My attention skirted over Soren a few rows over, elbows braced on his knees, jaw set the way it got when something landed square. He didn’t nod or clap, but rather stared at the floor like he was already making a list in his head. If our captain was locked in like that, the rest of us would follow.
Beside him, Matty sat back, one leg crossed over his knee, twisting the ring on his middle finger like he did when he was thinking too hard.
“I know what you want,” Ward said, eyes narrowing behind his signature square, black frames. I had heard Dani call them his “slutty little glasses,” but from where I was sitting, there was nothing slutty about them.
Intimidating, though? Abso-fucking-lutely.
He stopped pacing and planted his feet. Bailey let out a small squeal, like she’d sensed the change in energy.
That made two of us.
“You don’t have to say it. Every single one of you came back here thinking about how close we were. And how we let it slip.”
Keith signed the wordchokedwith measured clarity. Coach Ward never minced his words, and neither did Keith.
“We had it,” Ward said. “We had the talent and the momentum. And then, when it mattered most, we choked. We tried to play not to lose instead of playing to win.”
I couldn’t help but nod.
I’d spent the past few months replaying that final series more than I cared to admit. Catchers liked to pretend we were immune to pressure because we touched the ball every play, but the truth was, we felt it more than most. We just hid it better.
And that had stuck with me long after the season had ended. Not the loss itself, but the knowledge thatIhad played it safe rather than brave, thatIhad tried to control the outcome instead of trusting the work we had put in all season.
“Now, you can’t erase that or pretend it didn’t happen,” Ward went on, softening his tone when the baby against his chest fussed. “But what you can do is not let it own you.”
A few guys shifted in their seats.
“I know you all want this bad, but wanting it doesn’t mean shit if you’re not willing to do the work when nobody’s watching. If you don’t show up early. If you don’t recover the right way. If you don’t talk to each other when things get hard.”
Keith signedtalkwith emphasis, his eyes flicking briefly toward me before returning to Ward.
“You will get tired,” Ward continued. “You will lose games you shouldn’t, and when that happens, I want to know what kind of team you’re going to be.”
He let the silence sit for a beat, eyes moving across the room.
“Because I’ve seen what youcanbe. I’ve seen a team that competes for every inch, that trusts each other, that doesn’t panic when things get loud or messy. I’ve seen a group that plays loose because they’ve earned the right to. One that can workhard and still laugh. That holds each other accountable and still shows up for each other everyfuckingday.”
A few shoulders around the room eased.
“That’sthe team I expect,” Ward said. “Not perfect or robotic. Just connected.”
He adjusted the baby again when she squirmed, her tiny fist popping out of the carrier.
“And if you do it right,” Ward added, a faint smirk tugging at his mouth. “This kid of mine might grow up thinking a room full of grown ass men arguing about sunflower seeds and Chris Evans movies is what family looks like.”
“Aw, hell, coach,” Matty said. At the same time, Pink deadpanned, “She’s doomed.”
Ward clapped his hands once. “Alright. That’s enough motivational bullshit for one morning.”
Chairs scraped back. Some of the guys stood, stretching their arms overhead, already mentally on route to the weight room.
Bailey yawned wide, tiny mouth stretching as the room began to shift around her. Roman, never one to miss an opportunity, bent down as he passed Coach Ward, crouching just enough to get into the baby’s line of sight.
“Same, girl,” he whispered conspiratorially.
Ward shot him a look without missing a beat. “Garcia,” he said flatly. “There’s only space for one sleep-deprived baby in this room, and she outranks you.”
Laughter rippled through the team.
