Rogues vs. Storm — Game 1
During batting practice two hours before first pitch, I was stopped by several people. A few of them had cool things to say about our return to baseball, to which I never had much to say. Many of them made heckling comments, my favorite being, "Go back to the retirement home, ya old-timer!" And then there were the media guys who stopped me for interviews. It wasn't just me; virtually the entire squad was participating in these interviews, from Sonic to Tails to even Amy.
Zenith had given us all matching black jerseys that featured an admittedly generic storm cloud on the front and block style numbers of our choice ranging from 0 to my preferred number 27 on the back. He mandated this range ever since the Storm had joined the league, presumably to discourage his teammates from wearing the number 99. It wasn't a league rule, but none of us had ever worn a number greater than 27 anyway, so it was just a matter of picking our favorite numbers. The number 16 was not available because it had curiously been retired many years ago.
After practice had finished, I jogged towards the home plate area, where Sonic and Zenith met with Demitri, a couple of other losers, and the home plate umpire to exchange lineup cards. When the two captains shook hands and trotted back to their dugouts, Sonic curiously sped back to ours, leaving me to accompany Zenith on the long walk there, his home away from home.
"Something on your mind, Z?" Sonic inquired as we both took seats on either side of the blue speedster.
"I just want to get this game under way," he sighed, gazing towards the dugout.
"It will soon, don't worry." He smiled and patted the back of the tall red hedgehog with the notoriously bad hair.
As we took seats on the first bench, I peered at his lineup card hanging near the bullpen phone.
R/R Sonic - RF #15
L/R Jet - LF #1
L/L Shadow - CF #27
R/R Knuckles - C #3
L/R Storm - DH #20
L/R Wave - SS #2
R/R Tails - 1B #10
L/R Bunnie - 2B #9
R/R Marine - 3B #11
So Marine was the raccoon's name.
"How come you're not hitting today, Z?"
He shrugged. "I want to see what everyone's got first. I know you and Sonic and Jet can all run, and it looks like Knuckles and Storm can both still hit, and Marine can still play third base." I was amazed by that. "She's extremely agile, and she can throw the ball."
"My gosh..." was all I could say in a brief fit of disbelief. "Looks like you're all set."
He shrugged again. "But then there's figuring out when I'm going to put the other blokes in. They're all part of the team as well." He turned around for a second, where Amy, wearing the number 12, was sitting. "Isn't that right, Amy?"
"You know it!" she beamed, giving us the "thumbs-up". I laughed a little.
All the players, umps, and groundskeepers got up and stood along the baselines for the singing of the Mobian World Anthem. I couldn't help but notice Sonic getting a little emotional during the performance. I certainly couldn't blame him for feeling that way, as neither I nor the Blue Blur had participated in this in years. After the performance, all our guys rushed onto the field to take our positions, while the Rogues trotted back into their dugout.
R/R Jeff - CF #9
R/R Mina - SS #18
L/L Flame - RF #24
R/R Kyle - C #6
L/R Crush - DH #25
L/R Rocky - 3B #16
R/R Tron - LF #51
L/L Shonen - 1B #77
R/R Clay - 2B #30
The first guy to step to the plate was Jeff Buck. It made sense.
The fans were loud, almost in an overwhelming fashion. They erupted as Zenith blew his signature fastball by the unsuspecting buck right down the middle for a strike. And again. And a third time, this one being a lethal changeup that got the buck to swing badly. He then got Mina the Mongoose to fly out to Sonic in right field. Finally Flame the Hedgehog was jammed with a cutter, induced into grounding the ball back to Zenith, who made the easy toss to Tails to end the inning. The energy coming from the crowd was exhilarating.
I should've signed back up for this ages ago.
Zenith always walked slowly back and forth between the mound and the dugout in between innings. This occasion was certainly no different, as I would soon find out as I simply trotted towards the dugout. Meanwhile Sonic reached the dugout, took out his bat, and left to take practice swings in time for the start of the next frame, all before Zenith ever reached the dugout. He gave the blue streak the "thumbs-up" as they crossed paths.
