Power Pros Forum

B., if he hesitated it's probably too late?

lol oops Johnny is actually GoTwins24's character :/

A. …took off for home plate

Johnny sprinted for home as the lead-footed catcher plodded back to retrieve the errant pitch. Once Powers had the ball, he flipped toward home plate, where Colver was promptly drilled by a sliding Johnny, who scored a run to cut the Jaguars’ lead to one.

(Johnny: XP +5)

Avery also advanced to second base, and Godwin rolled one to second to advance him another 90 feet (not really I think the bases are closer together than that at the middle-school level, but maybe I’m wrong?) and bring up Dante Dillard, who had singled in his first at-bat. The center fielder was intentionally walked to bring up Howie Skinner with runners on the corners and two outs.

Strike one. A fastball on the black. Howie turns to stare at the umpire, who scowls back.

Strike two. Another fastball. Howie swings through the high heat, then smacks the plate with his bat in frustration.

Ball one. A third fastball. It’s apparently all Colver can throw, and this one misses in the dirt, bouncing up and off of Powers’ chest protector, but rolling to a stop a mere three or four feet away.

Ball two. Fastball four. Colver takes something off of the pitch, but it misses a foot outside.

Foul ball! Howie nicks another fastball with the very end of his BBCOR-certified aluminum bat.

Ball three. The righty’s thrown a half-dozen fastballs by now, and it’s quite obvious that Colver only has this one pitch in his repertoire.

Foul ball! Howie smokes one way foul to the first-base side. Matthew Simpson, playing the role of first-base coach, yelps as he leaps out of harm’s way.

Foul ball! Howie again tips the ball just past the catcher’s outstretched mitt. It’s another fastball — no surprise here.

Howie gears up for another fastball. Colver goes into the stretch, rocks, and fires…

It’s a curveball.

Strike three. Howie completely misses the soft stuff, and flings his bat toward the mound angrily. An all-out brawl ensues, with players and coaches from both sides getting involved in a number of capacities.

On the bench are a handful of the skill-squad players, who attended the game as student-managers and performed in a variety of roles. Harold Henderson, who kept pitch counts for both sides during the game, sets down his pad and pencil and darts toward home plate, where the bulk of the action is taking place. Looking around, he sees the pitcher Colver and catcher Powers going at it, two-on-two, with Howie and Xander, who clearly wants no part of the fight.

What do you do? (Baseballteen9500)

A. Join the fight and make it 3-on-2
B. Drag Xander away from the fight and make it 1-on-2
C. Close your eyes and take off in any direction, wildly swinging both arms
D. Go back and double-check your stats — there’s no reason to do this
E. Scream as loud as you can, and begin a game of Quincy’s Mitten

B. Keep Xander out of the fight no use in the guy who doesn't deserve it getting slugged.

Harold ran into the fight and managed to pull Xander out of harm’s way. With no help, Howie was quickly pummeled by the opposing players.

“Thanks,” Xander sighed once he and Harold had retreated to the dugout.
“No problemo,” Harold replied.
“Say, you wanna hang out at the park tomorrow?”
Harold nodded.

(Harold: XP +5, Xander added as friend)

In the dugout, Coach Bowler swiftly moved to dismiss Howie from the team. Within a week he would be expelled from the school as well.

The next morning, Xander woke up bright and early and headed down to the park shortly after 8 a.m. having already gotten dressed, eaten breakfast, and brushed his teeth. Wearing a white tank top, grey boardshorts, and a camo Padres snapback, he rode his skateboard down to the usual spot and hung out while he waited for Harold, jogging a lap around the three baseball fields at the center of the park just to kill some time and eventually giving up and entering the halfpipe area, where he practiced a few tricks until Harold finally showed up.

Xander checked his watch. “It’s 10:30, dude. Where’ve you been?”

Harold sheepishly grinned. “Slept in,” he said.

The two boys played together for about an hour before parting ways. Xander stayed at the park and skated with some other kids until his dad came to pick him up.

(Harold: XP +1, Xander +1)

On Monday, Coach Bowler told Harold that because he had helped break up the fight and had been working hard in practice, he would be allowed to suit up for the red team’s next game, at McMahon Junior High on Wednesday afternoon. The blue team also had their first game that afternoon.

The coaches also confirmed that every player who suited up would start for the red team, but this would not be the case for the blue team.

“We’ll start the best nine players,” Coach Merritt said, “and that’s that.”

“Yes, sir!” Jaxon Stills bellowed.

Note: Dont have me do anything for the next week, I wont have internet.

The old, off-white bus pulled into the McMahon Junior High parking lot.

“We’re here!” Harold shouted.
“Wow,” Xander said, awestruck by the beauty of the campus that now was all around him.

McMahon was one of the best public middle schools in the state, but was certainly not known for its athletics. Their sports teams were generally undermanned pushovers full of kids desperately trying to meet their athletic-credit requirement to move on to high school, and the teams generally had no fans in the stands outside of the players’ family members.

This year was no exception. The McMahon Bears had lost all three of their games thus far by a combined score of 27-4, having been run-ruled in two games and barely kept with another weak team in the third. Their best player was a second baseman named Nick Harwell who had played with a couple of the Pirates for summer ball. Nick had given his teammates the inside scoop, telling Xander and Dante that “everyone else stinks”.

