Chapter 71 Practice 2

Coach Wilcox looked more calm with Jason near third. Next, he turned to me. He slowly made his way over, making me nervous. What if I got cut right now? Noah would flip out. “What have you gone over exactly?”

“He’s taken notes on the basics.” Zeke replied for me. “Saturday we went over the most common plays.”

“Obviously not.” Coach refuted. “Hard grounders down the third baseline is second after grounders to the shortstop.” He looked at me. “You would cover the base of it was a grounder to Noah, right?” I nodded. “Then why wouldn’t you do the same when the ball goes to third?” I lifted a finger to point at Noah. He was more athletic and knew what to do so shouldn’t he cover..?

Coach chuckled at my weak response. “You think Noah should do it since he’s a better player?” I nodded, exactly. “Okay. Think about it like this. If it’s a grounder to the first baseman, where would you go?”

I pointed at first base. I should cover. We went over this Saturday. Someone should be on the base.

“Right. Now, why wouldn’t Noah do the same, and cover for his side? We can’t leave third open, because there’s a chance for error.”

I nodded, starting to understand. That makes sense. I should have thought about it more.

“Let me give you a cheat.” Coach Wilcox called in Noah, Jason, and Julian. “How many players do we have on the infield?” I raised four fingers. “And how many bases?” I raised three fingers. “So if there’s an infield hit, you have one player going to the ball and everyone else should grab a base. Understand?” I nodded. “Just remember B. The letter B rhymes with three. Want to know what else starts with the letter B?” He grinned. “The three roles of an infielder: ball, base, backup. Your job on every ball in play, is to pick one of these three options. You either go to the ball. Go to the base to cover. Or backup a play.”

Enlightenment dawn on me.

“Wow Coach. Who knew you can make baseball this simple.” Noah smiled, trying to hold back a laugh.

Coach didn’t hold back his laugh. “This is as simple as can be. This is what I use to teach little leaguers.” My face twitched at the thought of being compared to little kids. Coach noticed. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. You just lack practice.”

Noah gave me a thumbs up. “Three B’s. Apparently that’s all you needed to know. Everything that Zeke taught you is just extra details.” Jason and Julian let out little laughs.

“That’s not true.” Coach Wilcox came to defend his captain. “Zeke probably gave you more in-depth information that you should continue to study. Baseball doesn’t always go according to plan. The three B’s are just the guidelines.” He clapped his hands twice and turned away. “Back to your positions!” He headed back to his spot next to Mr. Miller.

Julian and Jason were quick to walk back to their spots, and Zeke had already ran back to center field. Only Noah stuck around for a second. “Don’t mind Chris. A few of the upperclassmen are just mad that you have a better bat. Just focus on playing. Not even playing well. Just having fun while playing baseball.” He pulled my cap over my eyes before taking off.

I fixed my hat so I could see properly. I wasn’t completely naive. Some of the guys were bound to be upset with a total newbie on a varsity team. Zeke even said so before, that they shouldn’t have to accommodate me. I need to carry my own weight.

I focused on the guy calling the plays and hitting the ball. We started to run a few more plays, and with coach’s cheat, I felt more comfortable making decisions. The infield plays became easier and easier.

As we started to work on hits to the outfield, I really started to understand the point of knowing ball, base, backup. If it was hit to the left field, Noah would go to the ball to be the cutoff and I would cover second. If it went to right field, Julian would go to the ball to be the cutoff man, and I would go cover first base. In regards to center field hits, Zeke threw bullets to Noah and I made sure to cover second. Since I didn’t have a strong arm to throw home, it wouldn’t make sense for me to go to any ball in the outfield. Noah though, had a crazy arm to go with his outstanding reflexes. I really wasn’t surprised that he would start at shortstop with those skills.