Chapter 23: The Gap
The baseball field in Tagum was smaller than the one in Davao, but the crowd made it feel bigger. Banners hung along the fences, and a loudspeaker played upbeat music while the teams warmed up. The rain from the opening ceremony had passed, leaving the grass bright green and the dirt dark and soft.
Rafael stood near the dugout and tied his shoelaces. Across the field, the Digos City Trekkers were stretching in two neat lines. They wore deep blue uniforms, and every one of them looked focused.
"They look serious," Joshua whispered.
"They are," Daniel said, walking past. "Digos plays careful baseball. Don’t give them free bases."
Rafael looked up and found his family in the stands. Lia had made another sign, this time with a row of little baseballs drawn across the top. Manuel had taken the day off from work, and Elena held a bag of snacks on her lap. Mia wasn’t with them. Her volleyball team had a match across town that morning.
But his phone had buzzed before they left the school.
Win first. I’ll find out the score later. — Mia
He had smiled for longer than he wanted to admit.
The Trekkers batted first, and they showed right away why Daniel respected them.
Leo Abellana, their shortstop, stepped in as the leadoff hitter. He didn’t swing at anything outside the zone, and on the fourth pitch he slapped a single into right field. Before Davao Central’s pitcher could settle, Leo took a big lead and stole second. Paolo threw hard, but Leo slid in under the tag.
"Fast," Rafael murmured from right field.
The next batter grounded to the right side, moving Leo to third. Ferdie Lapuz, their catcher and captain, followed with a deep fly ball to center. Miguel caught it, but Leo tagged and slid home safely.
Digos City 1, Davao Central 0.
"That’s how they play," Daniel called from the dugout. "Small mistakes get punished. Keep your heads up."
The inning ended without another run, and the players jogged toward the bench. Rafael sat down and took off his glove, and Joshua leaned toward him.
"They’re good."
"They are."
"You don’t sound worried."
Rafael watched the Trekkers’ pitcher walk toward the mound. Caleb Dumaguit, a tall left-hander, took his warm-up throws slowly and carefully. He didn’t throw hard, but every pitch landed exactly where he wanted it.
"I’m not worried," Rafael said. "I’m interested."
Davao Central’s first inning began with Joshua at the plate. Caleb threw him three pitches on the corners, and Joshua took them all for a walk. Miguel came up next and lined a single through the middle, moving Joshua to second.
Then Rafael stepped into the box.
The crowd in Tagum had heard about him by now. The Pioneers had spread the word that Davao City’s new slugger was dangerous, and several people along the fence stopped talking when he took his stance. In the Digos dugout, Coach Bert Ta?edo leaned forward with his arms on his knees.
Caleb looked in for the sign. His first pitch was a fastball on the outside corner, low, exactly where a pitcher wanted it against a power hitter. Most batters would have taken it or fouled it away.
Rafael swung.
The ball left the bat with a sharp crack and rose high over left-center. The outfielders turned and began to run, but they only got a few steps before they stopped and watched it clear the fence.
It wasn’t close.
The Digos infielders turned slowly, as though they couldn’t believe the first pitch had done that. Caleb stood on the mound with his hands loose at his sides, staring at the spot where the ball had disappeared.
Rafael jogged around the bases with a calm face. In his mind, the swing was good enough. He had barely needed to try.
That was the problem, wasn’t it? It felt too easy. Alex had spent twenty years chasing the perfect swing against the best pitchers on Earth, and he knew the difference between a hard-hit ball and a truly great at-bat. This one had been a plain, honest, basic home run.
Joshua was waiting at home plate with both arms out.
"First pitch!"
"It was a good pitch to hit."
"It was a perfect pitch! He put it right on the corner!"
"Yes," Rafael said. "That’s why it was hittable."
Joshua stared at him. "That’s not how pitching works."
"It is for me."
Davao Central 3, Digos City 1.
