Bat 6

by Virginia Euwer Wolff

  That Ridge pitcher has a different kind of windup, it is a kind of figure 8, she pitched 3 in a row I would strike at but Hallie waited.

  And when she swung she hit it real nice, out to center where I had seen her hit it so many times before, she actually made it look easy, and she was off running and Dotty Rayfield signaled her to go on past first. Their center field had threw the ball but it wasn’t even close yet, their redhead second base was leaning off her base to catch it, and Hallie stomped on the bag and stayed.

  “Yea, Beautiful Hair! Beautiful Hair! Barlow, go Barlow!” was coming out onto the field from behind me.

  I was up. I did not know before I would be so jittery with excitement.

  Man, their pitcher knew what she was doing. She stared into the strike zone and she almost put a kind of bend on the ball, I let 2 of them go by before I settled down. I thought it might of been a mistake on account of I probably could of hit them, the ump called one a ball and one a strike and I was actually of the same opinion.

  But guess what Hallie did, she stole third just as pretty as you please.

  “Beautiful Hair! Beautiful Hair! Beautiful Hair! All the way, Ila Mae! Ila Mae! Ila Mae! Ila Mae! Barlow, yea! Yea, Barlow!”

  It sounded so good.

  I remembered my brief wish from long ago that I would be MVP for our year. I knew it was selfish. And yet it come back to me, standing there with the pitch coming, and I swung the bat.

  Wheek! I felt like an airplane, I took off so fast, and I knew the ball was somewhere out there kind of low, I watched Dotty Rayfield’s hands tell me not to try to go to second, and I crossed the first base good and safe.

  And Hallie scored. I had hit the ball deep into center field and their center fielder threw to their shortstop but Hallie just went parading right on home. I was so proud.

  Dotty Rayfield was telling me “Good job, Ila Mae” and the Ridge first baseman gave me room and I was getting settled with my foot on the bag and some little picture in my mind kept coming in and going out while I was watching Wink step to the plate. The Ridge pitcher and first baseman had their eyes on each other and they were both concentrating on me. It felt a little bit scoonchy but it was exciting, too. My breathing felt so loud.

  Wink standing there at bat was a sight for eyes to see. She is so tall, 5 feet and 10 inches, she makes a impression wherever she is, and with her Pioneer cap and that Hank Greenberg jersey and her red slacks, anybody could see this was a girl that come here to play ball.

  Like I did, Wink held her fire while she got used to that pitcher. I was like a rubber band ready to ping.

  Darlene was taking warmup swings, and Coach Rayfield did a very unexpected thing, he walked away from third again and he goes over to the bench and he got Shazam to stand up. I loosened my stance for a moment and I just watched, I kept my foot firm on the bag. Shazam went over to where Lola & Lila had the bats laid out and she picked up a bat and she walked around with it. Coach returned again to third.

  Some odd little remembering came and went in my mind again. But I concentrated right through it.

  Wink got her third pitch and she let that one go. Wink is a very smart ball player, she chooses good choices. Even so, she hit two foul balls, one of them went outside the first-base line their little short right fielder throws it back. Now the count is 2 and 2 and Wink swings.

  Away I go! I had my eyes on the second-base bag and I run hard, and long before I cross the inside edge of it I hear Coach Rayfield over at third yelling at me, “Come on, Ila Mae!” and as I’m coming toward him his arm is windmilling around for me to go on home, and I do it, and I cross home plate and I have scored a run for my home team and I am bursting out of my shirt I am so proud.

  “Yea, Ila Mae! Yea, Barlow! Yea, Ila Mae all the way!” The bleachers are yelling on their feet and I intake my breath and look behind me. There’s Wink, sliding the most pretty, dusty, skinny long-legged slide I ever saw her make, and the third basemen can’t tag her out in time, Wink’s foot is on that bag solid. Brita Marie’s uncle is over there declaring she is safe, and Wink stands up, dusts off those red pants, kind of shakes out her long old legs, and stands up to her full heighth and waits for the action to start.

  “Yea, Wink! Yea, Stringbean! Yea, Beanpole!”

