Out of Left Field: Marlee's Story (3 page)

Marlee and Lisa had only gotten through about two-thirds of their usual warmup when the luxury bus from East Valley pulled up. Marlee shrugged. “Lisa, I’m good. Don’t worry about it. I’m loose. Go hang with the team. I have to rake.” Marlee wanted to watch the Panther players walk toward the field.

Lisa hesitated and looked about to protest, but, much to Marlee’s relief, simply shrugged her shoulders. “Okay, but if you change your mind you know where I’ll be.” She moved toward the Cougars’ team bench in obvious resignation.

Marlee pulled the rusty rake out of the tin supply shed. All the while she kept the Panther players in her peripheral vision. Marlee’s earlier vision of the afternoon, a perfect blue sky with cotton candy clouds, did not materialize. Gray clouds hung low in the cold and dreary afternoon. She scanned for Susie, as best one could using peripheral vision, but hadn’t spotted her yet. Marlee raked the pitcher’s circle over and over from every angle.

The sea of red and black Panther jackets flowed closer. She felt a quick pang of shame when she remembered that her Clarksonville Cougar softball field was vastly inferior to the East Valley field. The school district’s austerity budget made sure of that. She didn’t have time for self-pity and went back to scanning for Susie. Her throat tightened when she found the sweet face she had been searching for. She remembered to breathe, but barely.

She watched Susie get closer. Oh, my God. She’s so cute. Her heartbeat quickened and she found herself raking faster and faster. Marlee glanced at Susie and tried to take her in all at once. Her overlong glance revealed Susie’s smiling eyes, dark skin, thin waist, and, oh, that athletic walk. Realizing she had stopped raking and was practically staring, Marlee turned away and went over to rake Lisa’s catching area. She tried to suppress it, but couldn’t help the grin that snuck out on her face.

Marlee tried to figure out why she needed to look at this girl. Did this Susie remind her of someone? Did she simply admire the girl’s athleticism? Marlee couldn’t answer the questions and looked up surreptitiously once more to find Susie and became instantly annoyed that Susie walked side by side with dreaded enemy number one, Christy Loveland. Christy looked mean in her red and black uniform, but Susie was a different story. Susie’s Panther jacket hugged her thin waist and Marlee couldn’t help but notice Susie’s strong legs. Marlee looked at Christy again and frowned.
Why does Susie have to be with her?

THE EAST VALLEY players tossed their gear on the ground, and for the second time that afternoon, Marlee felt self-conscious about the Cougars’ home field. The outfield grew more dandelions than grass and the fence wasn’t even real. An old wooden snow fence stood about four feet high and almost half of the wooden slats were either broken or missing. There were no water fountains, no dugouts, and just a couple of wobbly wooden benches that you didn’t dare slide on because splinters would be your reward. There were no stadium lights, of course, which meant no night games. And the Clarksonville High School softball field wasn’t even level. Center field sloped down toward the nearby school building.

“Kiddo,” Coach Spears yelled to Marlee, breaking her out of her reverie. “You’re going to give yourself blisters. You’re done raking. Come over to the bench.” Coach Spears turned from Marlee and greeted the Panther coach.

Marlee growled in frustration at the interruption, but decided she’d better follow her coach’s order. She took a deep breath, leaned the rake against the supply shed, although it was supposed to go in the shed, and walked to her team bench. She passed the rickety five-tier bleachers, cracked and weathered with age. The few brave Cougar fans wore winter coats, scarves, and gloves. They had even created a huddled community under heaps of blankets. She didn’t bother to look for her mother because her mother couldn’t take time away from her real estate job. Marlee waved to the die-hard fans and knew that April in the North Country could be rough on outdoor spectators.

Marlee clapped Jeri on the back and said, “Are we going to rock their world today or what?”

“Sure, if Christy has the flu,” Jeri joked and retied her cleats. This was one of her pregame rituals. Her curly dark hair spilled over her forehead and she brushed it back with annoyance.

“Hand me my hat, Marlee. You had the right idea when you cut your hair short. This is so annoying.”

Marlee handed her friend the requested hat. “I don’t expect them to hit anything today, but on the off chance they do manage to hit one to center field, catch it, will ya?”

