It was Monday afternoon and Sam had just thrown one of his curveballs when she sneaked up on him from behind.
"Geez, Diane! You scared the heck outta me!" he yelled.
"Gotcha!" she laughed.
He turned and saw how she was dressed in her version of sports clothes: some expensive sweatpants. Her hair was in a ponytail, which made her look awfully girlish. Not that it bothered him.
"What' you doing here?"
"I'm about to have my baseball lesson."
"Seriously? I thought, you were joking to impress the guys."
"Well, I wasn't. Now, will you teach me how this game works or not."
He took his baseball glove off and sighed.
"Alright."
He explained and explained while the sun was setting in the horizon. Most of the guys had already gone home. She got something right, but then she'd it up with something else. After one and a half hour intense explanation of the game's basic rule, he rose from the bench.
"Come on."
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"I'm gonna show you how to pitch."
"Really?"
He found some balls he had thrown earlier and brought them to the mound.
"Yeah. Come here. First, stay a few feet beside and watch how I do."
So she did. He grabbed one of the balls, took a deep breath and threw one of his fastballs in the net.
She started clapping.
"Well scored, Sam!"
"No, no, Diane. That's not a goal. It's just there to stop the balls from going any further. When you play it for real, there's a guy down there to grab it."
"Oh. So you didn't score?"
"No, I threw one of my fastballs. A pretty good one in my opinion."
"It sure was fast," she nodded.
"Now, the next thing I'm gonna show you is a curveball."
He picked the next ball up and tried his best to throw a tricky curveball.
"Wow, that sure was curvy," she murmured.
"Curveballs are not my strongest point, but I do my best."
"Fastballs are?"
"Yeah. You see, as I told you before, it's the pitcher's job to throw balls, the batter can't hit. So therefore, it's important to get the throw just right. You can fx. throw a fast ball, which will be hard to hit, or you can throw a curveball which will be troublesome to hit. There are many different ways to throw it, but these are 2 basic ones. It's also very important to hit the right spot down there in the strike zone with the ball. Now, let's give it a try, shall we."
He handed her a baseball. Then he went behind her, took her arm and told her what to do.
She must've looked like Bambi on ice the first couple of time's she threw.
"Sam, do I really need to lift my leg? I must look like-"
"Don't worry about how it looks like. It's very important to do to get the throw right."
"Alright, then!"
She got better and better along the way. Her curveballs weren't that bad. It was more her fastballs that stunk. But he dealt with a girl who had never shown interest in sports. What could he expect?
But generally she did beyond all expectations. After half an hour she was pretty tired and her arm ached. So they decided to call it quit for the day.
"Well done, girl. I see some potential in you."
She laughed.
"If my arm wasn't aching so much, I'd say it's been pretty fun. I'd love to do it again. Perhaps- not promising anything- this could be the sport for me," she smiled.
"I'm glad to hear that. As I'm sure the guys will be when I tell them."
She chuckled.
"Well, we better take off. I can give you a ride home if you want," he said.
"I'd love that."