The Hitting Zone

Thursday morning, we packed up our uniforms into our bags and headed to school. Today's game would be played at 2pm so after lunch we would head on down to the fields for warmups.

Noah was the most excited. "Mom, Dad, you have to come today! Sit up front and cheer super loud!" He commanded during breakfast.

"Yes, of course we'll be there." Mrs. Atkins smiled at her youngest son. "We'll try and be at every game this season."

"Yea, whatever." Noah brushed off. "But this is the most important game. First league game of the season and out of all of your sons, only I'm starting! Even Zeke will be on the bench!" He laughed.

Zeke didn't say anything; he just took his plate to the kitchen and immediately headed to the garage. "Leaving in two minutes. If you're not in the car, you're walking to school." The garage door closed louder than normal.

I stuffed my face with bacon and rushed my plate to the kitchen, not willing to be left behind.

Noah's laugh had stopped me. "Don't panic so much. If Zeke really left, Mom or Dad could take us." He slowly got up and out his plate in the sink as well.

"Don't give your brothers such a hard time." Mrs. Atkins sighed as we headed to the garage.

Noah lifted his hand in a wave. "Yea, sure Mom! Bye!"

I lifted my hand too and we left.

Now at lunch, Noah and I sat at our usual spot, alone. We both ate, one faster than the other. I paused to ask. "Why weren't you this excited for our last game? That was a game where your brothers didn't start or even play in."

Noah frowned, then let out a sigh. "That was different. I knew how good University Prep was so there's no way I could relax knowing our best player had to sit out. I like winning more than anything." He thought to himself for a minute. "Okay, I lied. I like playing more than anything. I could lose every game and still be satisfied."

I tilted my head to the side. "So you think we'll win today? Without Zeke?"

Noah gave an affirmative nod. "Redwood High School is mediocre. Nothing really stood out to me last year when I would watch my brothers games."

"The twins made varsity as Sophomores too?"

Noah nodded. "They didn't play as much though. Like Bryce is now. Kind of. They would just get the occasional inning. No starts unless it was a non-league game against a poorly ranked team."

"Only league games matter?"

Noah nodded. "As long as you win all the league games, you'll become league champs and get a chance to play in the CIF tournament. Regardless of your record against other teams." He pulled out his sandwich and bit into it before speaking again. "That's not to say that non-league games aren't important in their own way. Say if you have two teams with the same league record at the end of the season, the next thing to do would be to compare their overall record."

"Oh. Okay." I went back to eating my lunch. I only had a few more minutes before we had to go down to the field.

"Try sounding a little more interested." He pleaded.

I looked back up at him, thought for a second, then found something to ask. "Is today's pitcher going to be good?"

Noah rolled his eyes, but still had an answer for me. "It's the first league game so they're probably going to send in their best. Just like how we're starting with Garret."

I brightened up at the thought of trying to hit off someone of Garret's caliber.

Lunch ended and we made our way down to the field, backpacks on. We ran into a few of our teammates and shared some greetings. His brothers were already at the car, getting all the baseball bags out. Even though the twins weren't able to get the start for the game, they still had a chance of making a relief appearance so they still had to dress out, warmup, and go through all the motions. Zeke, on the other hand, only had to wear his uniform. He wasn't going to play at all.

We dumped our school bags in the car and carried our baseball bags to the clubroom by the field. We got changed and took our gear to the dugout before warmups. As I tied my cleats on the dugout bench, I noticed a bus pull up. Redwood was here. They filed out of the bus and made their way down to the field with their coach leading them. I saw Mr. Miller meet them halfway and he shared some words with the opposing team's coach.

"Long time coaches in the same league will obviously know one another." Noah told me as he caught me looking.

"I was just thinking about riding a bus..." I mumbled.

He laughed. "Oh. That's not what I expected. Have you never been on one before? A public bus or a school one?"

"Neither."

"Not even for school field trips?"

I shrugged. "I wasn't allowed to go on field trips. My mom would never sign a release or give money so I was always left behind."

Noah patted my shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Our first away game is after the weekend so we'll be taking a bus then. It's not all that exciting. Just a huge car."

It's not like I was interested because I thought it would be exciting. I just thought it was something I had never done before. And then I got lost thinking about all the things my mom held me back from. I wonder how she would react to me playing baseball right now?

"Are you all ready?" Zeke looked around the dugout, making the team halt their side conversations with other teammates. "Good. Don't slack off out there today. Work hard and be aware. Mahki, go warm them up." He commanded.

"Yes!" Mahki jumped up and was the first one out of the dugout. "Let's go you guys. You already know what we should be doing."

Everyone hurried after him as he turn and left for the outfield baseline. Mahki led us, shouting out the name of the stretches as we warmed up. Then we paired up and threw the ball back and forth to warm up the shoulder.

Coach came over at some point, but only addressed us when we were through. He pulled out a note pad. "Garret and Jordan, head to the bullpen for a proper warmup." They did as they were told. "As for everyone else, I have the lineup already set."