“I hadn’t thought of that,” she said and considered it. “Okay.”
“Okay?” I asked, not believing she would be so easy to convince.
“Yeah. I trust you to make a good decision. But know if you don’t pick Brook, I might have to hurt you.”
“I’m sure she appreciates that you would do that for her.”
She just giggled. It completely ruined her badass persona.
◊◊◊
When I came back, I found Nicki and his men in the lobby with their bags.
“You taking off?” I asked.
“Yes. Fritz has everything under control. Pia talked to some people down here, and they now know to leave you and yours alone. You should be fine from here on out.”
“Thanks. I’ll be sure to call Pia and thank her and Tony. I really appreciate your help. We all felt much safer knowing you were here,” I said, shaking his hand.
“I had a good time. If I were at home, I’d be sitting around listening to my wife complain and eating too much of her pasta. I would’ve missed out on tiger cubs and a bar fight. I haven’t been in one of those for at least ten years. It brought back good memories,” he said.
“I wouldn’t expect Tony to get into many bar fights,” I observed.
“No, he’s a good kid, for the most part. When he gets into trouble, it’s a little more serious,” Nicki said cryptically.
We said our goodbyes, and I thanked each of the men who’d accompanied Nicki. They seemed a little uncomfortable with my addressing them directly, but that was just me being me.
When I got back to my room, I called Pia and thanked her. She conveyed Tony’s greeting and that he said he still owed me. I wasn’t sure what to think about that, but I would rather have Tony happy with me than not. I had a feeling he wasn’t someone I ever wanted to cross.
◊◊◊ Monday August 22
Today was the day. The Gold Medal Game for the COPABE Pan Am ‘AAA’ Championships. In the afternoon game, Mexico had won the Bronze Medal by beating Nicaragua 4–0. Even before that game, we now knew which teams would advance to next year’s WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup in Thunder Bay, Canada. That was considered the World Championship of U-18 Baseball.
The Team USA people showed us the list of teams that had qualified so far. From the Americas, there was number 2 United States, number 5 Cuba, number 6 Canada, number 8 Mexico, and number 18 Nicaragua. Asia was sending number 1 Japan, number 3 Korea, and number 4 Chinese Taipei. Finally, Europe was represented by number 9 Italy and number 10 Netherlands. Of the ten teams qualified to this point, nine of them were ranked in the top ten in the world. The Americas had produced the last two winners.
It was nice to know that we’d given next year’s team a leg up, but we still had a game to play. During warm-ups, I took a moment to reflect on baseball this year. It all started with making the movie in December and the opportunity I received to work with a batting coach. Dad was always saying that you never knew where the next opportunity would come from. That was why he had us work a room whenever we got the chance.
I thought our high school season had gone well. We’d gone deeper into the state tournament than we did last year. I suspect if we hadn’t had all our skill players playing seven-on-seven football, we might have done more. I was sure the seniors would go out for baseball this year. It’s possible we would put together a season that would make Moose happy.
I’d come into the Team USA competition without many expectations. I simply wanted to see how I would stack up against the best baseball had to offer. Making Team USA and being named captain had put those worries to rest.
It was appropriate that we would be facing Cuba tonight. Their pitcher was the kid I’d recommended to the Cubs. If he played like I thought he could, we might have our hands full. We were giving the ball to Allard, our ace. I could see from his warm-ups that he was focused and would have a big game.
“You up to giving me a pregame interview?” Jeff asked.
“Why don’t you go bother someone else?” I teased him.
“Because I need your prediction.”
“This is going to go one of two ways. Either the kid from Cuba will step up and give us a game, or he’ll let the moment get the better of him. If he plays to his potential, I predict a close game where we win 2–1. Allard looks like he’s zeroed in, so they may not even score,” I said.
“If he’s not up to the task?”
“You mean the kid from Cuba?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Then we win something like 7–1. If they get down by more than a couple runs, it’s over.”
“Why’s that?”
“We’ve already beaten them once. They have to have some early success, or they’ll realize what I already know,” I said with a pause and a big grin. “We’re the better team.”
“That’s what I love about you. You don’t lack for confidence,” Jeff said, and he let me finish getting ready.
◊◊◊
Cuba was up first, and Allard showed why he was our ace. He struck out the first two batters and got the third to hit a weak grounder to Mitch at shortstop.
I was up first in the bottom half of the inning. I tipped my hat to their pitcher to acknowledge that I remembered him and then got down to business. He threw me a curve that surprised me for a strike. He followed that with another curve that barely caught the strike zone. I smiled because I was sure he would try to get me to chase bad pitches. He threw a high fastball and another curve that missed badly. With the count 2–2, I expected something I could hit. On his next offering, he went to the curveball again. I got under it a little and hit a high, towering fly ball to left field.
He got both Mitch and Nick to hit infield grounders to get out of the inning.
Allard struck out their leadoff batter in the second inning and got the next two to hit first-pitch fastballs that ended up being easy outs. He was cruising.
Shane ended the Cuban pitcher’s dreams of a no-hitter with a single to left field. I don’t think anyone expected Royce to bunt. Clearly, Cuba didn’t, which allowed Royce to reach, giving us two base runners with no outs. Jared was up next and also laid down a bunt. This time Cuba was ready and threw Jared out at first. He’d done his job, though, because the other two moved into scoring position.
Tristan came up next. He was one of the guys I’d worked with over the weekend in the batting cage. The Cuban pitcher made a mistake on a fastball that ended up waist high over the middle of the plate. I thought he’d hit it out of the park, but the ball dropped at the last second and bounced off the wall. Tristan had a stand-up double that cleared the bases.
That play seemed to deflate the Cuban team. We proceeded to add another run to take a 3–0 lead. The Cuban manager pulled their starter at that point.
Allard ended up pitching seven innings, struck out 11, and walked three for the win. Daz came in and finished the game, putting down six straight. I hit a two-run homer in our half of the seventh to make the final score 6–0.
This time, when we got the last out, we weren’t restrained. We rushed the mound and were met there by our bench players and coaches. Our fans were on their feet, chanting ‘USA!’ Yuri found me, gave me a hug, and handed me an American flag. I held it above my head as I bounced up and down and looked around to find our fans.
Coach Kingwood got us to calm down some so we could do the traditional handshake. I found Coach Conde in line and gave him a big hug.
“I just wanted to thank you for helping me get ready.”
“It was my pleasure. If you’re ever back in Cuba, look me up,” he said.
We had to keep the line moving, so I just shook his hand.
Afterward, they lined both teams up so we all could receive our medals. The president of the COPABE Pan Am ‘AAA’ Championships gave each player their silver or gold medal. After we got them, he asked Coach Kingwood and me to join him on the mound. Someone handed him a microphone.