I look to Noah to see what he would say.
He just grinned and raised a fist. "We won't let you down."
My stomach churned at the thought of his declaration. I was sluggish for the rest of the pregame as we changed and did warmups. It got to the point where Coach pulled me aside.
"I know it can be hard taking a setback, but it's going to help propel you forward." Coach started off by saying. "You can't be thinking about yesterday when it's in the past. Look forward to the future."
I let out a nervous laugh. "What if it's the future that I'm nervous about?"
"Then I'll remind you to stay present." Coach told me with a smile. "One game at a time. And if that's too much for you, one inning at a time. Take the small wins and they'll lead to something bigger." He pointed at Garret coming back from warming up in the bullpen. "And if that's too much. Rely on your captain to lead us to a victory from the mound."
My shoulders relaxed. Yea. Nothing bad could happen this evening with Garret on the mound.
Coach slapped my back and we went to join the team in the dugout. The lineup had long been posted and we were preparing to take the field.
1 SS Noah Atkins
2 1B Sean Isner
3 2B Jake Atkins
4 P Garret Knudsen
5 3B Jason Morris
6 LF Bryce Finn
7 CF Korrey Alvarrez
8 RF Jesse Shipman
9 C Mitchell Torres
"It's been too long." Noah beat the inside of his glove with his right fist.
"Not even a week." Sean laughed.
"A full week!" Noah refuted.
"God help you if you ever have to miss a full season to injury." Jason said.
"You better knock on wood!" Noah pointed at him.
Jason obliged, knocking on a wooden bench.
Noah turned to Garret. "Give those guys something to hit. I want all the grounders to come to me. I want the most action."
"Then you should have been a catcher." Mitchell told him.
Noah slapped him on the arm. "Do you really want me to come for your position?"
Mitchell laughed and shook his head.