  The bleachers are all up and waving and shouting, and it is a blessful day and we are tied with the Ridge.

  And the coaches: What a riot! They are congratulating each other! The man Ridge coach, the one with the arm partly missing, he’s over there at their bench hollering to Coach Rayfield, “Your girls are good!” And Coach Rayfield is saying back to him, “Yours too!” And they’re laughing like this is a picnic.

  Wink, first base

  I knew I was right to practice sliding all the time because look how good I slid. That third baseman would of tagged me if I didn’t slide.

  Hard work pays off they always say in my family and I was thinking how true it come for me. I was proud I had Hank Greenberg to inspire me.

  Darlene was up next, and the crowd of onlookers yelled for her, “Go, Darlene! Go, Darlene!” She hit a bouncing grounder to third and I couldn’t go anywhere. But she beat the ball to first base easy, and there she stood, flexing her beefy legs, and we was all ready for the big moment. Shazam was up.

  She steps to the plate and our team all chanted, “Sha-zam! Sha-zam! Sha-zam!” in good spirits for her to get a good hit which we knew she could do if she would concentrate which was never hard for her to do till this morning when she fumbled that fly. Shazam could bat both right and left, she was batting right that morning. Coach Rayfield joined in with our cheering and he signaled me to be ready to run. I was already ready, I was readier than I’d ever been. I had my hind foot on the bag and I was aiming myself toward home plate, hoping Shazam would be herself and knock me in, and Darlene would get around the bases too and

  Shazam, center field

  Too many Jap faces killed my only father I ever had.

  Darlene, third base

  Dotty Rayfield signaled me to be ready. The pitcher pitched the first pitch, Shazam swang and I ran.

  Wink, first base

  Shazam made contact. Smack. I was already in motion when Coach Rayfield said, “No, Wink!” I stopped sudden after 2 steps and went back to the bag. It was a sharp grounder, their 3rd baseman scooped it up and threw over to 2nd and Darlene was out. Then their redhead 2nd baseman threw to first for a double-play and I remember clear as day saying to myself: Drat. Phooey. Rats. If only I’d of known what was happening I would of said much worse.

  Audrey, catcher

  I will never know for sure if I did or didn’t hear Shazam say any words before she swang or while she was swinging. They tried to get me to say I did or didn’t but I could not say that.

  Where I was, over there on deck, I saw the ball low in the air going from second to first and I was real disappointed for Shazam. She was going to be put out, I could see it coming.

  But that feeling lasted only as long as a clock tick.

  Hallie, right field

  I wish I had never saw what I saw.

  Brita Marie, second base

  Why was Shazam running inside the baseline? She never did that before. Even way over there with Audrey on the other side of the plate, I could see Shazam’s judgment was off. And then her brain went. Right in front of God and everybody, while the first baseman was still leaning out from the bag with the ball just landed in her glove from 2nd, Shazam turned her direction and her right elbow came up like an axe handle and cracked into the side of the girl’s head so hard she went flat in the dirt.

  Shazam aimed herself to do that.

  It was impossible to think of doing such a thing.

  Shazam did it.

  Lola and Lila, managers

  We saw it, we saw it all. We saw Shazam on purpose charge right toward the first baseman and bust her in the head with her elbow. We saw the first baseman go flat down on the ground, we saw everything. It was a crime to see
in broad daylight.

  Darlene, third base

  By the time I turned around to see what had happened, Dotty Rayfield had gone over her legal line and was down on the dirt with the fallen first baseman.

  And their little short right fielder was down there too, and then the Doc from up on the Ridge, and Coach Rayfield was running to first base and I saw what Audrey and Brita Marie was doing, and I near couldn’t believe it all.

  Brita Marie, second base

  I did what I thought was best. I grabbed Audrey and we ran down the baseline and took ahold of Shazam where she was starting to walk away into foul territory, and we just held on to her.

  Audrey, catcher

  Even when Shazam begun to kick at us we didn’t let go, we held on.

  Ila Mae, pitcher

  I get so furious raging mad every time I think of the sound that elbow made in that girl’s bones.