The Trekkers were not the kind of team to panic. In the top of the third, Leo Abellana led off with a bunt that rolled between the pitcher and first base. Carlo fielded it, but Leo was already across the bag. Ferdie Lapuz followed with a double into the right-center gap, scoring Leo and making it 3–2.
The Trekkers’ dugout erupted. Their bench players banged on the railing, and their fans started a rhythmic chant. They had been behind by three runs, but they were still alive.
"See?" Daniel said, walking down the dugout. "That’s why you don’t relax."
"I’m not relaxed," Joshua said.
"You’re smiling."
"I’m always smiling."
Daniel looked at him and then at Rafael, who sat quietly with his helmet on his knee.
"What do you see?"
"Digos plays the same pattern every time," Rafael said. "Speed, then contact, then pressure. They’re not trying to beat us with power. They want to make us panic."
Daniel’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Can you stop it?"
"Yes. We keep Leo off the bases."
"That’s all?"
"That’s all."
Daniel nodded. "Then do it."
The bottom of the third began, and Rafael was leading off. The scoreboard was quiet, and Caleb stood on the mound with a different expression. He had seen the home run. Now he was going to try something new.
He threw a changeup, slow and low, with perfect spin. Then a curveball that dropped off the table. Rafael watched both, and the count went to 1–1.
He liked this pitcher. Caleb didn’t try to overpower anyone. He understood his limits and used them carefully, and Alex had spent a career respecting that kind of pitcher.
The third pitch was a fastball on the black of the outside corner. It was a beautiful pitch. In another life, Rafael might have taken it for a strike.
He swung anyway.
The ball sailed over the right-center fence and landed in the parking area. The sound of the bat was cleaner than the first one, and the crowd’s silence stretched for a long moment before it turned into noise.
Davao Central 4, Digos City 2.
Caleb didn’t look angry. He only shook his head and took a long breath, as if he were trying to decide whether to be amazed or scared.
In the stands, Lia was on her feet, holding up two fingers. "Two!"
Elena was clapping so hard her bag of snacks fell to the floor. Manuel laughed and picked it up.
Farther down the bleachers, near the top row, a tall boy sat with his arms crossed. Next to him, a middle-aged man held a small notebook and wrote something with a quick, practiced hand. A few seats away, a left-handed batter in a Premier jacket leaned against the railing, chewing gum.
Mateo Arcenas. Coach Anselmo Pabillo. Joaquin Lumapas.
They had come to watch.
The game didn’t turn into a one-man show. That was the thing Daniel kept reminding them, and Rafael kept it in mind.
In the bottom of the fourth, Paolo led off with a single. Carlo followed with a double that rolled into the corner, and Paolo stopped at third. Ethan hit a deep fly to center, and Paolo tagged and scored easily. Then Andre stepped in and lined a single into left, bringing Carlo home.
Davao Central 6, Digos City 2.
The Davao dugout was alive. Joshua leaned over the railing and yelled, "That’s how you do it, Andre!" Andre, who rarely smiled, grinned and tapped his helmet.
On defense, the team held firm too. In the top of the fifth, Leo Abellana tried to steal again, but Paolo’s throw reached second base just ahead of him. He slid hard, and the second baseman tagged him out. The crowd gasped, and Leo got up slowly, brushing dirt from his uniform. He gave Paolo a small, respectful nod.
Digos still scored in that inning, a run on a ground ball that squeaked through the infield. It made the score 6–3. But when the inning ended, Rafael noticed Digos’ players walking back with their heads a little lower than before. They were beginning to understand the size of the hole they were in.
Coach Ta?edo gathered them near the dugout. Rafael couldn’t hear what he said, but he caught the tone. It was the voice of a man teaching his team how to lose without breaking.
Rafael respected that.
The bottom of the fifth began with two runners on. Joshua had singled, and Miguel had worked a walk after a long at-bat. Rafael walked to the plate, and the crowd rose to its feet.