“Aww, they won’t hit a thing today because Marlee, future All-County pitcher, is on the mound. Okay, there’s no mound in softball, I know,” she amended, “but it sounds better than in the circle.” Pregame rituals complete, she added, “Just do me a favor and throw the pitches Lisa calls for.” She wagged a teasing finger in Marlee’s face. “Coach said you’ve got to listen to Lisa.”

Marlee snapped her teeth together as if to bite the finger. “Yeah, and at five-foot-nine, Lisa could probably beat me up if I don’t listen.”

“We should’ve asked her to come with us to the game last Friday,” Jeri said.

Marlee hadn’t even considered asking Lisa to the game. Lisa could have sized up the batters with her. “Yeah, we should have. I don’t know why we didn’t think of it.” Maybe, Marlee mused, she hadn’t considered taking Lisa since they only hung out at softball. And besides, Lisa was a sophomore, a year younger than Marlee, and they didn’t hang in the same social circles. What social circles? The me and Bobby social circle of two? She dismissed Bobby’s brief intrusion. Big game. No time for distractions. At that moment the umpires called for the captains’ circle.

Marlee and Jeri grabbed their gloves from the bench and jogged to home plate. Christy Loveland sauntered over with a cool I’ve-done-this-a-thousand-times groove. Marlee frowned. Did she and Jeri look like complete idiots running over? She yanked her hat off with her left hand and raked her right hand through her short hair in an attempt to cover her embarrassment.

The home plate umpire asked the players to introduce themselves and shake hands. Ground rules gone over, he reminded the players about their responsibilities as captains. This responsibility included good sportsmanship, but Marlee knew that Christy Loveland wasn’t going to be a good sport after Marlee pitched her perfect game against them. After the brief meeting, Marlee and Jeri coolly sauntered back to the Cougar team bench.

“Home team, take the field,” the umpire yelled and leaned over to brush off home plate.

Marlee’s stomach did a flip. She wanted to run to the pitcher’s circle, but willed herself to play it cool and walked out calmly and with confidence. If ever there was a day to pitch flawlessly, this was it.

“C’mon, Marlee,” Lisa yelled from behind the plate, “fire it in here.” She pounded her catcher’s mitt.

Marlee threw her five warmup pitches and felt strong and confident. She still felt strong and confident even after the first Panther batter swatted a single down the right field line.
One runner on, no big deal,
Marlee thought.
I’ll just pitch a one-hitter today.
She had to amend her one-hitter dream of glory to a two-hitter dream when the second batter beat out a bunt up the first base line. Marlee couldn’t figure out what was going wrong with her grand plan when she walked the third batter to load the bases. With no outs, big hitter Susie Torres, #7, was due up next.

Marlee McAllister, #3, tried to stay calm, cool, and collected. But when she watched Susie take her last practice swing in the on-deck circle her knees went rubbery again.
God, she looks strong.

Susie walked up to the plate wielding her bat like a weapon. Marlee felt a stone form in the pit of her stomach. Susie adjusted her helmet and stepped into the batter’s box. The end of her ponytail stuck out of the bottom of her helmet. Susie turned her head and stared straight at Marlee. Marlee gasped.
Oh, my God, she’s looking right at me. And I’m looking right at her.
The realization hit her like a freight train.
Everyone will see.
She admonished herself to keep cool.
No one knows
. But it was this last thought that took her completely by surprise. No one knows what? She tucked the question away like a package she’d open later.

Lisa pounded her mitt. Marlee gripped the ball and fired. Low fastball. Strike one. Marlee smiled. Strike one on Susie Torres, #7. Lisa called for a curve ball and Marlee delivered. This time Susie connected with the pitch. Marlee’s heart leapt when Susie smacked a foul ball deep down the left field line.

“Way to go, #3,” Lisa called out to Marlee. “Just a long strike, eh? One more now.”

Marlee figured Lisa would call for the change-up. She did. But Marlee figured Susie would look for the change-up so she thought a two-strike rise ball just might fool her. She wound up and threw as hard as she could. The ball rose all right, right at Susie’s head. Susie jerked her head out of the way in time but fell to the ground. Thankfully, Lisa caught the errant pitch. Mortified, Marlee turned around and looked at Jeri in center field. Jeri opened her mouth in a big laugh and flipped her thumb around in the international beanball sign. Marlee shrugged that she hadn’t meant it. Jeri made the sign again. Marlee turned around and saw that Susie had already gotten up and was brushing dirt from her uniform. Susie stepped into the batter’s box again and adjusted her helmet. She then did something that shook Marlee to the core. Susie, slowly and deliberately, turned her head to face Marlee and grinned right at her. Marlee swallowed hard. Susie had noticed her all right, but this was not the way she had wanted to be noticed.

