The Hitting Zone

This is a real baseball stadium. I stared in amazement at the field surrounded be stadium seating. The furthest point in center field labeled the wall as 400'. 400 feet?!? The green grass looked to be freshly manicured and well taken care of. Our school had a nice field too, but our grass was nowhere near as green. And the stadium seating surrounding the field really made me feel small.

There were rows and rows behind both dugouts and home plate. The only similarity I could find was there were no seating in the outfield. Here, beyond their outfield wall stood so many trees, it looked like a forest. If someone hits a home run, they must not get the ball back.

"How amazing!" Noah finally spoke up.

I nodded in agreement.

He looked up at Nick. "Can we go out there? Please?" No longer the rebellious teen, Noah looked more like an obedient puppy, wagging his tail with excitement.

Nick ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know. Let's find your other brother and Shawn first. I don't see them out here so they must be in the bullpen or cages."

Cages? I lit up.

"Bullpen then." Noah sighed. "Kyle's a pitcher. Plus, he sucks at batting."

I sighed too.

Dave on the other hand, became excited. "Yes! Let's check out your bullpen!"

Nick waved us on, and led us down to field level, passed the dugout, and towards a shaded area, fenced off. The fencing was intertwined with a dark colored tarp so you couldn't see in. Nick went to the gate and opened it for us. All four us walked in and found an interesting scene...Both Shawn and Kyle were doing handstands. Like they were gymnasts or something. Their hands were shoulder length apart, fully extended, and their body was straight as can be. It's just...the two weren't on the same level. Kyle was sweating like it was 100 degrees when it was barely 70. His sweat was rolling down his shaky arms as if they could snap any second. In fact, his whole body looked as if it was vibrating with his twitching.

Meanwhile, Shawn was smiling with ease. He saw us enter from the corner of his eye. "Oh, hey guys. You're just in time to see Kyle lose in a mini competition with me."

Nick shook his head, dismayed. "Why are you even competing with a high schooler? Have you no shame?"

Shawn grinned. "He wanted to. Turns out, we're both pitchers so I thought I would show him how different the college level is." He looked at Kyle. "Have you had enough yet? You've done well for someone who doesn't train like this normally."

"N-n-no." Kyle stuttered. "I can s-s-still g-go." His arms were no longer pencil straight as they wiggled.

"Then let's make it harder." He pushed his hands out a little wider, then bent them slowly at the elbow, then pushed himself back up. He was doing handstand push-ups.

Kyle gritted his teeth, pushed his hands a little further apart, and tried one. That's all it took to send him sprawling in the dirt of the bullpen. He landed on his back with a 'thud.' Dave and Noah started laughing at their brothers' pathetic face as he continued to sweat even when finally getting to relax his muscles.

Shawn was more graceful coming out of his handstand by setting one foot down, and flipping into a normal standing position. He checked his watch. "About a minute and a half. Not bad."

Dave went over to Kyle and poked his shaky arms. "What a baby. Bet I could last longer."

Kyle glared at his twin. "20 dollars says otherwise."

"I'll do it with you!" Shawn eagerly got into position. He shifted his hands to look at us three remaining. "Come on and join us!"

We watched as Dave struggled to get straight and wobbled around.

"No thanks." Noah replied.

I licked my ice cream in response.

Dave finally got straight, already red in the face. "Are you watching the time?"

Shawn lifted his wrist with the watch, staying perfect with even one arm. He checked the time. "Got it." He resumed a normal position.

"Don't be too amazed." Nick told me and Noah. "Shawn practices this every morning after waking up. He says he's been doing it since his freshman year in high school."

"What grade level is he now?" Noah mumbled, not taking his eyes off Shawn.

"He's a senior on the team. Like me. We're both set to graduate this spring. We're also roommates. That's how I know about his strange morning routine." Nick said.

"Does he do this because he's a pitcher?"

Nick shook his head. "Apparently he was cut from his high school baseball team as a freshman outfielder. They told him that his arm strength wasn't strong enough and he wasn't suited as an infielder. His dad suggested he do a handstand challenge to help with building up arm muscles. He did. And stuck with it until now."

"How did he go from outfielder to pitcher? Did his arm strength improve that much?"

"Handstands don't just improve the arms. It also helps with the core muscles and balance. With a better balance, his coach found a talent for pitching in him. His sophomore year of high school, he made the varsity team, surpassing his classmates."

"Big deal." Noah finished off his ice cream. "Me and Jake are freshmen on our varsity team."

Nick blinked in surprise. He looked at Noah. Then at me. He examined us up and down.

"We both start too." Noah added.

"What positions?"

"I play short and Jake plays second."

He nodded. "So that's why you got the reaction ball. You obviously need to work on fielding grounders." He gave me a look of pity. "You totally whiffed that slower bouncer earlier."

I focused on my ice cream, feeling more and more embarrassed.

"Don't hold that against him." Noah defended me. "Jake was picked for his superior batting skills. He's not that bad at second base either. A reaction ball doesn't bounce normally at all and he's new to it."

"Ugh!" A grunt from Dave grabbed our attention as we watched him land on the ground, not too far from Kyle, who still hasn't moved.

"Wow. Identical times for identical twins. Crazy." Shawn had already got back up on his feet, looking down at the twins. "You guys should keep practicing that. It'll help in the long run." He walked over to us. "What do you two wanna do? More challenges like this would be fun!"

Nick gave an easygoing grin. "Noah is a shortstop so I figured I could show him a few things too." He looked at me and I looked away. "Jake can watch and learn too."

"Wait." Noah looked up. "You're a shortstop?"

"The starting shortstop for our championship-bound team." Shawn emphasized.