  Alva, shortstop

  Dear God,

  How could this happen? Is it something I did?

  Kate, second base

  When I saw Daisy’s throw, all I wanted in the world was to make that out. And then all I wanted in the world was to make the double play. I threw as fast as I could to Aki, and the ball went more inside than I meant it to, and Aki had to lean in to get it, but she kept her foot on the bag like always, and she caught it perfect like always, and then her head jerked like it was shot and the next thing she was down on the ground and I could see the number 7 on the back of that Barlow girl’s shirt as she was walking off into foul territory.

  Shadean, pitcher

  I did not move. Then I moved.

  Susannah’s father got there before me, he was on the ground saying Don’t touch Aki, he was holding Little Peggy’s arm where it was under Aki’s neck, he was telling the arm, “Don’t move a muscle.”

  I couldn’t hear what he said to Aki.

  Then everybody came in a swarm.

  Little Peggy, right field

  I put my arm under Aki’s head which looked like I never saw her before, well, I put it under her neck really, and I wanted to know if she could hear me but Susannah’s father took hold of my arm and said not to move a muscle. “Can you hear me, Aki?” he said, in his steady voice of a doctor.

  Aki’s eyes were closed. Her whole head looked so different.

  I personally was stunned to see her so still, I will always remember that position of her face to my dying day. Susannah’s father took off his jacket to put under Aki’s neck and he made me take my arm out from under there, real slowly, even though I don’t want to lose my touch of her body.

  I never saw a face like that in my life. The swelling was getting huge.

  Susannah’s father felt with his hand under her ear and the Barlow first-base coach stood up to clear everybody away and get some peace and quiet.

  Ila Mae, pitcher

  What Coach Rayfield done he ran over from third to first base fast as his old middle-age legs would take him and he got down on the ground with that girl and he looked like he might be praying he was kneeling down so.

  I would not blame him if he was.

  Then so many people got there. It was Coach Rayfield and 3 other men that lifted that wounded first baseman on the stretcher into the ambulance.

  Susannah, left field

  Barlow’s first-base coach went to the pitcher’s box and put up her hands in the air for everybody to listen. She turned to every side and tried to hush everyone. Mr. Porter was helping her shush the people and get them orderly. Many little children were running around the field in confusion, and dogs were making such a racket.

  While everybody was wondering what she would say, the River Bend ambulance drove very slow to first base. Men shooed the dogs away from the ambulance wheels. My stomach was sinking.

  The first-base coach said, “There’s been an accident, we don’t know how bad yet. The Bear Creek Ridge first baseman has been injured. The doctor is with her, we’ll just have to wait and see.” And she and Mr. Porter said some words to each other I couldn’t hear.

  By that time that number 7 was in the clutches of the girls.

  Ellen, shortstop

  Susannah’s mom and Little Peggy’s mom had their arms around Aki’s mom. The three of them came down out of the bleachers onto the field, and people moved aside so they could get through.

  The thought went through my head, There is the MVP for 1930, going to see her flesh-and-blood daughter hurt on the ball field.

  The ambulance was at first base and 4 men were lifting Aki on a stretcher into the back door of it.

  I only stood still.

  Then Daisy and the big enormous tall Barlow girl walked over to Kate’s base and I followed them. I did not know what else to do.

  Wink, first base

  Nobody had ever mentioned what we was supposed to do now. Not knowing any reason why not to go over to where the Ridgers’ outfield was gathered together around second base, I did so, even shaking inside like I was. And Darlene come too, from over at second where she had been put out. The Ridgers were shy over there and Darlene and me was too. Brita Marie’s uncle, the base umpire, had run over to first base.

  I said my name to their third baseman. She said her name to me, Daisy, and we looked in each other’s eyes. Their center field said her name, Lorelei, and the rest of them. We all stood looking at each other.

  I did not know what to say to them but I knew I had to say something on my own team’s field. I said, “I’m real sorry what happened.”

  The third baseman that was hoping to tag me out just a few minutes before said, “It isn’t your fault, Wink, you didn’t do it.”

