The Hitting Zone

The two chatted as I pulled my batting gloves off. I put them in my helmet and placed it on my bag, then picked up my bat. I frowned as I looked at the spot that hit the ball. Even though I made solid contact, it didn't sound like normal. I sighed. Probably have to retire this bat or save it for the cages.

"Did you break it?" Noah leaned over.

"No." I shook my head, then put the bat away in my bag. "But I probably shouldn't use that one anymore. It's okay. I brought two spares this time."

"What a hassle." Noah commented.

A loud 'ding' followed by gasps and cheers made everyone look out onto the field. Garret was already turned to come back to the dugout.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Line drive caught by the second baseman." Dave was the only one of us that was looking. He sighed. "That's too bad. Could have been a double if it got to that gap in the outfield." He rubbed his hands together. "Time to go give Garret some hell."

"I don't know if you should be talking smack when you're so bad at batting." Noah laughed.

"I definitely don't want to hear that from you, Mister 0-2." Dave pointed at Noah.

"Meh. It happens." Noah shrugged. "I'll still have another chance or two at the plate."

Dave shifted his attention to his fellow senior. "What happened, Garret? Couldn't give that extra iota of strength?"

Garret grinned and shoved him away. "How about you worry on how you're going to earn strikeouts at the mound and not when you're up to bat yourself?"

Our dugout was lively with the two of them going back and forth on their snide remarks. It only got better when Sean hit the ball against the outfield fence. He took off running and the clapping started. Our excitement faltered when Sean rounded first and started to limp while running. He had to made a dive for second base when he saw the relay coming in.

Coach's jaw clenched as he looked around the dugout. His eyes settled on Bryce. "Bryce. Start jogging and stretching." He left the dugout. A time out was called as Coach and Coach Luis met with Sean at second base. Bryce bent over to tie his cleats and then left the dugout too, warming up on the foul side.

"Can Bryce play first?" Dave asked Garret, pausing their small fight with words.

Garret scratched his nose. "Sure. He's athletic. Why not?"

Dave was skeptical. "Just because he's a good athlete doesn't mean he knows how to play first. There's the whole positioning aspect. Don't we have a backup first baseman at all?"

"I think it's me?" Jason offered. He had just put on his helmet. "If Sean comes out, I'll probably shift to first and leave third open for Bryce."

"Why don't you sound very confident?" Dave squinted.

Jason shrugged. "I have a first baseman's glove. It's broken into. It's just...I don't have any game experience besides an inning or two."

The dugout got a little quiet.

Garret patted Dave on the shoulder. "Probably best if you let more balls fly to the outfield."

Dave swatted him away.

The two coaches helped a limping Sean come back to the dugout and sat him on the bench. A lot of us started to hover around, trying to figure out what went wrong.

Coach shooed us away. "Back up. The trainer will come in a bit. We think it's just a strain."

"Strained what?" Jason asked.

"I probably strained my groin." Sean grimaced-smile. "I didn't feel right after stretching out for the ball that last inning. And running just aggravated it." He looked directly at Jason. "Do you need my glove or did you remember yours?"

"Of course I brought mine. Always have it on me. Just in case."

"Good. You'll be taking over for Sean at first then." Coach announced. He looked around, resting his eyes on Korrey. "You'll go out to right field for Jesse and Jesse will move to third."

Korrey nodded. Jesse was up to bat next and wasn't around, so he would have to find out later.

"I forgot that Jesse can be an infielder." Noah said as we went back to our seats. The trainer had came in and wanted to look over Sean. Plus the game was resuming with Bryce at second and Jesse up to bat. "Hopefully he doesn't encroach on my space."

"I didn't forget." I told Noah, feeling a little proud. "He won Defensive MVP for the JV team last year. They talked about how he moved from the outfield to the infield."

Noah laughed. "Okay, good for you. Learning about your teammates. Definite improvement from last year."

I felt good about it too. Last year, I didn't even want to talk to anyone. Barely a sentence to Noah if I had to. Now I would call at least half the guys on this team my friends.

Jesse, who had the single that drove me in for the first run in the first inning, got the ball through the infield once more. Bryce took off as did he. Bryce rounded third base as the ball was relayed back into the infield. Once Jesse saw that they were trying to throw home, he ran for second.

"Safe!" Bryce easily beat the tag. The catcher tried to throw back to second, but Jesse stood there, already safe. 3-1. We welcomed Bryce back happily.

Bryce wasn't as happy once he found out that he wouldn't be going in to play defense. His day was over after simply scoring a run.

That didn't hamper the rest of us. Especially when Tanner followed up, hitting a double of his own, driving in Jesse to make the score 4-1. Jason got walked next, prompting the Coach to come out of their dugout and signal pitching change.

Between the hits, Sean's injury, and now the pitching change, this inning felt longer than half the game against University. Can't complain too much since we were giving Dave solid run support. I hope he calms down on the mound next inning. For now, he and Mitchell were taking practice swings, watching the new pitcher.

Noah already had his batting gear on, in the hole. I went ahead and got ready too, making sure to pick a new bat out of my bag. Just as I was about to reach Noah, Mitchell hit the ball to the outfield. It went directly to the center fielder. He made the catch and quickly threw it straight to the third baseman.

Tanner looked like he had wanted to tag up, but smartly stayed at second. That center fielder had an arm on him.

Dave moved to the batter's box and Noah left the dugout.

"Five laps if you strike out!" Garret called out to Dave.

Dave's shoulders got tense and straightened out.

Coach was looking at Garret.

Garret shrugged. "Better to have some fun, Coach. He's not having a good start on the mound."

Coach tilted his head. "You think giving him a hard time is fun for him?"

Garret nodded confidently. "Absolutely. Otherwise he would wallow in self-doubt. He has to tough it out this game and accept that he's not in good form. It happens." He got closer to Coach and lowered his voice. "Try not to take him out until after five innings. As long as we're still winning, that is. Give him this win for the stat sheet and hopefully he can put it behind him."

Coach hummed thoughtfully.

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