Marlee could sense more than see Coach Spears on the sidelines getting agitated.
Coach’s hair must be getting grayer by the minute.
At least, Marlee thought, she wasn’t sending in Kerry, their relief pitcher. Yet. Marlee decided to stick to pitching the pitches that Lisa called. Lisa called for the change-up again. And Marlee threw it. And Susie slammed it into center field over Jeri’s head. In fact, Susie whacked the ball so far that it went over the dilapidated snow fence and smacked right into the school building. Susie Torres, #7, who was supposed to strike out in every at-bat, had just hit a grand slam homerun off Marlee McAllister, #3, future First-Team All-County pitcher.

Marlee usually kicked the dirt or pounded her fist into her glove whenever somebody hit a homerun off her. Not this time. She just watched Susie trot around the bases, and was pleased, secretly. Susie had hit a homerun, no a grand slam, off her.

The next three Panther batters in turn grounded out, struck out, and flied out. The score was 0-4 when the Cougars came up to bat in the bottom of the first inning. Although Marlee was happy for Susie, she was also annoyed at herself for her part in causing her team to fall so far behind this early in the game.

Jeri, the Cougar’s lead-off batter, surprised everybody, including herself, by hitting a single in the three-four hole off powerhouse Christy Loveland. The next Cougar batter put down a sacrifice bunt and moved Jeri to second base. With one out, Marlee stepped up to bat. She looked to her coach for the signs. Jeri was going to steal third base on the next pitch. Marlee was supposed to swing late and miss the first pitch on purpose in order to be in the catcher’s way. It was kind of a dirty trick but all the teams did it. She thought about ignoring her coach’s sign and swinging away, but she remembered what had happened when she ignored Lisa’s call for a pitch, a beanball right to Susie’s head. Marlee pulled her helmet low over her eyes, dug her heels in, took one last practice swing and waited for the Christy Loveland fastball she knew was coming. The fastball sailed right down the middle of the plate just like she expected. It took all of Marlee’s might to swing a split-second late and miss.

“Strike one!” the umpire yelled. Meanwhile, Jeri sprinted to third. The Panther catcher threw the ball around Marlee. Jeri slid. Safe! Jeri was safe at third base.

Marlee looked at her coach again for the signs. Hit away. Christy threw the next pitch, but Marlee didn’t swing because the ball was a little low. “Strike two,” the umpire said with much more enthusiasm than Marlee thought was necessary. Marlee fouled off the third pitch and wondered what Christy would throw next. Marlee knew that pitchers tried to throw each pitch with the exact same motion so the batter couldn’t guess the pitch. Marlee, however, saw the slight change when Christy gripped the ball. A change-up was coming. Marlee waited until the slower-moving ball reached the plate and then swung with all her might. She hit the ball deep into the left-center field gap. Marlee ran so fast she wasn’t sure her feet touched the ground. She couldn’t see, but knew Jeri was scoring the Cougars’ first run. Kerry, the first base coach, waved her around to go to second. As Marlee headed toward second base she saw Susie pick up the ball at the snow fence. It’s gonna be close. She pumped her arms and dug in hard on the infield dirt. She heard her teammates yell excitedly from the sidelines.

From the ondeck circle, Lisa shouted, “Slide, Marlee, slide!” Marlee slid. The second baseman caught the throw and put the tag on Marlee’s shoulder.

“Safe!” the field umpire yelled throwing both arms out to her side. The Panther second baseman started to protest the call, but stopped, clearly thinking better of it. Marlee asked for time. “Time,” the umpire announced and put her hand in the air. The second baseman put out her hand to help Marlee up. This girl was one of the enemy, but Marlee made a quick decision and stuck out her hand in response. The girl helped her up.

“Thanks, man,” Marlee said.

“No problem. Nice hit, by the way.” The girl tossed the ball back to Christy and said low to Marlee, “And you were safe.” She winked and scurried back to her position.

Marlee dusted herself off and thought about asking the friendly second baseman about their left fielder. But she couldn’t figure out what to ask and she didn’t know what she’d say if the girl asked her why she wanted to know.