  She was right, it wasn’t my fault. But I never saw such a thing before and it was too shocking to understand.

  In despite of the ruckus going on, I looked down at my feet. When I sneaked a look I saw those other girls were all looking down at their feet too. I looked over at Darlene who was looking at me. I felt so bad looking at her, on account of we were on the same team with Shazam, we seen her every day, she won the prize at my birthday party by peeking under the blindfold. Darlene’s face showed she felt horrible.

  How was we supposed to be Christians now?

  So many dogs were barking, they wouldn’t stop.

  Daisy, third base

  Holy Mary, Mother of God, there was Aki in the ambulance.

  Me and Ellen and the Barlow base runners all gathered together at second base, plus the outfielders. Some came slow, some came fast. I don’t know why we went to second base.

  Nobody said a word at first. Only surprised sounds with our breaths.

  I looked over to where Mr. Porter was with Aki’s father and her brother Shig. I couldn’t imagine what they would be saying, there was so many sounds all around.

  And the then big tall one, Wink, said she was sorry.

  Mrs. Porter put her arms around Aki’s mother who then climbed up in the ambulance and then it drove very slowly off the field.

  If anybody was sorry it was me. I made the throw to second base. If I had thrown bad. Or if I had thrown late. Or if I hadn’t scooped the grounder that number 7 hit. If something. That big tall Wink would have ran in, and maybe their next runner would too. Barlow might be ahead, but Aki would be standing up right now. I can’t say words for how bad I felt.

  What kind of insane person was that number 7, anyway?

  Two trails of dust rose off the dirt behind the ambulance wheels.

  Susannah said, “What’s her name?”

  Their big first baseman said, “Shazam.”

  Lorelei whispered it, like to get it straight, “Shazam.” Then we were all silent with second base in the middle of us, and all that rowdiness going on in foul territory.

  Vernell, manager

  Some boys were yelling. “Get her! Get her good! She hit Aki!” And Herby’s dog jumped so hard he broke the leash and went tearing off across the field making dust come up like a storm. He found some other dogs and joined their barking that cou
ld make you go deaf.

  Hallie, right field

  Right away when the first baseman went down, Darlene’s mom attached herself to Shazam’s old grandmother up there on the bleachers, and she kept holding her the whole time, even while everybody was upset and yelling and arguing she kept her arm around her. It was a terrible thing for that old lady. Having to see her own granddaughter do with her elbow like that. I would not ever in my life want my grandmother to see such a thing. But then it is different with me. I would not ever do such a thing.

  Shazam’s father died inside a bombed ship, and he never got to see her play ball. I remembered how Shazam walked out of the Christmas play down at the Gospel Church, and now this.

  Audrey, catcher

  With Coach Rayfield in the huddle at first base and Dotty Rayfield making the speech, the girls ourselves had took charge. Brita Marie had Shazam by her arm and held on, and Shazam tried to get away and I got her other arm and Shazam kicked, and by that time Lola was there so I give her my side and I got around under Shazam’s armpits and held her in a tight hold from behind. Shazam was squirming and kicking everywhere, and us three Pioneer team girls held on for dear life in all that dust swirling.

  Shazam didn’t say anything while we was holding her, she just kicked and kicked and we held on. We didn’t know anything else to do.

  Lila, manager

  Lola up and told me to mind the bench and sop up the mess of water spilled across everything when everybody jumped up. She leaped up and went to help hold on to Shazam over in foul territory. I just watched, I did not sop up any more of the water, I had used all the towels.

  Boy, was Lola mad. After Shazam came and squeezed her off the team.

  Some boys over behind the backstop hit Toby and Jimmy with the birthmark and they hit back and there was a fight in the dust and Mrs. Winters’s husband got in the middle of them to make them stop and there was too much noise and dust all over, I couldn’t see clear who was hurt and who was not.

  Manzanita, left field

  Sweet Lord Jesus save us now

  Sweet Lord baby Jesus save us now

  Sweet Je Je Je JeJe Je Jesus Lord

  Save save save save save save save us now