The Hitting Zone

Dad grinned. "Alright then. Can you take me to him?"

I led the way back and we went the back way through the dugout to Dave who sat near the entrance. Just as we got to him, a sound from the field drew some cheers. Noah hit a bloop single, pushing Logan to second. The OLU coach came out again, heading for the mound this time. Probably a pitching change.

"How does it feel?" Dad focused on Dave, kneeling down to get a better look.

"Fuckin' fantastic." Dave glared. "How do you think it feels to get pulled from your second start in a row?"

Dad raised an eyebrow and placed a hand on Dave's shoulder. "I get that you're upset, son. But I need to know how your ankle feels? Do you want to go to the ER right now? Or do you think you'll be fine until tomorrow morning and get checked out at the doctor's office?"

Dave got quiet. He looked down at his ankle that was growing by the second. "I-" He stopped himself. "I don't think it's an emergency, but I still want to get it checked out tonight. Just so I know, and that Coach knows, that I'm fine and can practice tomorrow."

"Okay. We can make that work." Dad stood up. "I'll go find you a bag of ice. When we get home, we'll see if an urgent care is open. If not, it'll be a long wait in the ER." He looked to me. "Shouldn't you be getting ready?"

"Oh. Yea." I rushed to my bag, taking my hat off and put my helmet on.

A loud 'ding' rang out to grab my attention. I turned to watch with the team as Garret's fly ball went to deep center field. The center fielder tracked it back, waited, jumped as the ball came down and made the catch. Before we could even sigh, Logan and Noah were sprinting to their next bases after tagging up. The center fielder made the throw to the shortstop covering second base as Noah slid in, knocking the shortstop over.

"Safe!"

Our dugout got loud and cheered for the pair, welcoming Garret back despite the fly out. Garret stopped by Dave and Dad. "How does it feel?"

"If someone asks me again, I might clip them in the ankles with a fastball." Dave rolled his eyes. He caught sight of me as I passed by with my bat. "Now I know how Jake feels when everyone is hovering over him. I might as well invest in a shirt that states 'I'm fine.'"

I grinned at the thought. It could be a community shirt that we pass around to the teammate who needs it the most that day.

Just as I got to the on deck circle, Bryce hit a line drive to the right field corner. Logan scored easily and Noah was rounding third base with speed. The right fielder got to the ball late, and threw it in to the second baseman acting as a relay thrower. Instead of trying to get Noah out at home, he threw to the shortstop at second base.

"Down!"

"Slide, Bryce!"

"Two!"

Bryce either reacted quickly to the shouts or he had already planned on sliding. He went feet first as the tag came down.

"Safe!" The umpire declared, causing a lot of groans and complaints from the home team.

I was on my way to the batter's box, trying to get some kind of look at the pitcher when the catcher stood up and said to the umpire, "We're intentionally walking him."

"Take your base." The umpire said to me.

I scowled. Tossed my bat back towards the dugout and headed for first. I don't know if I'm happier or not with an intentional walk instead of seeing the four pitches. Probably had something to do with the pitcher change. Plus first base was open and they were going to look for a double play to get out of this jam.

Sean chose to bat from the left side like Garret had suggested previously. Unfortunately there wasn't a change. He still hit a grounder right to the third baseman. The third baseman tagged his base to get Bryce out, then threw to first to get Sean out.

Our offense came to a sharp halt but not until after we scored some runs. A 3-0 lead is a good feeling, especially when we had to do a pitcher change.

Coach left the dugout to tell the umpire and soon Brian was jogging in from the bullpen. A bit of a flashback from the Golden West game.

Back in the dugout, Dad was gone and Dave had an ice pack on his bulging ankle. Dave waved all the guys to get away from him and to take the field. "You losers better show Brian some excellent support out there." Don't lose his shutout basically.

"I guess Kyle will be driving us the next few days." Noah commented as we took the field.

I shrugged. "It's his left that's injured. You only use your right to drive." Driving with two feet is a big no-no.

"Mom won't let him drive injured. Period." Noah laughed. "I can imagine the argument already. Even if Dave gets the all-clear tonight from a doctor. Mom will probably say no driving for the week."

I tried not to laugh. "Poor Dave."

Noah's eyes sparkled. "We should look up some good luck charms and start showering him with gifts."

"You say that and I think of incense." I tilted my head. "I don't want our room to smell bad."

"Crikets are good luck!" Noah snapped his fingers.

I looked at him, confused as heck. "Crickets? Like the bug?"

"Yea, it was in a cartoon movie, Mulan." He waved his hand as he jogged to get into position. "We'll watch it later this week since we're on break."

Bottom of the fifth. Brian came out hot, blowing three fastballs right by the sixth batter in the lineup, earning a swinging strikeout right away. Our team clapped for him and said a few words.

The next batter hit a high fly to right field. Both Sean and I were tracking back, but Bryce came sprinting in. "I've got it!" He hollered and we got out of the way, leaving him to make the catch on his own. He grinned and threw the ball back in to Brian directly. "Way to stay out of my way, guys.l

We waved him off and went back to our positions. Just when we thought Brian was in a rhythm, he had a long, drawn out, at bat and ended up walking the eighth batter. Must be hard on the pitcher to see someone on base after throwing nearly twelve pitches in one at bat. All that work for nothing.

The ninth spot in the lineup was replaced with a pinch hitter. He also made Bryce work, fouling off a couple of pitches before straightening one out to right field. Bryce ran to his right and made the catch to end the inning. He threw the ball back in to the mound and we all ran back to the dugout.