In the carpeted living room, there are two plush chairs and a couch, but it does not matter – Nancy will be standing. Well, pacing. Her hair is as white as home plate, and as she spots her grandson, her smile is as wide as a strike zone. Jake’s grandfather died in 2003. Nancy married Jerry Sheets three years later. They knew each other from church. Today, Jerry is controlling the remote, while Nancy tries to control her emotions.

“Nervous, nervous, nervous!” she said. “You’d think I wouldn’t be nervous because I watched him all these years.”

When she cheers, she often repeats a word – “Yes! Yes!” – or a sound – “Woo! Woo!” She watches pitches with her left hand gently pressed upon her chin. And when she celebrates, as when Jake struck out the first two batters in the first, she sticks her right arm in the air and opens her palm, like she’s trying to get the teacher’s attention.

“She was over at her sister’s one night, and tore up the light!” Jerry said.

“I didn’t mean to!” Nancy replied. “I jumped up and the light was kind of low. And I broke it. It was glass.”

“I was sittin’ there on the couch!” Jerry said. “Couldn’t believe it.”

Two outs, two strikes on Stephen Piscotty.