The Hitting Zone

After most of the food was gone, Zeke stood up and commanded everyone's attention. He grabbed the stack of papers and started to pass them out to everyone, but Noah and I. "The paper on top is our schedule. Time, location, and opponent. I know some of you will be needing rides so we'll have to coordinate accordingly."

"KJ and I will need rides to almost every game." Kaylee told him plainly. "Marie won't be able to give me rides all the time. Noah said you'll be able to give us rides?"

Zeke nodded.

"I'd like a ride too!" Alisha spoke up. "My parents work a lot so they probably won't get to pitch in a whole lot."

Zeke nodded again. "Anyone else?"

Julian shook his head. "I'll be able to drive me and my brother." He glanced at the schedule. "Very close parks so it won't be too troublesome."

Mr. Miller and his friend, Stu, didn't need to say anything. They were adults with their own cars.

"Shouldn't we be more worried about picking out positions?" Andy asked, speaking to the group for the first time. He didn't bother looking up from his phone though.

Julian looked embarrassed, but Zeke didn't mind the interruption. "Yes, we'll go over that too. Why don't you start? What can you play?"

Andy looked up for once, making eye contact with Zeke. "Anywhere."

"Even pitcher?" Kaylee tried to hide a smile.

Andy glanced at her. "It's adult softball. I can throw the ball underhanded. It's not difficult."

KJ blushed.

Kaylee lost the smile. "Excuse you?"

"He doesn't mean competitively." Julian intervene. "He's not saying that he'll be good at every position. Just very versatile." He looked at Zeke. "Me too. I'm not picky."

Mr. Miller laughed. "Unlike you kiddos, I'm very picky. Don't be thinking I can run around all over in the outfield. Catcher is also out of the question. I don't want to hurt my knees."

"You're really like an old man." Noah laughed. "So only first base for you?"

Mr. Miller laughed. "That or the bench. I'm not too picky."

"You don't want to play..?" Noah asked.

"I like batting. That's good enough for me."

Noah was confused. "Can you bat without playing defense? Like just a pinch hit appearance?"

Andy sighed. "Doesn't look like you know much about adult softball." He looked down at his phone. "All players in attendance get to bat. They don't have to play defense."

Wow. So he knows?

"Correct." Zeke said. "Minimum of players we need at all time is eight. Everyone will have to bat. So let's learn a little more about positioning." He looked at Stu. "What do you think?"

Stu grinned. "I'm good with being in the outfield. Or first base. I'm a little more flexible than this man, but don't blame me for an error or two."

"I can do anything, but pitch." Kaylee stated.

"Me too!" Noah echoed. "But shortstop is where all the action is at so let me play there!"

Zeke moved on from them to me. "What about you? Want to try out other positions?"

I shrugged weakly. "Second base is all I know." I recalled the tripping in the outfield during midseason tryouts. "Preferably not the outfield."

Zeke nodded and faced KJ. "I understand that you're a pitcher? Do you want to try out any other positions?"

KJ shook her head lightly. "I'm not really interested, but I can play in the outfield. I really just want to work on my pitching this summer. It'd be good training for me."

"Awesome!" Noah gave her two thumbs up, making her blush. "We'll be counting on you."

Zeke looked at our last teammate, Alisha. "Well?"

She looked embarrassed. "Uh, well I don't have experience playing. I told Noah I'd be okay with sitting on the bench. That, or the outfield. Preferably somewhere that isn't important?"

"Every position is important." Andy didn't look up as he pointed out the flaw in her statement.

"We can practice a bit to see what you like." Noah offered, ignoring Andy. "This is just for fun anyways. Just a way to stay fit."

Alisha looked grateful and smiled. "Yea, sure."

"When?" Andy asked. "First game is Tuesday."

"Don't worry about it." Noah shot back.

"Moving on..." Zeke steered the conversation. "The other two papers stapled together are the basic rules. Nothing too confusing. Everyone gets to bat, and we have to stick to the batting order. Three outs and change. Seven innings. Still tied, we go to extra innings." He paused. "Something to note though...only one of us will be allowed to hit homeruns."

I looked around and felt better that I wasn't the only one who didn't understand. Even Kaylee and KJ who played softball, didn't understand.

Mr. Miller was different though. He laughed. "Count me out. These old bones can't carry a ball that far."

Stu laughed. "Same here. I'm good at hitting grounders."

"I don't understand. What do you mean by that?" Kaylee asked.

"It's slow-pitch. Almost a lot of players can hit a homerun." Andy spoke up. "That'd be gameover real quick. So they make it harder. Anyone who isn't the designated homerun hitter, hits one over the fence, gate or whatever, will count as an out." He looked at Zeke. "That's too boring. No thanks."

Zeke nodded. "Exactly. We can change it up every game, but I want to know who can or will participate?"

"There's no way I can do that." Alisha said.

"Why not let Jake do it?" Noah patted me on the shoulder. "He's so good. I'm sure every at-bat will be a homer."

Zeke shook his head. "You, maybe. No to Jake. He's one of the few that we can count on to get on base."

"I don't think I can hit a homerun at will." Kaylee made a face. "Can you put me under maybe? Like maybe after a few games when we get the hang of it, I can volunteer later?"

"Sure." Zeke looked at Julian.

Julian grinned. "I don't mind practicing my power hitting. Even if it's for softball. Count me in."

Zeke nodded, writing down the two names. He looked back at Noah. "Well?"

"I'll give it a go." He flexed his arms. "Have to make it challenging somehow."

"That's not challenging at all." Andy said. "It's more challenging to get a hit in such a small field."

Noah frowned and looked like he was going to say something to Julian's brother. But Zeke's glare made Noah turn away, unwilling to face the kid that kept talking back.

"I don't mind trying..." KJ said, surprising me. She didn't look like the type that could hit a homer. She looked up at Zeke. "But, wouldn't it be better if we just had you to hit homeruns all the time instead?"

Zeke shook his head. "Like Jake, I'll be working on getting hits. I know I have power. I would like to work more on my placement."

"If we don't run into any good pitchers, it would be pointless." Andy told him.

Zeke nodded. "There might be a team or two that does this for fun. Their pitching will be easy and might even be a simple underhand throw. But like us, some teams might have a real pitcher." He looked at Mr. Miller. "Want to share some?"

Mr. Miller chuckled. "You kids might be imagining just a bunch of old fogies just playing around, but some teams are really competitive and will even invite ex-college athletes to play with them. Or maybe they bond at work over their old college days and decide to put a team together. I've seen it all. You'll never know what to expect."

Andy wasn't bothering with his phone after that. He was focused on Mr. Miller and actually looked...eager. This kid wasn't so simple. He knew the rules, doesn't want to be a homerun hitter, and can play anywhere? I wonder...if he researched this beforehand...?