The Tour

thirty-six / would have made it

The echoes of the announcer's pre-game speech reached my car, but it was difficult to understand his words until I was just outside the stadium. It was a few days after UH's double header against Oregon, and they were on today against the number one seed in Division 1, UCLA. Evan was reportedly back on the mound and it was bound to be an interesting game against the Bruins. I was running late due to a gym session that went longer than expected. Unfortunately, it was hard to dip out of a session when your trainer and the other two surfers there gave you an excessive amount of crap for leaving early. Thankfully, the announcer had just declared that it was time to "play ball", so I would only miss a couple of Evan's pitches.

I stepped over my parents legs to sit down between them and the Sanders after making my way through the ticket booth and crowds. They were all very focused on the game, and I looked down to open up my protein bar before looking at Evan on the mound. He had a two and one count against the second batter with one out, and the next pitch jammed the batter, resulting in a weak grounder to third. The third baseman took a step to his left and fielded it, tossing it to first and earning the out.

The crowd erupted in cheers, and Evan rushed at the third basemen with his hands up. Koa had Rachel wrapped in his arms and she was crying as she looked at the field, and it was only then that I noticed why they had been so focused on the field.

Will had made the play.

Will was at third base, in the middle of a crowd of his teammates, being celebrated for all of his hard work. I looked at my mom, "Why didn't you tell me?"

She hugged me, still screaming at the boys on the field and almost bursting my eardrum. "Oh, honey, we thought that you heard the announcer. He was talking all about it right before you came in."

I shook my head and covered my mouth in shock as I watched the field. The umps were smiling but gesturing for the boys to get back to their positions so that the game could continue. The crowd was slowly quieting down and sitting in their seats, providing me with an opportunity that I needed to take before I got too scared.

I cupped my hands around my mouth. "Will Sanders, I love you!" I shouted before immediately curling up into a ball and blushing. He looked straight ahead at the batter until a strike was called before turning towards me and playfully putting his hand over his mouth and blowing me a kiss. The people around me smiled and laughed, but it was worth my own public embarrassment. Geez, I should probably get on Sports Center for that, my publicist would be thrilled with me. 

Rachel nudged me. "You know, he was looking for you when he first walked out. We waved at him, but I could tell that he was really disappointed when he thought that you weren't coming."

One side of my mouth lifted in a half smile. "I'm really sorry I missed it. It would have been special. I just can't believe that he's playing right now."

She smiled and nodded, tears still threatening to spill over onto her cheeks. "Did he mention anything about playing to you recently?" I pressed, still slightly in shock.

"No, I mean he said that he was practicing, but after he didn't play in the first five games we figured that was the answer. He never said anything differently, probably so that he didn't get our hopes up, but I kind of gave up on the idea. Apparently Will tried to get Noah to come to this game, but Noah said that he had to meet with a group-mate about something. I called him as soon as Will was on the field though, so he should be here soon."

Noah showed up for the next inning, and his parents slid down so that he could take the spot next to me. The minute that he sat down, UCLA put down a bunt right on the third base line. Will got a late jump on it and wasn't fast enough to get the play at first, allowing another runner to advance to second.