Intimidating Adversity: Day 11

Word Count: 66,015

Summary of Events:

Lane went on a date with Serena that ended in an argument Lane thought was honestly unreasonable, being as it'd been about pedicures. Lane pitched another game while feeling slightly bothered about the argument, but not sure what to do about it. Lane was called by Mr. Borys, who told him the White Sox General Manager would be stopping by for a visit and wanted to meet him. Lane went to meet with the White Sox GM and was quite flattered by the commendation he received. Lane was pitching another game — which the White Sox GM was watching — and struck out the first batter of the game . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"The Kannapolis faithful roared their approval as the second batter came out. He and the third batter were struck out, but the fourth succeeded in getting a hit. His bat flew out of his hands before he even left the plate.

Lane threw himself to the mound and winced as part of the bat struck his ankle.

Quickly he popped to his feet to catch the ball at his face from Ozuru. The batter was approaching Campbell.

"Camp!" Lane screamed.

Campbell looked at him and he released the ball. Just as the batter left his feet to jump for the plate Campbell caught the ball and tagged him out before promptly dropping the ball, taking off his glove, shaking his hand, and kissing his fingers.

Lane bit his lip and jogged over. "You okay?"

"You served that one with a little Frank's Red Hot and Peruvian death peppers," Campbell replied, shaking his hand again.

"Sorry," Lane said. "I wanted to get it here before he passed."

"Next time I'll borrow Gresh's glove," Campbell said, smiling.

"You'll be okay?" Lane asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Campbell replied. "It's more stinging than anything else."

"Are you sure?" Lane asked.

"Yes mother," Campbell replied. "Here's your ball."

"Sorry," Lane said, smiling slightly before jogging back to the mound.

The next batter was ready and Lane managed to strike him out. A couple of other batters got onto base, but nobody made it completely to home plate. The crowd roared and Lane thought he even heard a group chanting his name.

It didn't take long before that suspicion was confirmed as he soon heard the entire crowd chanting: "Shee-nan! Shee-nan! Shee-nan!"

Lane waved his hand as he headed for the dugout and the crowd roared before settling down to watch as his teammates sought to get some runs off of the Grasshoppers.

Mr. Quilley glared at Lane severely as he stepped into the dugout, but said nothing; Lane had a feeling it was his acknowledgement of the crowd that'd upset him. He sighed and sat down.

"So that bat was coming at your head or something?" Frasier asked.

"Yeah," Lane replied. "And the doctor doesn't want me taking hits, so I dropped. It nicked my ankle too."

"I saw that," Rolando said. "You okay there?"

"It's kind of throbbing a bit, but it's alright," Lane said, rubbing it with his other foot, although it hurt when he did that.

He pulled up his pants and rolled his sock down to look. Already there was a deep red mark that looked rather bruise-like.

"Ooh," Frasier said. "Should I get you some ice?"

"Well it's not that big," Lane said. "But probably better safe than sorry."

Lane rubbed at his ankle and winced. It'd been hit a lot harder than he'd initially thought. Gently he rolled his sock back up and let his pant leg go back down."

Pronunciation:

Ozuru: awzooroo