After stretching and throwing, the Pirates returned to the dugout, where Coach Bowler read off the lineups for both teams:

Walker Grove Pirates (1-0)

1. Dante Dillard, CF
2. Xander Woods, SS
3. Johnny Boyega, 1B
4. Grant Godwin, RF
5. Stanislaus Lem, C
6. Avery Crumbliss, LF
7. Sam Gow, 3B
8. Danny Hummer, 2B
9. Jimmy James, P
10. Thurgood Stubbs, EH
11. Harold Henderson, EH
12. Anthony Mangum, EH

McMahon Bears (0-3)

1. Nick Harwell, 2B
2. Woody Miller, LF
3. Alan Cosby, RF
4. Tony Howler, 3B
5. Josh Ingram, P
6. William Jones, CF
7. Zeke Wood, 1B
8. George Garvin, C
9. Peter Posey, SS
10. Brannon Hiller, EH

Josh Ingram was the Bears’ only left-handed thrower and their best pitcher. He threw a fastball with some tail on it, but his only other pitch was a circle changeup that he tended to hang up in the zone. After Dante singled to lead off the first inning, Xander Woods came up to bat looking for a fastball. He got one on the first pitch and smoked it into left field for a base hit.

(Xander: XP +5)

Johnny Boyega was next, but he struck out, and Grant Godwin followed by drawing a nine-pitch walk. With the bases juiced and one out, catcher Stanislaus Lem came up to the plate. After three fastballs to bring the count to 2-1, Stanislaus stepped out to collect himself.

What do you do on the next pitch? (dustyfarmer)

A. Look for a fastball
B. Sit on the changeup
C. Take the pitch no matter what
D. Try to go the other way
E. Swing for the fences

A. It's a fastball count, so...Stainslaus looks heater.

Ingram pulled the string on a changeup. The pitch was way outside, and Stanislaus had been looking for a heater, so he took for ball three.

(Stanislaus: XP +2)

The next pitch was a fastball. Ingram underestimated the movement on the pitch and tried to paint the black with the heater, but it tailed out of the zone for ball four. Dillard came in to score the game’s first run.

Next up was Avery Crumbliss, who hit a high fly ball to left field. Woody Miller got under it and barely squeezed the ball into his glove for the out.

Sam Gow followed by stroking one the other way for a base hit, which scored two more runs. Danny Hummer weakly tapped the first pitch of his at-bat back to the mound, and the third out was recorded.

In the bottom of the first, Harwell led off by crushing one into the gap for a triple. However, the next three batters couldn’t even manage to get the ball out of the infield, and the star second baseman was stranded at third.

Jimmy led off the second inning and poked a weak grounder to second. Nick snatched it up and lightly tossed over to first for the out.

Thurgood was up next, and he also pulled a ground ball, but the shortstop bobbled it for an error, allowing Stubbs to reach base. Harold hit one into shallow right for a base hit, with Stubbs advancing to third on the play.

Rounding out the order was Anthony Mangum. On the first pitch of his at-bat, Harold took off for second. The catcher Garvin lobbed one down to second, and an alert Thurgood ran for home, scoring the team’s fourth run.

Mangum singled to center field, and Harold ran home on the throw, scoring with ease as Mangum turned and jogged back to first base.

Next up was Dante Dillard, the center fielder. Ingram looked in for the sign and came set.

What do you do? (PowerPro Jr)

A. Steal second
B. Take a big lead
C. Take a small lead
D. Stand on the base
E. Punch the first baseman in the nose

As enticing as E sounds, I will go with A

Anthony broke for second as Ingram went into his motion, and was safe by a mile — he probably could have stolen third, too, if he hadn’t slid into the bag like an absolute fool with the ball still firmly lodged in the catcher’s glove.

(Anthony: XP +5)

The game was finally called after just two innings with Walker Grove leading 16-0. The blue team’s game was no less of a blowout, but was more interesting due to the talent on the Pirates’ side, including ace pitcher Charlie Pickett, who struck out eight of the nine batters he faced in the abbreviated three-inning game, which Walker Grove dominated by the score of 13-0.

The teams’ next game was a bit more competitive — the red and blue teams were pretty evenly matched, and they scrimmaged the next two days at practice; the first scrimmage was held with coaches tossing BP, while the second was held against live pitching.

In the first scrimmage, the coaches also had them work on situational stuff such as fielding shifts and batting strategy. Soon, it was Lake Lagunov’s turn to bat. With no help from the coaches, he was forced to remember what the situation dictated.

Man on second, one out. What do you do? (dishnet34)

A. Hit and run
B. Swing away
C. Sacrifice bunt
D. Bunt for a hit
E. Go the other way

Man on second, one out?

I'd swing away. Wouldn't want to put a runner on third with 2 outs. It's useless without the possibility of a sac fly.

Therefore, B.

Remembering what the coaches had told him, Lake swung away and connected, sending a ball through the hole between shortstop and third base for a base hit and advancing the runner to third.

(Lake: XP +3)

Lake has leveled up!

dishnet34, you now have 15 points to spend however you would like. Upgrade costs along with your player's current abilities can be found in the original post on page 1.

May I have a quick refresher of my abilities, please?