The Hitting Zone

Top of the second started with Mahki. I sat beside Noah as we watched the bottom half of our lineup get ready.

Seeing the opportunity to talk to Noah, I spoke up. "Hey...did you see that the pitcher only threw Zeke curveballs?"

Noah nodded. "Yea, it's probably a tactic or something."

"What for?"

Noah shrugged. "To try and get Zeke out? What other reason could there be?"

"Does Zeke have trouble with the curve?"

Noah rolled his eyes. "No way..."

"But he just grounded out.."

"That's because you're too slow!" Garret fake punched my shoulder, just knocking on me. "You need to stop being so scared out there, Bambi. You've been working on you're running and sliding so why were you hanging so close to first base?"

Oh, it's because of me.. I slumped against the bench. "Sorry. I thought...Actually I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe it's a bad habit."

"Don't listen to him." Zeke said as he walked by. "I would have been out if he threw to first instead. Don't worry about it. Move on." He didn't stay long before going straight to Coach.

"You must be his favorite." Garret laughed.

Noah chuckled too, but before I could refute there was a loud 'ding' coming from the field. We turned to watch as did the rest of our team.

Mahki and hit a high fly to right field. The corner.

"Go, go, go!" Garret jumped up and yelled, trying to direct the ball.

The right fielder tried chasing it down but the ball dropped into the corner, bouncing off the outfield fence. He ran over, picked it up, and threw it back to the infield.

Mahki, who had been sprinting this whole time was on his way to third. The cutoff man, their second baseman, received the ball, and turned to throw it to third.

Mr. Miller was throwing his hands down to sign to Mahki that he needed to slide. Mahki dove head first at the base and used both arms to hug the base so he wouldn't slide pass it.

"Safe!" The umpire extended his arms.

Our dugout made some noise, cheering for Mahki's leadoff triple.

Julian came up next.

"Just get it to the outfield!" Noah cheered.

Julian complied, hitting a fly ball to left field. As soon as the left fielder caught it, Mahki sprinted off third base and tagged home as the ball was thrown back to the infield. Julian had done a great job hitting the ball far enough so there wasn't a play at the plate. 1-0.

Our dugout welcomed those two back inside and gave out pats and high-fives, as Jason went up for his at-bat.

The pitcher must have been tired or frustrated or both, because on the very first pitch, he nailed Jason with the ball. Luckily, Jason had turned away from the ball and it plunked him on the butt.

Noah laughed and I tried not to join him. It shouldn't be funny when a teammate gets hit.

Jason rubbed his butt pitifully as he jogged to first. Alex moved to the batter's box and Dave to the on deck circle.

Noah reached for his helmet and put it on. He stood up and stretched with his bat in his hands. "Hopefully they'll load the bases for me." He grinned.

"Why?" Garret laughed. "So you could ground into a double play and end our half of the inning?"

Noah shoved him on his way to Coach. "Jerk. Don't jinx me." He went to stand in the hole.

Alex smacked a line drive to center field on a 2-2 count, but the center fielder caught it with ease. Jason wasn't abled to tag up on that at all. Just not enough time.

Garret left me as well, with his bat and helmet to move in the hole, and Noah to the on deck circle.

Dave wasn't the best batter so I didn't feel a need to get ready at all. I think I can count the number of times he has gotten a hit on one hand.

On a 1-2 count, he was able to foul a few off, yet could only produce a grounder to the shortstop in the end.

Everyone came back in order to switch to defense.

"You couldn't even get a walk?" Noah glared at Dave. "This was my chance to redeem myself for my first at-bat."

Dave just smacked Noah's helmet before going to his bag to switch out his gear.

"Hit the cages young man!" Noah earned some laughs after shouting that towards Dave. He came back to me and quickly made the switch.

"Should you really be giving him a hard time right now?" I asked as we took the field.

"Why not?" Noah shrugged. "It's not very often I can upstage my brothers. If you don't do it, then I have to do it when I can. Otherwise they'll grow giant egos and think they're good or something."

I chuckled. "It's not like hitting is his forte."

Noah grinned. "Not my problem. All I know, is that I'm batting better than two of my older brothers."

I rolled my eyes as we split to go to our respective positions. Noah had a point, but not a really good one.

Dave may suck in the batter's box, but what he lacked in hitting, he made up for it in pitching. Not everyone could pitch. And it's even harder to pitch well.

In the bottom of the second, Dave came out strong, getting the first batter up to strikeout on three pitches. He was quick to push the next batter to an 0-2 count, but the batter connected on the next pitch.

I tried to jump for it, but was too short. The ball bounced in the outfield between Zeke and Mahki. Zeke reached first and threw the ball back, straight to Noah at second to prevent the runner from moving forward.

Dave didn't let the hit get to him though, like Kyle would have. He just faced the next batter with the same aggressiveness as before. He struck out the next two batters on just six pitches. That means they were all in the zone and the batters just couldn't do anything to him.

"Okay Noah, better not let us down now." Dave smirked as we walked back to the dugout. "I did my job so you have to do yours."

Noah's lips twitched to fight off the smile. He ignored Dave and got his bat and helmet. He was first up.

Garret and I also got ready and moved.

Noah took his practice swings seriously as he kept an eye on the pitcher. Almost like he was trying to time his swing. Once he got in the batter's box, his whole concentration was on the pitcher. He didn't dig in the box so much and didn't have wandering eyes.

The pitcher started with a curve, but it was a ball. The next pitch was a fastball right down the middle...Noah didn't swing. 1-1. Noah got set once more as the third pitch came. It was slightly high but still obviously within the zone. I clenched my own bat, praying that Noah would swing on such an easy pitch.

'Ding!'

The ball soared over the first baseman's head and dropped before the right fielder. Noah dropped his bat and sprinted to first, making it there safely.

As Garret moved to the box, Noah stood on first base with pride, looking towards our dugout. He made eye contact with Dave and stuck out his tongue. I laughed and moved to the on deck circle.