The Hitting Zone

Tuesday's finals were the easiest: History and Math. Seeing the twins focusing on their papers and their pencils moving steadily really eased my apprehension on how they would do. After school, we studied for a few hours before getting ready to leave at 5pm for our game. Noah has already passed out the address of the girls to Zeke so he could look up a route before we go.

I chose to sit in the very back, while Noah sat beside Zeke up front, leaving the middle row empty for the girls. We picked up Kaylee first since she was the closest.

"Are you comfortable back there, Jake?" She asked, glancing back at me.

I nodded. It beats being squished in the middle row.

"Hey, wasn't that your sister's car in the driveway?" Noah asked, turning to face us. "Why didn't she just take you and KJ today?"

Kaylee shook her head. "It's better to get used to you guys taking us. Marie will be busy most of the summer."

"It's no problem." Zeke spoke up.

The next stop was Alisha's house. It was huge. I remember Noah talking about how she was better off than his family and I could tell by the house. Never mind the fact that she also has a pool and wanted to throw a party for the whole grade on Friday.

She gave a friendly smile as she got in the car. "Hey guys, Kaylee. Thanks for the ride Zeke."

"It's no problem." Zeke repeated.

"Your house is so amazing." Kaylee sighed.

Alisha gave a small smile. "It's kind of a waste for just the three of us though. It doesn't bug me unless I'm home alone and then I start to think that I'm starring in a scary movie."

Kaylee laughed. "Well, you can invite me over anytime. I'm free all summer so we can just laze around together in your big house."

"You don't have softball practice or anything?" Alisha asked.

Kaylee started to explain how she was mostly going to be on her own this summer too.

We picked up KJ last, pulling up to an older looking apartment complex. She looked slightly embarrassed as she got in the car, pushing Kaylee to the middle seat. "Sorry for the trouble."

"It's no problem." Zeke repeated once more.

My lips twitched. It seemed like that's all he knew how to respond to girls.

The trip to the field was full of chatter from the girls as they talked about finals, summer plans, and clothes. It was very strange to listen in when I didn't have a choice. It was like an inner-look on what girl friendships look like.

Not much different than Noah and I. Or talks from the baseball team. They all talk about school too. And baseball obviously. But occasionally the guys would talk about clothes too, especially if it was baseball clothes.

At the field, we spotted similar bright blue shirts and knew that Julian and Andy had beat our group. We joined them and exchanged greetings. Mr. Miller and his friend, Stu, weren't that far behind. All of us put our bags in the dugout and began a relaxed warmup.

It was weird for me to just slowly jog around, throw the ball with Noah, and then return to the dugout before the game officially started. There was no batting or fielding practice. It was very informal.

Zeke posted our lineup:

1 P KJ

2 C Andy

3 3B Kaylee

4 CF Zeke

5 2B Jake

6 LF Julian*

7 1B Mr. Miller

8 RF Stu

9 SS Noah

10 Alisha (bench)

"We can change it up as we go." Zeke told us. "If you guys want a break or anything, we just have to let the umpire know that there's a change. He won't be keeping track strictly."

"What's the asterisk for?" Noah asked.

"Designates the homerun hitter." Zeke explained. "Today, it'll be up to Julian to hit the homeruns. If anyone else hits over the small fence, it's an out."

"Why do I have to bat near the bottom?" Noah pouted. "Doesn't that mean less at-bats for me?"

"We'll change it every game." Mr. Miller patted Noah on the head.

"I'm just happy that you're not making me play right away." Alisha laughed. "If the other team isn't too competitive, I don't mind going in later."

"Look at those old geezers." Stu commanded, making our eyes drift to the other dugout. He wasn't wrong to call them old. The youngest one there was easily in his 50s. "Today will be a walk in the park." He looked at KJ. "Don't bother throwing it so hard. I can tell with a glance that this is a 'just-for-fun' team."

KJ looked disappointed. "Okay."

Mr. Miller laughed. "Don't be so sad. There aren't so many teams like this. After all, first place has prize money. Let's just have some fun tonight!"

"Don't bring up prize money that we can't even have." Noah glanced at Zeke. "It's all your fault. Stupid rules."

Zeke laughed before leaving the dugout to meet with the umpire. He shook hands with the other team's representative and then with the ump. They exchanged batting orders and flipped a coin for who would get to bat first.

Zeke came back. "We bat in the bottom half of the inning. The ump did say that if there's a ten run difference by the end of the fifth inning, he'll call game."

"Boooo. What a downer." Noah jeered.

"He's so lazy." Andy agreed.

Julian shook his head. "It's just the rules. The umps get paid a flat rate for something recreational like this. They don't get paid by the hour so why would they want to stay for longer?"

"True." Kaylee nodded. She put her glove on. "Well, today looks easy so let them hit, KJ!"

KJ sighed. "Okay..."

"It's good practice." Andy told her, putting on the catcher's gear. "It doesn't mean anything if you can strikeout a bunch of Grampas."

Everyone agreed with that statement. Andy might come off a little blunt and rude, but it wasn't with mean intentions.

Plus, this old persons team really wasn't a match for us. Even with KJ letting them put the ball in play, we destroyed them 26-4. I would have felt guilty, but the other team didn't seem to mind the score at all. They just laughed together and at one another as the game went on. Whenever Julian would hit a homerun they would give their pitcher a hard time. Whenever they made an error, they laughed it off. It was a very encouraging sight to see and made the game more entertaining.

We went with their rhythm too, laughing at little blunders. Including when it was my turn in the outfield and I tripped over thin air. It didn't make me feel so embarrassed since it was all in good fun. Even Alisha could laugh at herself when she shied away from a high fly, or if she whiffed, letting the ball go under her glove. By the end of the fifth inning, most of us were in stitches, getting an ab workout in from laughing so much.