The Hitting Zone

Top of the second inning, we took the field and Garret got on the mound. He toed the rubber before getting set. The fifth batter stepped up and on a 1-2 count, he smacked a line drive single in left-center field. Mahki gets to it and throws to Noah as I cover second. Noah was quick to turn after receiving the ball, but there was no play to be made since the batter stayed at first.

The sixth batter got jammed on Garret's cutter that came inside for righty from a left-handed pitcher. It was a routine pop up for Julian at first. Of course the runner wouldn't try to tag on an infield pop up. That would be suicide.

The seventh batter was a lefty, surprising me a little. I couldn't remember a time seeing Garret facing a lefty besides the time I tried out for the team last month. Would he still use his cut fastball? I got my answer almost immediately as he threw one, which goes outside for a lefty. The batter swung, catching a piece of it, sending a grounder towards left field. Noah made a diving stop, gloving the ball. From his butt, he threw the ball to me at second getting the runner out.

I turned to throw to Julian at first for the double play, but the runner slid into me, knocking me to the ground. The runner jumped up and hustled back to his dugout as I watched the batter reached first safely.

"Jake!" Noah appeared beside me. He squatted down. "Are you okay?" Before I could reply he looked to the second base umpire. "That was intentional! He was targeting the player, and not the base!"

The ump looked down at us and gave a helpless shrug. "He stayed on the base path and was able to reach the base."

"But he clipped my teammate with his cleats! That's a dangerous play!" Noah didn't give in.

"Cool it, brat." Garret put his hand on Noah's head, slightly pushing down Noah's hat. He looked to me. "You okay, Bambi? Do you need Drew to look you over?"

I quickly got up and shook my head no. I handed the baseball over. "No." I felt the heat rush to my face. "Sorry. I should have done something more to avoid that slide." Like jump up and make the throw. Or maybe, since I was running to second to tag the bag, I could have taken an extra step after getting the runner out. That way the runner wouldn't be able to reach me.

"Think about it later." Garret patted the top of my head with his glove. "As long as nothing hurts, we'll continue the inning."

"I'm fine. Really." I sprinted back to my position to prove I was okay. Noah frowned, but after another pat by Garret, he went back to his position too.

Garret closed out Redwood's second inning by getting the eighth batter to hit a slow dribbler to the mound. Garret barehanded the ball, spun around, and threw to Julian for the third out. We jogged back to the dugout.

Noah followed me closely, looking me up and down. "Are you sure you're fine? Any cuts? Scrapes? Potential bruises?"

My lips twitched, fighting off a laugh. "Why are you being like this? I said I'm fine."

"Zeke said he was fine too and now look." Noah huffed as we sat in our spots.

"Noah just worries since it's rare for a collision not to result in any injuries for both parties." Jason came on over, walking normally now that his foot has been healed. "Plus, you came down pretty hard. At least, that's what it looked like to us."

I thought about the game with San Marino where Jason got hurt in a similar collision at second. Even Noah had hurt the other teams catcher in their collision at the plate. I rubbed my nose. "I'm okay. I promise. The bruise on my chest hurts a little, but it's not a big deal."

Noah squinted at me, but nonetheless we were to go up to bat for the second inning. We both put on helmets and grabbed our two very different bats.

"Good luck out there." Jason cheered us both on as he had to sit the bench. I wondered why coach didn't just start him today with Chris suspended from team activities. Speaking of Chris, I heard he wasn't allowed to skip class to watch the game. Maybe he would come down to the field afterwards.

Sean was already in the batter's box as Noah stepped into the on deck circle and I stood by the dugout entrance. Sean was quick to groundout to the second baseman. Noah followed up with a swinging strikeout.

I moved to the lefty spot and dug in. The pitcher started with a fastball high, just outside of the zone. "Ball." The catcher threw the ball back to the pitcher on the mound. The pitcher definitely calmed down since the first inning. Maybe seeing that Garret wasn't at his best improved his mentality.

Another pitch came, almost right down the middle. I took a step and started my swing. My bat connected with the ball and I pulled it to right field. As I sprinted to first, I had a perfect view of the right fielder running in and making the catch to end the inning.

I let out a groan as I slowed down to a jog and headed back to the dugout. Most of the team started to take the field as I ditched my helmet for my hat and my bat for a glove.

"You don't have the power to hit it over an outfielders head." Zeke said from behind me, making me jump.

"I've hit the fence before." I mumbled as I headed out.

"There were better options. Don't just be swinging mindlessly out there." Zeke said before letting me take the field.

I pouted as I jogged to my spot and took a few warmup throws with Julian. I wasn't 'swinging mindlessly'. I really did like that pitch though.

The ump signaled for balls to be returned to the dugout and for the Redwood batter to step up to the plate. This player would be number nine, at the very bottom of the lineup.

Garret was straightforward and went at him with his fastball down the middle. The batter didn't hesitate at all and completed a mighty, exaggerated swing. To everyone's surprise though, the bat connected with the ball and was blasted to the outfield. I ran to second to cover, and Noah moved to the grass to be the cutoff.

The ball bounce off the fence to Tony's glove. He grabbed the ball out of his glove and took a few steps before throwing to Noah. Noah turned to me, but I crossed my arms in an 'X' to sign that he shouldn't throw. The batter had safely reached second base without even needing to slide.