars took the field at the top of the seventh, and potentially last, inning. Marlee had two things on her mind, getting the next three batters out to get her perfect game and making a decision about Susie. She took several deep breaths in a valiant attempt to keep from hyperventilating.

“Just you and me, Marlee,” Lisa reminded.

The first batter hit a sharp grounder to Marlee. She forced herself to slowly and carefully throw the ball to Julie, the first baseman. One out.

“Nice,” Lisa called from behind the plate. “One pitch, one out. Just you and me, one more time.”

This time it took three pitches. The East Valley batter swung and missed the first two pitches, but didn’t even bother swinging at the third. Strike three. Two outs.

Sam stepped up to the plate for the East Valley team.

Lisa called, “One more, #3. Just you and me.”

Marlee realized that it must be just as hard for Lisa to ignore Sam as it was for her to ignore Susie. Marlee had been doing a fairly good job ignoring Susie all day, but decided to risk a quick peek at Susie in the on-deck circle. Marlee’s heart leaped when she saw how ashen Susie looked. She remembered the card.
I’ve been miserable without you
. Marlee took a deep breath and wrapped her fingers tightly around the ball.
You’re miserable because you dumped me. Whose fault is that?
Marlee adjusted her grip when Lisa requested a fastball. She put both hands together for the pitch but then did something that even surprised her. She stepped back off the pitching rubber.

Sam stepped out of the batter’s box and the umpire shouted, “Time.” Lisa looked bewildered and stood up from behind the plate.

Marlee’s mind and heart had finally worked out an agreement over Susie. She hoped she could live with the decision. She took a deep cleansing breath and felt ready to finish this perfect game thing.

“Okay, Marlee.” Lisa squatted behind the plate. “Just you and me.”

Marlee shocked everyone, including herself, when she pitched Sam to a full count. If she threw a ball on the next pitch, Sam would walk and Marlee’s perfect game would be lost. If she threw a meatball for a strike and Sam got a basehit, the perfect game would also be lost.

Marlee focused on Lisa. Lisa wanted a straight fastball right down the middle of the plate. A meatball. As the pitch left her hand she thought,
at least I’m not going to walk her
. Sam swung and made contact, good contact. At the sound of the ball striking the bat, Marlee’s heart sank to her toes. She just knew it would fall in for a basehit. As if to confirm her suspicions, she heard a collective groan from the Clarksonville fans. Time stood still while she watched the ball sail toward the gap in right-center field. It was going to fall in between Jeri and the Cougar right fielder.