As I waited anxiously in the dugout, a train of thought rushed through my mind. Indeed, what with the heated rivalry between our clubs, I had never played baseball on the same team as Zenith. With that in mind, I wondered how this crowd would react when I took my turn at the bat. No, that's kinda silly. I'm obviously squashing any beef we may have on each other... right? I knew I was soon to find out when Sonic struck out on three pitches.
As the cobalt legend returned to the dugout, dragging his bat sluggishly behind him, I dug out my own bat and rushed onto the field, giving the Blue Blur a soft pat on the shoulders, as if to say, "You did your best, pal."
"Oh boy," I said to myself, standing in the on-deck circle in front of our dugout. "Alright, focus. Keep your eye on the ball. First base is that way," pointing in the appropriate direction. I concentrated on the right-handed Demitri Martin, analyzing his pitching style. He stood at about my size, although that was to be expected. His pitches weren't all that fast, but I noticed that as I swung the bat, I wasn't swinging as hard as I would've liked, and it wasn't from the weight I'd stacked onto it, either. Maybe my reaction time had long depreciated. I didn't know for sure, but for sure I was about to find out.
"Batting third for the Storm: the center fielder, #27... Shadow the Hedgehog."
I couldn't help but gaze around as the fans reacted in one way or another, but mostly one way: they were welcoming me to this house as if I'd always lived here. Even the opposing catcher, Kyle the Wolf, was standing up as I approached the batter's box situated on the left side of home plate.
"Never thought I'd see you play ball again," he snickered. "Welcome back, dude."
I shrugged sheepishly and snickered back.
"Now we're gonna kick your ass."
I chuckled. "I guess we'll see."
"Play ball!"
Demitri stood on the pitcher's rubber, staring me down for ages or so. Finally he went into his windup and delivered his first pitch of the night. I casually watched it sail past me into Kyle's mitt.
"STEEEEERIKE ONE!"
"See? No chance," Kyle snorted as he tossed the ball back.
"Obviously you haven't seen my swing yet."
Demitri quickly delivered his next pitch, and I swung with all my might.
"STRIKE TWO!"
"Juuuuust a tad late on that," Kyle chortled as he tossed the ball back again.
"Obviously you haven't seen me run yet."
Demitri waited a bit before throwing the ball again. I held my swing back this time, as it sailed well above my head.
"Too high. Ball one." At least my plate discipline was still there.
Demitri eyed me menacingly. I eyed him back. He threw another ball that looked to be high, but somehow I knew it would break back into the strike zone. So, I swung. As it turned out, it dropped lower than I'd anticipated.
"STRIKE THREE! YOU'RE OUT!"
After my silly performance, every freak lingering on the field scuttled towards the third base dugout. Inning over, I guess.
"Better luck next time, Slim Shady!"
Such was the story for the first six innings. Both teams began to hit the ball in the second inning, but nothing doing in the run department, the only count that mattered. I got my first hit in the sixth inning, just a sharp ground ball that reached the right field grass.
Entering the seventh inning, both starting pitchers were still in the game, even after they'd combined for nearly 200 pitches. Throughout the game, I practically jumped in anticipation every time Kyle stepped up for the Rogues. He had previously bounced out twice. This time, however, he whacked the first pitched ball deep down the left field line, well out of anyone's reach, settling into the tenth row of seats. As he rounded first base, he eyed me fiercely, as if in response to the "put up or shut up" call.
Rogues Solo Home Run: #6 Kyle the Wolf.
Rogues 1, Storm 0.
The next guy up was Crush the Badger, which sounded like something I would've never thought to do, especially with another jungle badger on our squad. This guy waited out our hard-throwing pitcher five times before smacking the sixth pitch into left center field. I ran back to try to get it, going so far as to to climb the outfield wall in an attempt to reach up for it, but it landed three rows into the spectator area. How humiliating. I threw my glove on the ground in a bout of frustration.
