I took as long as I could, playing over and over again all potential scenarios in my head.  Some  were good, and some were bad, but this was only to forestall the inevitable.  I was to go out  there and attempt to close the game.  This part of it I was not going to escape.  

Finally I could  delay no longer, and trudged out onto the mound.  My heart was pounding, my mind was racing, and I  had about one minute to throw a few warmups.  

The catcher, Sean, was at the ready, glove up, and I  began to go into my tosses.
About 3 or so in, an inquisitive female voice from the opposing dugout was heard, "Is that... are  you throwing a knuckleball?!"  What followed was a bit of a din from the rest of them.  I ignored  it and continued to labor throws toward the plate.

After 8 of them, I motioned that I was done and dug into the mound awaiting the first batter of  the inning.  At this point I was a bundle of nerves, and honestly I didn't know why.  It was a  friendly game, albeit with quite the attention from a crowd that had shown up to watch, but maybe  I also felt like I had something to prove.  I'd known Angi quite awhile, and she did like to talk  her fair share of trash.  But that's something we did as co-workers and somewhat as friends, of  sorts.  A palpable tension was there often times, but we never let it blur the lines, as to say.

Still, me winning would settle this latest chapter once and for all, which is what I really  wanted.

Abby led off the inning and stepped into the box.  She kept a loose grip on her bat and jiggled it  wildly in her stance, while her bleach blonde hair, matted to her forehead in front from the  sweat, swayed in the slight breeze.  I took a deep breath, and threw my first offering.  She  waved, and made contact, and up it went... but this one wasn't leaving the infield.  In fact, it  was coming down right in front of the mound.

I ambled forward, waving my arms to call everyone else off yelling "I got it! I got it!" and let  it fall into my waiting glove.  One out.  A subtle fist pump followed my short walk back to the  rubber.  Two more to go.  I swung my arms across my chest back and forth and stretched them out as  I awaited the next batter.

Tabitha walked up and dug into her stance; opposite side of the box, however, being left-handed.   She was considerably shorter than Abby, so her zone would be smaller.  Still, I was pumped, and I  decided to try and force her hand.  I threw the first ball over the plate, but closer to her, and  she did swing like I wanted, pulling the ball in a chop down the first base line.  I gave chase,  as did Anthony at first base, and immediately I motioned him back to the bag.  About two thirds  the way down the line I waited for the ball to drop as Tabby was running toward me and the bag.   In one motion I reached above her, careful to not impede her running, snared the ball with my  glove, and touched her with my glove (and the ball) on the shoulder, and held the ball up for the  first base umpire to see.  He pointed at my glove, and made the "out" signal.  I couldn't believe  it; two pitches, two outs, and I was amped up as I jogged back to the mound.

The crowd at this point was a nervous murmur of impending loss, and the reaction on the field from  my teammates couldn't have been more opposite.

"One more, Clark, set her down!"

"Come on buddy, let's finish this!"

"Doing a great job, keep it up!"

I'd need the morale boost, because Alicia was the third (and hopefully final) batter, and admittedly the most dangerous.  She had at this point absolutely killed our pitching, torching us for a field day of RBIs and clutch hits, including the reason why we're playing 10 innings.  I had to chase it from my mind; that was then, this is now.  I had to set her down, and I had to end this.  My guys wanted nothing more, and I owed it to them to put it away.

She dug in, right handed hitter.  She appeared a lot more confident than the previous batters, stance unwavering, eyes fixated on me and my delivery, anticipating clobbering another pitch.  I began my windup and threw...

...and as I planted my foot to release the ball, it didn't land right and wobbled me off balance.  I continued with the motion because I couldn't stop, and I threw anyway, and immediately felt dread upon seeing it.  The ball sailed forward, and Alicia instinctively turned her head back toward the umpire and braced as she crouched her body slightly; the ball impacted her squarely on the left shoulder blade.  What followed was a collective gasp from the crowd as the ball landed in the grass next to the batter's box.  The umpire motioned for Alicia to take 1st base, as is the rule for a hit batter, but that absolutely wasn't happening, at least right away.

She threw her helmet down and stared at me hard, piercing brown eyes unrelenting in their steely gaze.  Her hair back in a simple pony tail she kept ahold of the bat and took a few steps menacingly toward the mound.

