The Hitting Zone

The right fielder got the ball and threw it back in. The second baseman wasn't even concerned about me, and turned all the way around to throw to home plate where Zeke was diving in. His outreached left hand hooked the catcher's ankle while his right hand tagged the plate, while the catcher's tag completely missed him. We got two!

I was about to lift my arms...but something caught my eye in the grass. A familiar piece of wood. I held my breath and looked closely, spotting my bat in the area before third base. Did I throw my bat there? Did I throw my bat at all? I looked down at my hands to see my left was still clutching onto wood. I dropped to my knees.

"Time!" Someone yelled.

My eyes were glued onto the handle of the bat in my left hand. Some of the wood had cut into my hand along the index finger causing some bleeding. I wasn't worried about that though. I felt like my heart was being clenched as I stared at my broken bat. The first bat I owned since my near-death experience. The bat that Mrs. Atkins bought for me after Noah and I caused some trouble at The Cages. It broke just like the first one in The Cages. Just pieces, everywhere.

"Jake. Jake, talk to me." Drew crouched in front of me, holding his trainer's bag and a towel.

I showed him my left hand. "It broke." I started to tear up.

"It's going to be okay. Tell me, does your hand hurt? Do you think you have some splinters stuck in your hand?" Drew was solely focused on the bleeding.

"How is it? Can he go on?" Coach stood over us.

Drew glanced up at him. "It'll take some time to clean up his hand, but physically he can keep playing in my opinion."

"Physically?"

Drew sighed.

"Coach? Can your player continue?" An umpire joined our small meeting.

"He can." Coach said firmly. "We need some time to make sure he doesn't have any splinters and then bandage the small cut. We would like to make a request to put in a courtesy runner."

"Granted. You can take him back to the dugout and send out a runner. We're going to clean up the grass and make sure there isn't any pieces left lying around. Don't want it to cause any other injuries."

Drew gripped my elbow and helped me to my feet, and then guided me back to the dugout. I weakly held what was left of my bat as I silently cried. I couldn't see my teammates through my blurry eyes, but I knew they were giving me space.

"I'm going to take this out of your hands now, Jake. Okay?" Drew told me after sitting me down on the bench. He gingerly took the handle of the bat out of my hand and placed it beside me on the bench.

Drew carefully cleaned up my hand, then pulled out a pair of tweezers. "This may hurt a little, Jake, but it'll be over soon."

At this point, I was starting to feel numb. My tears dried on my face as I sat there like a statue.

"Jake! I got it all!" Noah's yell forced me to turn his way. He was walking into the dugout holding pieces of my bat. He carried it over and placed it with what I had carried in. He started to organize it and reassemble what my bat used to look like. "I figured you could keep it in a shoebox. Like the previous one." He paused, studying my expressionless face. "Jake..."

"Noah." Zeke came over and patted his younger brother on the head. "I'll keep Jake company. You go and try and get Mom or Dad's attention. Jake's going to need a new bat if we plan to win this game."

"You're not going to let him try to use Noah's?" Tanner asked. "Jake can probably do even better with an aluminum bat anyways."

I started to shake, making it impossible for Drew to get the splinters out.

"Jake won't touch a bat like that." Zeke said plainly. He glanced at Noah, hinting at him to go. Noah looked at me before sneaking off to the back fence to try and find his parents in the crowd.

"Jake, I can't get these splinters out with you moving so much." Drew said in frustration.

"No one is going to make you pick up an aluminum bat, Jake." Coach came over. "If we cant find you a wooden bat, we'll get you a pinch hitter. It's going to be okay. We still have to tie up the game if we want you to get another chance to bat anyways. Calm down, Jake."

They'll take me out of the game?

"You did good enough, Jake." Zeke told me. "You got us into the game. We have to do our parts too. Just relax. Don't think so far ahead."

I started to calm down, giving Drew the chance to clean out my hand. I looked at Coach. "Sorry."

Coach looked surprised. "There's no need to apologize to me. In fact, you did great! You drove in two runs and made it to second. The pitcher was so shaken up, he walked Mahki." He gestured to the field.

Sure enough Mahki was on first. Brian was on second. Where I should be.

"Will I be able to go back in?"

"Yes." Coach nodded. "We're using Brian as a courtesy runner. It's something you can only do in little league and high school for an injured baserunner. But, if you don't get back out there for defense then that's it for you. So, what do you say? Do you want to play this out?"

I swallowed a lump. "I'll do my best."

Drew bandaged my hand and taped it down. "You're good to go."

I moved my hand around.

"How does it feel?" He asked. "Too loose? Too tight?"

I shrugged. "It's fine."

"Mom is going to ask the Stanford guys!" Noah came back, smiling. "She said she'll definitely get a wood bat before Jake gets up again."

My shoulders sagged, letting tension, I didn't even know I had, go. What a relief.

"Good. Good." Coach nodded to himself. He glanced at the pitcher on the mound. "Now only if we can tie it up. Two on, one out."