Before he steps up to the plate, he pauses with his feet lined up on the outside of the batter’s box, places his bat in the middle of the box, takes a deep breath, then steps in, and readies himself for the pitch.
He takes the first pitch, which ends up being a strike, and my heart drops. Before I know it, I’m squeezing Samantha’s hand back as the second pitch is thrown. He flinches but holds back, and the umpire calls, “Ball.”
The air escapes my lungs as I breathe a sigh of relief.
Evan steps out of the box again, adjusts his gloves, then walks through the exact process he did before he stepped back in the box the last two pitches.
“Does he do that every pitch?” I ask just as Mike and John come racing back with our beers.
“We almost missed it!” Mike says, handing the beers to Samantha.
Samantha laughs as she grabs one and hands it to me before answering my question. “Every pitch. He’s always had a little routine before he hits. The moms on his other teams used to narrate it as if they were commentators.” She watches him takeanother ball, then turns to face me and acts out dramatically, seemingly like the moms used to. “He steps in with one foot. He bites his glove. He lifts his pant leg first, then brings the other leg into the box.”
“Seriously?” I laugh.
“Yep. He’s cut it down over the years to what you see now, but he always does something before every pitch.”
I watch as he goes through his routine one more time. Once he’s ready, the pitcher winds up and throws a fastball right down the middle, and Evan swings on it, smacking it to the fence in left field.
We all scream at the top of our lungs, jumping up and down as he rounds first and heads toward second. Jake rounds third and sprints home as the ball is thrown to second, trying to get Evan out, but he slides under the tag.
The umpire holds his hands out straight to the sides and yells, “Safe!”
We cheer some more, and Nolan jumps into my arms in celebration.
“Did you see? Did you see? He hit a double!”
I lift him up. “I did!”
Evan stands up, brushing off his pants from sliding, and does a little celebration on base before getting himself situated for the next person at bat. When he steps off the base with his legs open wide, bending down low with his right arm swinging slightly from side to side as it hangs between his legs, Nolan wiggles himself out of my hold.
“Oh, let’s see if he can steal a base too!” he says, joining Tyler and Liam back where they’ve been standing to watch the game.
The next pitch, Diesel gets a hit, moving Evan to third, but, unfortunately, Eric flies out to right field to end the inning.
Samantha and I sit back down. We continue watching the game while enjoying our beer.
A few minutes later, there’s a knock at the door, and a female with a camera crew enters the suite.
“Hi. Is this Evan Parker’s family?” a woman with long, wavy black hair and red glasses, looking very professional in a formfitting skirt, asks.
John is the first to greet the newcomers with his hand outstretched. “Hello. I’m John Parker.”
“Hi. I’m India Baker. I’m the reporter forThe Den. We were hoping we could get some video feed of you guys talking about the game and Evan’s first big-league hit,” she says.
John looks at everyone to gauge their interest, then smiles and says, “Sure. Where do you want us?”
She walks through the suite to head out to where we are all sitting. “We want it to seem as natural as possible, so please go back to what you were doing, and I’ll come join you.”
Nerves wash over me as I sit here, hoping she doesn’t talk to me. This is the interview for his family, and I haven’t even known him but a few days.
“Okay, so first, let me get straight who everyone is,” she says with an awkward chuckle.
Samantha speaks up first, standing to shake her hand. “I’m Samantha, his sister. You’ve met our father.” She then holds her hand out to Mike. “This is my husband, Mike, and our two boys, Tyler and Liam.”
“And you are?” She points at me.
I wave my hands in front of my face. “I’m just a friend, and that’s my son, Nolan. You don’t want to talk to us.”
