The Hitting Zone

Top of the fifth. Noah got an answered prayer right away, fielding a fast grounder from the cleanup hitter for the second time this game. He practically beamed after the out was called and slapped his glove. I think everyone could hear his thoughts: come to me again. Garret struck out the fifth batter, mixing in his new slider with the old cutter. The sixth batter made contact on his first pitch fastball, hitting a long fly ball to right. I held my breath until Jesse made the catch and threw the ball in before jogging it in.

What a relief. The perfect game was still in play. Two more innings to go.

"Think they'll pitch to you again?" Noah asked as we reached our bags.

I started to get ready since I would lead off this inning. "Maybe. They don't seem to be intentionally avoiding me." I shrugged. "They're already down by six. Why avoid me now with bases empty?"

"Good analysis." Noah smiled and nodded.

I finished pulling on my batting gloves, picked up my bat, and headed back out. I lightly took practice swings as I noticed a new pitcher on the mound for Porterville. Bryce joined me outside the dugout, staying a few feet away so he could get his swings in.

I got into the righty's box, confident. The pitcher did his complete windup and motion. The ball left his fingertips. I started my swing a little early with the intention to pull it to the left. The spin on the ball was off and the ball started to drop. A breaking ball. Shoot. I still completed my swing and made contact, hitting a line drive to left field. The left fielder came sprinting in and made a diving catch before my hit could touch the grass. Out.

I rounded first base the opposite way to foul territory, then jogged back to my dugout. Bryce patted me on the head.

Garret grinned. "It's been nearly two weeks since you hit into an out. How does it feel?"

"Not as bad as getting picked off first." I said honestly.

Garret laughed and let me into the dugout as he went to the on deck circle.

"A little too overeager, Jake." Coach told me. Then he looked to Alisha. "Note that."

The rest of the guys didn't think it was a huge deal so I made it back to my spot without wanting to disappear or pass out.

"It was a good catch by that guy." Noah was more interested in the fielding. "Seeing plays like that make me want to be in the outfield sometimes."

I started to shake my head. "I don't think I could do something like that."

Noah frowned. "You need to work on it. Catching line drives and fly balls will definitely be a part of the tryout."

I rolled my eyes. "I know, I know."

"I'm being serious, Jake." He clapped his hands together. "Let's work on the fundamentals again. Like we used to when you were first getting accustomed to the team."

I made a face. "Does that mean less time at the cages?"

"Of course it does!" Noah exclaimed. "But don't worry. It's only for the next couple of weeks. We'll put the extra time and work in on the fielding. After tryouts, we'll go back to the cages more often."

I sighed in defeat. "Okay."

Bryce struck out, coming back to the dugout, and sitting by Dave, probably to talk about pitching.

Garret hit a single off the first pitch he saw. Jason came up next with one on, two outs. He hit a line drive to left-center. Garret took off because even if it was caught, it would be the third out. He hustled, tagging second and heading to third. The ball had dropped in for a hit and was being thrown straight to third. Mr. Miller signaled for him to slide. He did so as the third baseman caught the ball and put the tag down.

"Safe!"

The third baseman hurried to throw to second base where Jason was sliding in.

"Safe!"

Two runners in scoring position for the struggling Jesse. Coach pursed his lips, looking like he wanted to call him back to the dugout and put a pinch hitter in, but he didn't. Jesse hit a grounder to second to end our offensive.

A lot of the guys didn't make eye contact with Jesse as we jogged out to take our positions. But I feel like they had similar thoughts to me. That was a good opportunity with runners in scoring position. Maybe we would have been abled to reach a ten run lead and mercy this team. But I had to remind myself that I was the first out of the inning. I was just as responsible as Jesse for the inning to end.

Garret and Mitch were the last two to come out of the dugout. Garret waved off the practice pitches and signaled that he was ready to go to the ump. The umpire called for all the extra balls to come in and for the batter to step up to the plate. Garret was at the bottom of the lineup. Seven, eight, nine. Garret breezed through all of them, ditching his fastball for the cutter and slider. Back-to-back-to-back strikeouts.

Dave looked like an eager puppy when Garret came back to the dugout. A big part of him wanted to jump and cheer Garret on, but the bigger part must have told him not to mess around when Garret was just three outs away from a perfect game.

Bottom of the sixth started with another pitching change. Korrey went up first, hitting a fly ball to center but it just had too much air under it. The center fielder had plenty of time to get there and make the catch.

"Just need one person to get on and I'll get my chance." Noah mumbled as he got ready for his at bat.

I glanced at him. "You better not be the last out then."

Noah burst out laughing.

His wish came true right away thanks to a single by Mitchell. Noah hurried to the on deck circle and I finished getting ready too.

Sean made solid contact, pulling the ball to left field. Similar to Bryce's home run, his flew out of the playing field and our dugout got loud. The third homerun for our team today. Sean was really blasting them out this year just like me, even if his average couldn't compare. He was right behind me in hitting homers, even higher than Garret now. Mitchell and Sean came back to a happy dugout and started to goof off.

I moved to the circle outside the dugout and watched Noah's at bat. Even if he got out, I would still have my chance to bat. But I knew how hard he was trying to get his second hit of the game. He fouled off four straight pitches before getting a single to center.

I walked up to the plate and chose to go left this time. Noah usually like to steal if he was on first but with an 8-0 lead, he didn't showboat. Which is good. Because I think they may have intentionally walked me if first base was open and a runner on second. Try to force a double play from Bryce after me. Mr. Miller gave me the green light to do what I want. I watched a couple of pitches, getting to a 2-2 count before fouling some off. I wanted to make sure this guy didn't have a breaking ball. And it didn't look like it after the ninth pitch. So I took my shot, connecting and hitting a long fly ball to center with the best of my ability.

The center fielder raced back to the warning track, made a jump...and came down with my farthest hit yet. He threw it back in and I headed back to the dugout.

"Nice try, Jake!"

"That was a close one!"

"Hit the weight room!"

I heard Mom, but I also heard Kaylee. I didn't know she would be here. Her sister usually only came when Kyle was on the mound. I wanted to search the crowd, but it was time to go in.

"Yea, Jake, hit the weight room!" The guys in the dugout started laughing and echoing Kaylee's comment.

I felt my face heat up and hurried to my bag.

Bryce hit a fly out to center like me and came back to a dugout that was hollering at him to 'hit the weight room.' I joined in and laughed, happy that I wasn't the only one to catch some grief.

Garret took the mound for the top of the seventh, back at the top of the order. The first batter got jammed on the cutter, hitting a grounder to Noah. Noah dealt with it for the first out. The second batter followed the same pattern, taking away Garret's chance to tie his own record with Kyle. It didn't matter though. He was on a different mission now. One more out to go. The third batter swung and missed on all three pitches becoming strikeout victim number eleven. But who cared?! All of us sprinted for Garret on the mound to celebrate his perfect game!

Garret threw his glove in the air and hugged the incoming Mitchell. Noah jumped on the two of them soon after.