Rogues Solo Home Run: #25 Crush the Badger.
Rogues 2, Storm 0.
Knuckles trotted to the mound to have a chat with Zenith, who seemed awfully calm still after having given up those two home runs. True to his apparent lack of emotion, he retired the next three batters to get out of the inning.
As the tall red hedgehog walked into the dugout, he approached Blaze to tell her, according to what I thought I'd overheard, that she was going to pinch-hit for Tails. I got up from my usual seat to chat with the twin-tailed fox.
"Hey, Shadow," the fox sighed. "So, what do you think?"
I shrugged. "Methinks he really does love this sport," in reference to the tall red freak standing atop the dugout steps. "I just wish he didn't have to retire..."
He pretended to take off his eyeglasses only halfway. "He's probably got some things he needs to take care of first."
"Yeah, I'll bet he does," remembering our short conversation with his feline roommate.
Blaze ended up popping out to Kyle to end the seventh, and Manic and Sonia, pinch-hitting for Bunnie and Marine, both struck out looking in the eighth. Sonic earned a free pass after taking four straight pitches out of the strike zone, but Jet lined out to Mina to end that inning.
Who else but Kyle led off the top of the ninth with a double that split Jet and Shadow. He then advanced to third from Crush hitting a high chopper to Blaze, who stepped on first for the unassisted force out. Rocky the Mole then hit a towering shot in my direction. I had to back up towards the warning track to put him out, but the damage had been done as Kyle scored easily after tagging up, as my long throw failed to reach the plate in time.
Rogues 3, Storm 0.
Some female cyborg hyena grounded out to Manic to put that mess away.
I noticed that the Rogues had handed the ball to the left-handed Xander the Leopard to start the final frame with me leading off. Fantastic. Time to feast.
And sure enough, I whacked the first pitch into right center field for a base knock.
As Knuckles settled into the box, I stepped about six paces off the bag, ready to run as soon as I saw Xander move his arm. Then I noticed he was turning towards me, so I made a mad dash back to the bag. Shonen made no effort to tag me. I got back up and stepped off the bag again, this time leaning slightly to my right, even more ready to steal second. And then Xander threw back to first base again, forcing me to retreat. As much as anyone in the stadium would've loved for the pitcher to get the game going, there was no rule that forced Xander to do so.
Finally he dealt a pitch to Knuckles. I waited a few steps off the bag. Strike one. Suddenly, I found the ball zooming back to first base. I scurried back to the bag as fast as I could and dove head first, but I felt a fast mitt sweep across my outstretched arms before I could reach the bag. I was out in a humiliating fashion. Returning to the dugout with nothing to show for my clutch hitting, I waited to hear what Zenith had to say. He didn't, simply looking blankly onto the field.
The conclusion of the game couldn't have come any quicker, as Knuckles flied out on the very next pitch to the cyborg hyena in left field who apparently called herself Tron Legend. Finally, Storm the Albatross struck out on three pitches.
FINAL: Rogues 3, Storm 0.
I was the first to leave for the clubhouse, not wanting anything to do with anyone sulking on the dugout bench and watching on as the victorious Rogues congratulated each other on the field, or whatever their usual spiel was. I rushed to my locker and sat down on the wooden bench in front of it. I took off my jersey, stained all over with dirt, and hung it from one of the metallic hooks latched onto the interior. I reached above the locker and pulled out a fully developed polaroid picture.
"It's all your fault..." was all I could mutter.
The image depicted two figures in matching gray jerseys laced with the word "SHADES" printed in black, also displaying the block style numbers on the front. One of the figures was me, wearing my usual 27. The other was a female hedgehog with a long, practically glowing golden hair, matching giant gauntlets, sporting the number 16 on her jersey, the reason why nobody on our squad could use it.
I stared at the photo for a while, eventually sighing. "Life goes on..."
I felt a gloved hand gently graze my back. It could only have been Sonic.
"Don't touch me," I snapped.