The Hitting Zone

We took the field, did some warmup throws, and got set for Lincoln's offense again. Kyle stood on the mound, looking a little more comfortable than his first inning. He got batters seven and eight to fly out. Batter nine hit a double to left field. But it didn't turn into anything as the leadoff hitter grounded out to Chris at third base. For the bottom of the second, we also failed to get anything started. Kelvin struck out looking. Chris hit a pop up to the first baseman. And Noah hit another fly ball, but to left field this time. "I don't understand what I'm doing wrong." He grumbled as he switched out his equipment. I had to switch mine out too since I was in the on deck circle, waiting for my at bat that has now been put off to the third inning. "You hit under the ball too much."He swung his head to me. "You can tell?"I let out a little laugh. "If you hit the top part of the baseball, it would be impossible for you to hit the ball high in the air. You should probably choke up on the bat a little."Noah looked surprise. "You've been talking more and now look. You're even giving out advice."I pulled my hat down and started to leave the dugout. "You don't have to listen to me.""No, no I will. You're practically a hitting prodigy. You can foul off the ball as you please and hit it wherever you want. That's too insane. You know what you're talking about when it comes to hitting."The heat rushed to my face at the compliment. "I don't know everything. Zeke is better.""Zeke IS the best. That's the correct phrase." Noah laughed as we went to our positions. I understood what he was saying. If I said I was good and Zeke was better, then that leaves room for argument that someone could even be better than him. But if you're the best, no one can get higher. And Zeke is the best in the county...but not in the state. It's scary to think that there are more players as good as him and even better. I shivered. Focus. Kyle looked to be back to normal and didn't struggle with throwing strikes anymore. He got the second batter to pop out to Noah again. And then batters three and four grounded out to Noah as well. Noah wasn't flustered at all. He smoothly fielded and threw to Julian like this was any different than practice.He flexed his skinny arm at me. "That inning was alllllll me."I laughed."Way to be modest." Kyle snorted as he joined us in the dugout. "Modesty is overrated." Noah smirked. "Gotta give credit where credit is due. If I didn't have your back, you'd be crying right now with all those would-be hits."Kyle reached for him, but Kelvin dragged him away. "Don't get so excited. Do you want to give Dave the mound so soon? You haven't gotten halfway through the game yet." They both went to the other side of the dugout. I grabbed my bat and put on my helmet. "You still trying for walks?" Noah asked. I nodded and smiled. "Zeke said free batting on Sunday. For the both of us." "What a dork." Noah waved me on. "Go, go. Get on first. We'll discuss your negotiation skills another time."I simply nodded and headed to the plate. Forcing the pitcher to walk me didn't require as much effort as before. His pitch count was getting high and he already looked exhausted. A good curve can't help you if you don't have the endurance to go along with it on the mound. I knew a little about lack of endurance. Even hitting is a struggle if you don't practice every day. I started to lead off first base, but not too far where a pitcher would want to do a check throw. Noah could call be a prodigy al he wants, but it will forever only apply to hitting. Running the bases would be my weakest point. Weaker than my fielding, and weaker than my arm. Sean worked the count to a 3-1, but ended up flying out to center field. I came back to first base and sighed. "You need to work on tagging up and running to the next base." Coach Luis grumbled. I shrugged helplessly. I still haven't worked on tag ups. I've only seen a few examples, but that doesn't mean I'll just automatically be able to do it. Zeke came up to bat next, looking stone-faced like always. And like always, he was able to connect with the ball and send it to the outfield. I started inching my way to second, keeping an eye on the outfielders to make sure they wouldn't catch the ball. They didn't so I took off. I glanced at Mr. Miller and saw him waving me to him, so I touched second and ran to third. "No slide!" Mr. Miller said my favorite phrase in baseball. I stopped on third, Zeke stopped on second, and the ball was given back to the pitcher. Another stand up double for Zeke. A real monster. The best. Julian came up next, looking eager to swing since there was only one out and runners on. Sadly, they didn't give him his chance. They intentionally walked him so they would have better odds for a double play. Which I still find silly, because it was still possible for the next batter to get a hit. Especially someone like Mahki. He even had an rbi single in the first inning. Unfortunately, Mahki played right into their hands. He hit a sharp grounder to first. I took off for home at the first sound of contact. The first baseman barehanded the ball, threw it to the catcher at home, who touched the plate before I could. Then he threw back to first base where the second baseman came over to cover, beating out Mahki's sprint. I sighed. End of the third inning. Up 3-0, but still lost out on a chance to score a few more runs. Oh well.",