The Hitting Zone

Top of the fifth. Tanner started us off with a single, followed by a walk from Jason. The coach came out of the dugout again. He didn't signal for a pitcher change though. Instead, he went to the mound to talk to his pitcher. The catcher and shortstop joined the pair.

Mitchell and Dave were both on deck, talking to one another. Noah was in the hole and I hurried to join him.

"How much more you think we can rack up?" Noah asked me.

"I'm just hoping I get a chance this inning." I looked at him.

"Don't worry. I won't be the third out." Noah grinned. "I can't let Dave give me anymore grief."

I lowered my voice. "Just remind him how many hits you had against University. You didn't get out at all."

Noah held his head high. "You're right. My numbers for this tournament are steady."

I wanted to use this opportunity to bring up Garret's batting, but a quick look around, I saw that he was already coming over with his helmet on, bat in hand. He was eager too.

The coach went back to their dugout, and the players got into position. Mitchell stepped up to the plate. The pitcher continued to be wild, only getting one pitch near the zone. He walked Mitchell, and his coach came out again, signaling the end of his time on the mound.

"What was the point of that?" I asked.

Noah shrugged. "He's probably tired or something. The coaches saw it coming, waste some time with the first mound meeting to get someone else warming up in the bullpen. Or maybe they told him something along the lines of 'hey, we'll give you one more chance and if you can't do anything, you're out'."

I nodded, starting to understand more tactics of baseball. More time was taken for the pitcher change, stretching out the game. In a couple of minutes, Dave was called up to the plate by the umpire. Noah had gone out to the on deck circle and was taking practice swings.

Dave must have been feeling confident at the plate since he had a single in his last at bat. He fouled off the first two pitches, putting himself at a disadvantage. The new pitcher didn't bother wasting a pitch away or in the dirt, the next one was close, forcing Dave to swing. He connected and sent the ball to center field. All baserunners stayed close to their respective bases. Sure enough, the center fielder made the catch. Tanner on third tagged up and ran home. Jason tagged up from second and sprinted to third. Mitchell stayed at first, knowing there was a good chance he could be thrown out at second.

7-2. Dave and Tanner came back to the dugout as I went out to the on deck circle.

Noah promised he wouldn't be the third out of the inning, and he came through. He smacked a hard grounder through the infield on the right side. Jason came home to score, 8-2, while Mitchell ran the bases, shooting to round second base. Mitch tagged second and stumbled. He got caught in no man's land as the ball was thrown back in from right field. Noah wisely stayed at first. It wasn't long before Mitchell was run down for the second out. He came back, looking embarrassed.

I tried not to laugh, knowing that feeling all too well. The other guys in our dugout were a whole lot less sympathetic, immediately cracking jokes on Mitchell's running skills.

I came up next, eager to stretch out this score. Getting to a mercy rule would be a bit of a stretch. At minimum we would have to score four more runs and then Dave would have to have a clean fifth inning. Highly improbable.

Mr. Miller passed out the signs for me at the plate and Noah at first. I was to swing freely and Noah had to run on contact. With two outs, he didn't have to worry about tagging up at all. Noah didn't hesitate to start his run as soon as the pitcher released the ball. Even I was surprised. I wasn't sure if this was supposed to be a hit and run or if he wanted to solo steal. So I did what I could: put the ball in play. It flew to the outfield fence, bouncing back to the right fielder. I was already on my way to second when the ball was relayed back in. They weren't worried about me though, instead they were throwing to home. Noah wanted to go all the way.

"Safe! Safe!" The umpire judged the close call as Noah came sliding in feet first and the catcher was coming down with the tag. 9-2.

Noah jumped up and pumped his fist towards the crowd. He slapped hands with Garret and Korrey, then went into the dugout. The catcher walked the ball back to the mound and shared a short conversation with his pitcher. Hard to come in and give up a couple of hits right away.

The catcher went back and Garret stepped in the lefty's box. He was given the same instructions. Hit freely. I was to take off on contact. Garret didn't get the same opportunity as me though. The pitcher must have been shaken, because none of his next four pitches were close. Garret walked to first. The pitcher got a lucky break with Korrey's at bat. Korrey randomly swung on a pitch inside, hitting a grounder straight to the guy at short. The shortstop scooped it up and tagged second before Garret, killing our offensive. Everyone jogged off the field.

Coach was already talking to Korrey by the time I reached. "I understand that you're impatient and eager to show up at the plate, but you have to start showing some game awareness. That pitcher hadn't thrown one strike to Garret. You should have let him keep going until taking a called strike."

I went to my bag, putting away my helmet and gloves. Noah was stretching beside me, glancing towards Coach and Korrey. I nudged him.

Noah shrugged, not even looking guilty for eavesdropping. "What? Coach is coaching. Everyone should be listening." He lowered his voice. "Though that's pretty much common sense."

"I don't want to hear about what's common sense when it comes to you, Noah." Garret walked by, putting his glove on.

"You're just jealous I have more hits than you today." Noah laughed, following him out.

I was right behind them, adjusting my hat.

"I'm saving my best for tomorrow." Garret grinned and took off jogging to the outfield grass.

Tomorrow was feeling closer and closer with our growing lead. It made it harder to swallow. I could potentially run into Jeremy's alma mater. And his cousin that was more like his younger brother than I was.

"Yo. Clear your head." Noah slapped my back and walked on towards his spot.

I shook my head.

Jason, at first, rolled out a few fake grounders for us to throw back to him. Dave took some practice pitches off the mound before starting the fifth inning.

He started with the number nine spot, getting the guy to strike out swinging. It wasn't easy, making his pitch count climb thanks to quite a few foul balls. The number one batter came out swinging as well, making excellent contact, hitting a line drive out to center. I whipped my head around to see Garret running back to the fence. He stretched out his right hand with the glove and caught the ball at an awkward angle before hitting into the fence. He bounced back and landed in the grass.

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