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Johnny got through the next two innings without embarrassing himself.
He only had to make one play. He caught a pop fly that almost squirted out of his glove.
It was now the top of the sixth inning and the score was still 3 to 1. The opposing team went three up and three
down. Johnny was set to lead off in the bottom of the inning.
As Johnny stepped up to the plate he had to shake his head, blink, and look again. That man named AL was standing
in the outfield between the right and center fielder. Johnny tried to ignore him.
The pitcher tried to jam Johnny with an inside pitch. Johnny swang defensively at it just trying to protect the
plate. As a result, he hit a line drive down the third base line which was deflected off of the outreaching glove
of the opposing team's third baseman. The ball was slowly rolling into foul territory. Since their third baseman
had touched before it went foul, it was a fair ball.
Johnny rounded first base and kept running. The outfield was still a little slick from the rain of a couple of
days ago. Consequently as the leftfielder tried to field the ball, he slipped and the ball dribbled by him. Johnny
sped into second then made a mad dash to third. He barely beat the throw.
The next batter hit a soft sacrifice fly that Johnny was able to tag up and score on. Now it was 3 to 2. His next
teammate hit a bloop single. That brought Ken up, their first baseman and best hitter. Ken drove a long drive to
right. The right fielder backed up against the fence to make the catch, but the ball seemed to hang in the air.
The outfielder then made a frantic jump for it, only see it hit the top web of his glove and slip away over the
fence.
A homer! 4 to 3 they were ahead! The score stood that way as the opposing team came up to bat in the seventh inning.
That tall lanky kid who had hit a homerun earlier in the game was leading off. He drilled the second pitch deep
to left. Johnny was sure it was going to go out for another homer, but the ball hit the top of the fence and dropped
back into play. Their leftfielder retrieved it cleanly as it bounced off the fence and made a strong throw back
to the infield to hold the hitter to a double.
The next hitter hit a low line drive to Johnny's right. Johnny felt like someone shoved him towards the ball. He
fell, and as he did the ball wound up somehow in his glove. The base runner had already made a move towards third
so Johnny tagged the second base making an unassisted double play. The next player popped out to the catcher. That
was it! They had won! And Johnny had been a key contributor!
Johnny's teammates hugged each other while their coach looked on with pride, they then went over to shake hands
with their opponents for a well played game. Johnny looked out into the playing field but did not see Al anywhere.
One week later they went through their graduation ceremony. Then it was time for summer vacation.
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