The Hitting Zone

Noah was able to start our offense with a walk, earning a free base. Before stepping into the box, I checked with Zeke to make sure he didn't have any specific instructions for me. He just glanced towards Mr. Miller, so I did the same. Miller moves his hands around, mixing in signals and fake signals. As far as I know, I think it means that I can just do what I want.

I stepped into the lefty's box and eyed the pitcher. He didn't show any outstanding pitches or speed, and he even lacked control. Him and Kyle, both seem to be having a bad day on the mound. Durham's pitcher started me off with a couple of balls in the dirt, and then he started to find the strike zone. I took two called strikes just to see what he could do. With a 2-2 count, he completed his motion and threw a fastball low and inside but still within the strike zone. I really couldn't understand this guy. He wasted so many pitches when he could still throw something like this?

Even though it was a well-placed pitch, my hands were quick enough to react and connect with the ball. The ball came off my bat and shot right up the middle, just narrowly missing the pitcher, then it snuck past the middle infielders. I took off for first and was able to see the center fielder come in to make the play. He got the ball back in just as Noah and I stood safely on our respective bases.

The ball was returned to the pitcher and Zeke stepped up to bat. Two on with no outs. My heart started to pound, knowing that I would have to start running as soon as I hear the 'ping' from Zeke's bat hitting the ball.

To my surprise, and to the surprise of others watching, the catcher stood up with his hand out, signaling for an intentional walk. The pitcher agreed and threw four pitches way outside. They were going to load up the bases with no outs. I couldn't understand. I just have to save my questions for Noah the next time we were in the dugout.

With Zeke being intentionally walked, I advanced to second and Noah advanced to third. Garret would get another chance to send us all home with the bases loaded and no outs. He stepped into the lefty's box and looked ready to kill it.

The pitcher miraculously came at him with some serious speed, no longer having trouble with wild pitches. I frowned at this phenomenon. This pitcher was extremely odd and gave me the same feeling as Paradise Preparatory, like they were intentionally playing with us. Kind of. More like, just with Zeke by taking away his opportunities to hit.

Garret got a piece of the ball on a 1-2 count, sending the ball high in the sky, but unfortunately it was heading right to the shortstop. I stayed on second base, thinking the shortstop would catch the easy out. But the unexpected happened, he tripped just as he got under the ball, and missed the catch.

Shocked and caught off guard, I sprinted to third as fast as I could.

But to add more confusion, Noah was still on third, yelling at me, "Go back! Go back!"

The ball came from over my shoulder and the third baseman caught it before he started running to me. Extremely confused, I did what anyone normal person would do: ran away. Back to second like Noah said. As soon as I switched back, the ball flew over my shoulder again to the waiting second baseman. Stunned, I couldn't avoid his tag. I was out.

The play didn't end there. The second baseman suddenly threw to home plate, where Noah was heading. Seeing the catcher with the ball, Noah turned back to third. The catcher threw to the shortstop, who was covering third, and he chased Noah back towards home plate. Then the shortstop threw to the pitcher who was covering home, and he chased Noah back to third. Noah lasted way longer than I did in a rundown, but he couldn't get an advantage over Durham. It wasn't much longer before he was also tagged out. Shit.

I started moving to the dugout, and Durham went back to their own dugout too. I watched in confusion, feeling my head hurt from not understanding what just happened.

"You idiot!" Chris cornered me as soon as I got back in the dugout. "What were you thinking?!? Why did you run us out of the inning?! We had the bases loaded! We could have scored more runs!!"

I cowered against the fence, scared of Chris, whose face was turning a dark shade of red, and just radiated anger. His arms reached for me and grabbed the front of my jersey. But only for a second, as Noah squeezed between us and slapped his hands away from me.

Chris glared and tried to push Noah aside, but soon the rest of the team jumped into action and a few grabbed him to pull him back.

"LUDWICK!! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!?" Coach hollered as he made his way to this side of the dugout. He got in Chris's face and poked him in the chest. "I'm the damn coach around here. If I see you lay your hands on anyone else in this team, I'll kick you off without hesitation." He glanced to Coach Luis who just came over. "Take him away to cool down." He found another face. "Sean, grabbed your glove. You'll play third."

A hand reached for me out of the corner of my eye and I ducked to dodge, squatting behind Noah. Noah felt my sudden movements and turned to face me. He squatted too, eye level with me.

"Jake? It's okay. Coach Luis is taking Chris away. It's just Zeke." Noah pointed at the feet that was closest to us.

I felt myself starting to shake. If Chris had such a reaction to me, I couldn't imagine what Zeke would say.

"Take the field!" I heard coach yell and my teammates started to scatter.

"Kyle, stall for some time during your warmup." Zeke spoke up. Soon the dugout got a little quieter.

Noah was still squatted beside me, but I didn't dare to look up just yet. I was positive Zeke was going to chew me out next.

"Zeke, you're scaring him. Squat down too!" Noah demanded.

Within seconds, his knees dropped into my vision. I tried scooting back, but landed on my butt, now facing Zeke and Noah. They both still had helmets on just like me.

Noah glared at his eldest brother. "Say something! Your silence is just making him worse."

Zeke sighed and took off his helmet, tucking it under his arm. "Jake, it's okay. Mistakes happen. What Chris did was inexcusable. You can be assured that he'll not only be punished by coach and me, but I'm sure the school will share some words about his physical reaction. There's never any reason to hit someone. Especially a teammate."

I peeked into his eyes, seeing the calm expression like always, I relaxed my tensed body. I peered up at him. "Are you mad at me too?"

Zeke just shook his head. "If anything, I'm mad at myself. I sometimes forget how new you are to the game itself. It didn't even cross my mind that you don't know what the infield fly rule is until you took off for third."

I gulped and looked at Noah, remember his urging for me to go back to second. "I wasn't supposed to run?"

Noah let out a smile, "No. The infield fly rule was invoked. That means-"

"We'll talk about it after the game." Zeke cut him off. "We have to get back to the game now. Come on." Zeke stood up and Noah did as well. They both held out a hand to me. I grabbed them with my hands and they lifted me to my feet, making me feel a little lighter. "Grab your gloves and focus on defense for now. Let the last inning go; we still have the lead."