The crowd was still making noise for their team as we switched to defense. When Garret took his practice pitches, I could tell that he was still distracted by his run to home in the last half inning. So could Coach. He came out after the practice pitches, and went to the mound, waving for us all to join him.
"What's up Coach?" Garret asked, gripping the baseball. Probably scared that he might be pulled.
The rest of us fielders surrounded them, Coach versus Garret.
Coach stared him down. "Are you sure you want the ball?"
"Yes." Garret hid it in his glove. "I can do this."
"Are you sure? Because to me, it looks like your head is somewhere else. On the last play, perhaps?"
Garret shrugged, looking guilty.
Coach laid his heavy hand on Garret's shoulder. "I'm telling you now, if you give up one hit, I'll pull you. I don't care how well you have done so far. If you're not here mentally, you can easily lose us this game."
