The Hitting Zone

Dave was up to bat first. Daniel was in the on deck circle. I stood in the hole, still lost in my thoughts.

I was mindlessly watching Dave's at bat when I noticed that one of the pitches was heading right to him. My mouth opened to say something, but it was useless. Dave turned away as it bounced off his butt.

"Dead ball. Take your base." The umpire declared.

Dave tossed his bat to the dugout and then limped-jogged to first. I stepped out to go to the on deck circle, but coach cut me off and went out first.

He walked straight to the home plate umpire. "Listen ump, this is getting ridiculous. My boys are getting hurt left and right here. Either reign them in or eject them."

The ump had taken off his mask to speak with Coach. "Nothing out of the ordinary. Get back to your dugout before I eject you."

Zeke came out of the dugout and guided coach back. He looked at me. "Just walk."

I blinked. Okay. I stepped to the circle and Daniel moved to the batters box. Daniel, in my opinion, was nowhere near Noah's level. His fielding was only lacking a little, but his bat wasn't any good. He went 0-2 in game two yesterday, after getting the start over Noah. Today he easily struck out in three pitches. What a waste.

I glanced back at Zeke to make sure he didn't want me to foul. He just stared me down, not touching his nose at all. Okay. Whatever he says, goes. I got in the batters box. As far as I could tell, this pitcher didn't throw any breaking balls so he wasn't very interesting anyways.

I easily earned my walk and took first base, moving Dave up to second. Dave clapped and yelled, "That's the way to work it, Bambi."

I raised an eyebrow. What. I think my last at bat was better than this one. I didn't even have to work as hard. There was no sense of satisfaction in this walk.

"Just ignore him." Coach Luis grumbled.

I nodded and focused on Mahki's at bat. The first pitch came, and he took it as a called strike. So annoying, he does this too often. He got ready for the next pitch. The pitcher began his motion and planted his left leg just as his dugout yelled, "Runner!"

Startled, I went back to first and looked to second to see what Dave was doing. But Dave was no longer there. By the time I looked over, he was already hugging third base. Whhaattt. Did I miss a steal sign again..? I looked to the dugout, and the team was cheering but coach wasn't even smiling. Uhhh. I looked to Zeke, at the on deck circle. He was resting his bat on his shoulder and frowning at Dave on third. Uh oh. I was nervous seeing those two upset, but at least it wasn't at me this time.

The pitcher got the ball back and angrily toed the rubber. His frustration was written all over his face. He faced Mahki once more, but without concentrating clearly, he threw an easy pitch that Mahki was able to send to the outfield.

I looked solely at Mr. Miller as I ran. Coach said to listen to him or I'd be screwed. He was waving me on to third. I put some more effort in, touched second and sprinted as fast as I could to third.

"No slide." He instructed.

I safely stopped on third and turned back to see Mahki avoid a tag at second. 6-0, the lead was growing bigger. I struggled to catch my breath as Zeke stepped up to the plate. No doubt, ready to cause more damage to the scoreboard, by scoring more runs.

The pitcher was red in the face at this point, showing no composure. He glared down Zeke like he was looking for a fight, not even sparing attention to me and Mahki. As soon as the umpire got in position behind the catcher, the pitcher threw a bullet at Zeke. Literally at him, not even pretending to pitch to the strike zone.

Zeke's eyes narrowed and tried stepping back out of the way, but he still nailed him in the thigh on the side.

"Whoa!"

"Ump!"

Coach stormed out of the dugout. "That was deliberate! Now what do you have to say?? They're even blatantly going after my best player!"

The umpire pointed at the pitcher then gave the motion to eject him, sending the whole crowd into a frenzy. He pointed at Zeke to take his base. The San Marino coach came out and started to argue the ejection. The three of them started to get in a heated discussion.

I looked up at Mr. Miller.

He patted the top of my helmet. "The San Marino guy is just buying time for a new pitcher to warm up. He knows his player was in the wrong. Look at their bullpen."

Sure enough they had someone throwing in there. The pitcher that threw the dead ball was escorted off the field and out of the dugout by the second base umpire. Zeke stood on first, looking unaffected. The discussion went on for a bit, until the home plate ump took a step back and pointed at our dugout. Then at San Marino's.

I glanced up at Mr. Miller, not knowing what that meant. He made a face. "He's warning both teams. From here on out, any dangerous play will be met with an ejection." He gave me a smile. "That's good news for you Bambi."

True. I wasn't out to hurt anybody, and I especially was wary of anyone hurting me. The coaches went back to their respective dugouts as a new pitcher came onto the mound.