Coach Ta?edo did something Rafael hadn’t expected. He didn’t walk him. He stood on the top step of the dugout and called a short instruction to Caleb, who nodded once.
They were going to challenge him.
Rafael felt a small flicker of satisfaction. A pitcher who tried to win honestly was always better than one who tried to avoid the problem.
Caleb threw four different pitches in four different places. A fastball high, a changeup low, a slider that broke away, and a curveball that started at his shoulders and fell into the zone. Rafael took the first two for balls, fouled the third, and watched the fourth go by for strike two.
Two balls, two strikes. Caleb had thrown everything he had.
He looked at Rafael. Rafael looked back.
The next pitch was a fastball, belt-high and slightly inside. It was a very good pitch, thrown at the perfect moment, with just enough movement to jam any hitter in the world.
Rafael turned on it.
The ball flew high and straight into left field. For a moment, nobody moved. The left fielder didn’t even bother to run. The ball cleared the fence by a long distance, and two runners crossed home plate before Rafael had even reached first base.
Davao Central 9, Digos City 3.
The stadium erupted. Rafael touched first base and began his slow trot, and as he rounded second, he glanced at the Digos dugout. Coach Ta?edo had removed his cap and was rubbing his forehead. Leo Abellana was staring at him with his mouth slightly open.
When Rafael reached home plate, Joshua tackled him.
"Three! Three home runs!"
"It was just the swing."
"It’s never just the swing! That’s the third one!"
"Yes. And it’s only the first game."
Joshua pulled back and looked at him, genuinely confused. "You really don’t care, do you?"
"I care," Rafael said. "I just think about what comes next."
"What comes next?"
"The next at-bat."
Joshua laughed so hard he almost cried.
The final innings were quiet. The Trekkers fought to the end, scoring no more runs but making every out difficult. Leo Abellana got on base twice more but never advanced past second. Caleb Dumaguit stayed in the game and finished it, even though the outcome was clear.
The last out was a ground ball to Ethan, who flipped it to Joshua at first. The umpire shouted the call, and Davao Central streamed onto the field.
Davao Central 9, Digos City 3.
After the handshake line, Caleb waited for Rafael near the dugout. He looked tired, but there was no bitterness in his face.
"Good game," he said.
"You too. You threw well."
"I threw as well as I could." Caleb smiled sadly. "That’s what scares me. I put every pitch exactly where I wanted. And you hit them anyway."
Rafael wasn’t sure what to say. He wanted to tell the truth, but the truth was impossible.
"Your control is better than mine will ever be," he said instead.
Caleb laughed. "That’s a nice lie."
"It isn’t."
"Whatever you say." He held out his hand. "Good luck. I hope you go all the way."
They shook hands, and Caleb walked away.
In the stands, Lia was already running down the steps. "Kuya! Three home runs! Did you see my sign?"
"I saw it."
"I had to change the number three times!"
"I’m sorry."
"It’s okay. I’ll make a bigger one next time." She hugged him tightly. "You’re unbelievable."
Manuel put a hand on his shoulder. "I’m proud of you, anak."
"Thanks, Pa."
Elena kissed his cheek. "Eat something. You must be hungry."
Rafael smiled and took the snack she offered. His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out.
We won 3–0. Are you done? Did you win? — Mia
He typed back with one thumb.
9–3. Three home runs.
The reply came almost immediately.
OF COURSE you did. Proud of you.
He put the phone away, still smiling.
Behind the bleachers, the Pioneers’ group was leaving. Mateo Arcenas walked at the front, and he glanced back once at the field, then at Rafael. Their eyes met for only a moment, but it was enough.
Rafael nodded.
Mateo didn’t nod back. He only stared a second longer, then turned and followed his coach.
The tournament was only beginning. Rafael looked at the scoreboard one last time, and then at his family waiting for him. He picked up his bag.
Tomorrow, he would study the next team.
End of Chapter 23