"You FUCKING ASSHOLE!  What the FUCK is your problem?!"  Her words spit out like venom, frothing with hatred, and immediately Sean and the umpire rushed to stop her from moving any further.  The umpire took greater charge of things and personally took her by the arm and escorted her to first base.  However, all of this didn't stop her verbal tirade.  

"I've been torching you guys all goddamn day, and like a pussy you fucking hit me?! Whatsa matter, Baseball Star, afraid I was gonna take yo' asses yard again?"  I hated Angi for starting that shit; now she's got everyone calling me that stupid name.

I gave Alicia a nonplussed expression back and simply stated, "It was an accident; I slipped coming off the mound on delivery; did you not see me way off balance? Why the hell would I hit you with a one run lead?"  At this point I was as heated as she was, being accused of such mischief.

She was unconvinced.  "That's bullshit!  Fucking pussy move; I hope Angi makes you pay for that shit!"  At this point, the umpire was tired of the noise, and the din from the crowd was one of boos and unpleasantries.  He took the time to quiet everyone down, and he warned both benches that the next incident as such would warrant an immediate ejection.

 Finally the crowd got back into cheering for the outcome, Alicia took her base, and we all settled back into the game.

And yeah, Angi was next.  There she was, in her glory, a wry smirk on her face, and of course, she couldn't wait to talk more shit.  "So this is how it ends, Clark the Baseball Star, and Angi, the villainess come to thwart the hero; baby, I'm gonna be your kryptonite!"  She followed that with a wink and a kiss sound toward me.

It was truly so awful sounding that I wanted to laugh.  "If your line were any more bad, it would make a B-Movie look like an Oscar winner," I said as I laughed.  "Now shut up and lose already," as I kept my smile.

She shook her head side to side as she dug in and looked at me squarely.  "We ain't losin' hate to spoil your plans..." as she waited for me to throw.

I set, looked toward Alicia to make sure she wasn't stealing, and threw my first pitch.  It tailed inside toward Angi and my heart leaped into my throat briefly, as I was alarmed at the previous result still, and it began to drop toward the ground.  She swung at it anyway to my surprise.

She did not miss.

If ever there was a feeling that something bad was about to happen, and that the casual onlooker (which I and everyone else on the field at the time became) could do nothing about it, said instance had how arrived.  She put a golf swing on the ball and hit a screamer down the left field line; it was curling toward the corner of the fence.  Alicia had already taken off running and was well on her way to 3rd, not stopping, since there were already two outs.  Ron gave chase, jogging over to the corner but it was well past him at this point.  The line drive approached the fence corner, and almost like destiny with a dull, audible ping, hit the foul pole flush and bounced back toward Ron.

Final Score -- Girls 8 Guys 7 in 10 innings.

The crowd erupted in celebration, as I looked skyward in abundant disbelief, completely shocked at what just happened.  Angi put a swing on a garbage pitch and won the game; I still couldn't believe it.  As I began the walk to the dugout, the girls had already poured out of theirs and were waiting for her to circle the bases so they could mob her at the plate.

I got the expected consolation from my teammates, the "good games", "we tried hard", and the like, but it just wasn't enough.  I was pissed; somehow I had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, and it was indeed a bitter pill to swallow.  This one fell unequivocally and completely upon my shoulders.  I realized that in the 4 pitches I threw all inning, literally nobody else on the team had even touched the ball.  I had made the first two outs myself, the third ball hit Alicia and never made it to my catcher, and the 4th pitch was hit out to end the game.  I couldn't blame anyone at all for this.

Worse yet, I had lost our bet, and now she was going to make me wear a stupid hat.

 Why I ever agreed to this, I don't know, but right or wrong, I wasn't going to stand for it.

I told everyone I had to get going and feigned not feeling well and such, wished everyone well, and headed out.  Behind me as I strolled quickly toward the jeep, I heard a female voice, Angi's, calling for me.  I got into my vehicle and pulled away just as she was running toward it with a hat in her hand.  Of course I was far enough away that she couldn't catch me and I had already sped away a great distance.  As the field disappeared behind me, I felt bad for what I did, but I wasn't going to go through with the humiliation.  The hat was black, and on the front in white capital letters, it read "GIRLS > GUYS."  I couldn't subscribe to that; her dumb ass hit one lucky pitch in a close game and won.  They aren't better...

Much to my regret, this (in)action would set off a chain of events that would make me very, very sorry for such a decision.