The Hitting Zone



Mom held true to her word. We were given a small fry and a small onion ring to share. Yet, she also ordered three side salads. Noah rolled his eyes and refused. Dave graciously accepted, willing to eat anything. I didn't get a choice. Mom said I had to eat for the calorie count and I knew it too. 

We stopped at the hotel so Noah and I could shower and change into clean clothes. We showed up to Zeke's game just barely on time. Rhys was on the mound, having just thrown the first pitch, a called strike. 

"Get him, Rhys! You've got this!" Noah yelled excitedly as we walked to our seats. 

"Let's go, Rhys, let's go!" Dave did a cheer and clapped. 

The pair drew a lot of attention, making me want to dig a hole and hide. Instead, we found our seats and got comfortable. Rhys had a good start, striking out the first two batters before getting the third to fly out to Zeke in right field. 

The rest of the game wasn't that easy for him. The opposing batters started to foul off a lot and added in a few bad misses and his pitch count started to sore. He was taken out after just five innings, nearing a hundred pitches. He only gave up two hits and had eight strikeouts though so I thought he had something to be proud of. Instead he hung his head as he went to his dugout after the fifth. 

"Shouldn't he be happy?" I turned to the nearest pitcher next to me who would understand. 

Dave gave a small shake of his head. "Nah. He's probably frustrated. Five innings? That's weak sauce."

"But he can get the win." I pointed out. Stanford had the lead thanks to the dynamic duo that is Zeke and Brady. It was a small lead, but it could still give Rhys the win. 

"This isn't high school anymore. Five is bare minimum for a starting pitcher." Dave explained. "College is like the pros. Nine innings. He did just a little over half. You should want more from your starters. Rhys just racked up a high pitch count too quickly. It's a bummer and yea I still think he performed well. But twenty bucks says he doesn't think he performed well."

"Pitchers are hard to please." Noah joked. "It has to be a perfect game. Until they get old and are barely in the league. Then they're happy with five innings." He looked at Dave. "Hey, you think Garret can get another perfect game against Porterville again?"

"He better." Dave rubbed his hands together. "Or there'll be hell to pay."

I let out a small laugh. 

"I'm not sure whether it's better or worst to face the same team twice." Noah mused. "Like on one hand, you have history on your side if you did well so hypothetically you should be able to handle them again. On the other, the team has more opportunities to get used to your style." He glanced at Dave. "You think Kyle will get Servite on Thursday?"

Dave made a face of disgust. "Probably. I want my chance against a great team too. But Coach does lean towards the history part."

"Coach is flexible." I spoke up. "He doesn't limit himself to linear thinking." I smirked at Dave. "Otherwise you wouldn't get a second chance against Golden West."

Dave flicked me on the arm. "Brat. The first time, I got hurt too quickly. It doesn't count."

"I feel pretty comfortable with you or Kyle on Thursday." Noah added. "Servite's hitting is subpar."

"No." I twisted so I could look Noah in the eyes. 

"No?" Noah was taken aback by my sudden outburst. 

"They got a couple hits off of Kyle." I reminded. "But more importantly, they crushed Golden West a few weeks ago." I gulped. "15-4. Mercy rule."

Noah frowned. 

Dave laughed and nudged him. "You're slipping, Noah. Even Jake is beating you to the facts."

Noah's frown deepened. "You think it can be a problem?" He asked me. 

I gave a small shrug as I resettled back into my seat. "I don't like it." It scared me when I first heard it from Bryce. "Their pitcher was good too...Cody Peace."

Dave nodded along. "Oh for sure! Guy with the low/high curve. Nasty. He was like a sophomore too or something. Better hope you guys don't see him again. We only had a few hits ourselves."

We talked about the upcoming games this week as the rest of the Standford game went on. Zeke's school held on and won 3-2 with Rhys getting that win. Mom didn't let us go crazy at the snackbar, but we still had the signature, hotdogs, peanuts, and soda. She wanted to worry about our intake since we had another baseball game to watch this evening, but I heard Dad hold her back saying that it was okay to not think so much on a good day like this. We could be healthy tomorrow. Didn't stop Mom from finding me a carrot and celery mix to have with a little bit of ranch. Too little, but I accepted my fate. 

We had to hang out on the campus for over an hour before Zeke showed up. Alone. 

"Where's Rhys?" Dave asked. 

Zeke gave a small shake of his head. "Spending some extra time in the trainer's room."

"Is he okay?" Mom asked, worried as the rest of us. 

"Relatively." Zeke replied vaguely. 

"Well, should we go see him? Maybe take his mind off of the game? Even though I think he played very well." Mom asked. 

Zeke shook his head. "Nah. He needs alone time. Probably wants to wallow in his own misery for a little bit. Trust me, he'll be fine soon. Recovery day tomorrow and back at the gym on Monday." He looked down at me and Noah. "How was the tryout?"

"It was the best!" Noah started to rave. "We got to play all morning. All sorts of drills and tests. Jake got named to the roster already! And I moved on to round two! In early June. Not sure where it'll be exactly just yet. But I'm sure they'll pick a location where most of the players come from."

"Exciting." Zeke patted Noah on the head. "Don't let it distract you from your baseball season though."

"Yea, I know." Noah said. 

Zeke looked to me. We held eye contact for an extra beat before I looked away, embarrassed. 

"Jake's going to go through with it." Dave told Zeke. "I was there when the coach was talking about him hitting cleanup and how he would have a good shot at being on Team USA in the future. It was crazy and amazing all at the same time! It feels even bigger than you getting drafted in the first round for some reason. Maybe because I knew you were going to turn it down."

"And Jake won't turn this down?" Zeke asked. 

"No way!" Dave answered for me. "He's going to go all the way and we already promised to be there for it. I want to see what this summer tournament is like too. I heard it's like seven different age groups or something."

Dave and Noah gave Zeke the whole entire rundown as we headed for the car. Zeke put his overnight bag in the trunk before we started to load up. Next stop, Jeremy's game. Like always, he left us tickets at the will call window. It wasn't the best seats, but it was still comfortable. The best part was always the free food where we could make requests shamelessly without having any adults tell us no. Zeke included. 

Jeremy had a bad game unfortunately, going 0-3 at the plate with one walk. He wasn't the only one to stink it up out there. Most of the team went hitless and the pitchers gave up runs left and right. The A's lost 9-1 and it put a damper on how well the day was going. 

I sent Jeremy a consolation text on our way out. We were tired from the long day and couldn't see him after his postgame stuff. We still had a chance to get together again tomorrow. 

With Zeke crashing in the hotel with us for the night, Noah came to share my bed and Zeke shared with Dave. We changed into pjs and immediately started to get comfortable in bed. 

"I don't know why you didn't just stay in your own dorm tonight." Dave complained to Zeke as he tugged the comforter to his side. 

"Like I said, Rhys could use some time to decompress. No one likes to be sad when others are around. It's more alienating." Zeke didn't fight over the blankets and laid down. 

"You guys don't let me be sad alone." I pointed out. 

Dave laughed, probably thinking about how he followed me to the bathroom earlier today. "You're different Jake. You're like a kid to us."

"Rhys gets 24 hours from me." Zeke told me. "Any more sulking after that, I reach out."

I thought about Rhys's time healing after his big time surgery. I wasn't around then, but I heard bits and pieces. Zeke would constantly call to check up on him and when that wasn't enough, he made visits. Like going on the weekends in the summer time. He probably understood Rhys better than anyone so I had faith he was doing the right thing.