Read Online Extra Innings by Ronde Barber and Paul Mantell Tiki Barber - Free Book Online Page B

the game!
    As he tried to get ahold of his emotions, a wild idea came into his head. If he couldn’t hit a lick right-handed, he might as well give it a go from the left side !
    As he crossed into the other batter’s box, a chorus of shocked comments serenaded him from the Eagles’ bench.
    â€œWhat are you doing?”
    â€œRonde, no!”
    â€œAre you nuts?”
    â€œHey, quit fooling around!”
    Ronde was in a world of his own. He stared out at the pitcher, who wore a look of utter shock on his face. Standing in the left-handed batter’s box, Ronde tapped the plate with his bat and waited.
    The pitch came in—a searing fastball. And Ronde, who had no experience batting lefty— ever —simply reached out and let the bat touch the ball. It skittered down the third base line, staying just fair.
    Ronde shot out of the box like a rocket, streaking toward first. The crowd was roaring, but Ronde saw nothing but the bag ahead of him. He crossed it just ahead of the throw, and kept on running down the baseline, clapping his hands because he knew the run had scored from third.
    Tiki followed with a ground ball out, but the damage was done. “Man, what did you think you were doing?” he asked Ronde as they both ran to the bench to get their gloves.
    â€œI have no clue,” Ronde admitted with a laugh. “But I’m gonna try it again next time!”
    In the bottom of the sixth, the Mountaineers came back against Ian Lloyd, the Eagles’ relief pitcher, tying the game on three straight hits. The Eagles did not score in the seventh, and neither did East Side, so the game then went into extra innings.
    And it kept on going. For two more straight innings nobody scored. But both relief pitchers were getting tired. In the top of the tenth, John Benson led off by grounding to short for the first out. Then Ronde came to the plate. Hitting lefty, he swung at the first pitch—and to everyone’s amazement, including his own, he hit it sharply down the third base line for a double!
    Now up came Tiki, Ronde took a big lead and gave Tiki a little nod as a signal that he was going.
    On the first pitch Ronde took off for third. The throw came in a second too late—and now the Eagles were only ninety feet away from grabbing the lead.
    Ronde glanced at the third base coach for the sign, and saw him touch his left ear, the sign for a safety squeeze play!
    Ronde got ready. He knew Tiki would try to bunt the ball. Ronde’s job was to take off for home on contact. He crossed his fingers, hoping that Tiki would indeed make contact. If not, there would be two strikes on him, and Coach would have to take off the squeeze.
    Tiki’s bat met the ball, and the ball dribbled right in front of the plate. The catcher got after it quickly and swung around to tag Ronde—but Ronde was too fast for him! He slid under the tag and his foot touched home!
    Now it was 5–4, Eagles. But they still had three outs to get to nail down the victory. And both their pitchers were spent. Ronde saw Coach Raines tap Tiki on the shoulder. “You’re on the mound,” he said. “Let’s go.”
    Tiki seemed like he was about to say something, but then he thought better of it. Nodding, he grabbed his glove and a ball and headed out to pitch the bottom of the tenth.
    Ronde didn’t have the best view from out in deepcenter, but he could see that Tiki, who didn’t know any trick pitches, at least had a decent fastball. He managed to strike out the Mountaineers’ number nine hitter before issuing a walk to the leadoff man, who quickly stole second base.
    The pressure was almost at boiling point now. Tiki walked the number two hitter, then fell behind 2–0 on the next guy. Two on, one out, and a very slim one-run lead . . .
    Ronde could feel himself sweating from sheer nerves. He could only imagine how Tiki felt. He had only one pitch—the fastball—and he