The Hitting Zone

After cleanup and getting to the park, we stretched as the twins started to properly warmup their pitching arms.

Noah was in charge of explaining the rules to me, Julian, and Andy. "Over the line is very simple so don't stress. First off, we split into teams, something the twins already decided on. When we were younger, Dad would be the pitcher to make the teams two versus two, but now that there's a group of us, this is how we'll play: Kyle and Dave alternate pitching just like innings. The rest of us are fielders, and we only have to defend The left side."

"I'm not getting it." Andy stated, looking unimpressed.

"Hold on, I'm not done yet." Noah gestured to the space between second and third base. "Only one infielder and outfielder are allowed. The infielder can't touch the grass and the outfielder can't touch the dirt. To make it fair, the fielder must switch. So say in the first inning, Zeke is in the outfield and Julian is in the infield. In the next inning, they have to switch: Zeke to the infield and Julian to the outfield." He looked at me and Andy. "We'll rotate with the bench. So I'll start in the infield, Andy in the outfield, Jake on the bench. Second inning, I'll move to the outfield, Jake to the infield, and Andy to the bench and then so on."

"Okay, you've got the positioning down, but what about the point of the game?" Julian asked. "What happens if we hit to the right field?"

"It's treated like a foul ball." Noah explained. "We bat in a lineup. If it's a grounder to the infielder it's an out. We don't run in this game."

What a relief.

"Popouts and fly outs are still normal. Three outs per side." Noah continued. "Grounder to the grass is a single. If it rolls past the outfielder it's a double, but if it goes over the outfielder's head, it's a triple. The only way it can be a homerun is if you get it all the way to those bushes." He pointed to bushes that were beyond a normal homerun.

"I'm starting to understand." Andy nodded. "What about walks and strikeouts?"

"No walks, but there are strikeouts." Noah said. "We have a rule that if the twins don't aim for the strike zone, then they have to run full field sprints for every single bad pitch."

"That defeats the purpose of pitchers though..." Andy frowned. "Sometimes pitchers go outside the zone to get a swing and miss."

"The game is called 'over the line' not who is the better pitcher." Noah pointed to the grass. "That's the line. It all evens out. Otherwise I would want to run and push for a double every time the ball hits the grass."

"Does it matter who bats first?" I asked.

"Naturally we'll bat first." Noah declared. "We only have an hour or two to play before we have to go home and take showers." He glanced at Zeke. "Anything else?"

Zeke shook his head. "Any questions and we can just call timeout. It's just a game."

After a couple of innings of playing, I realized that it wasn't 'just a game' like Zeke claimed it to be. It was almost like a battle between life and death. Every close call was argued. Without catchers to frame the twins pitching, it was hard to tell what was a strike or ball. I learned my lesson that it was just better to put the ball into to play no matter if I thought it was out of the zone.

It also became obvious that just using half the field and two players to defend was super difficult. Anytime I had to play the infield position, Julian and Zeke took advantage. What am I saying? Anytime I took the field they would aim for me. In the outfield I had to chase long fly balls or dive at sharp line drives. I was the reason Dave gave up so many bases and runs, but my batting was also the reason we could stay in the game.

Andy's fielding was better than mine, but his infielding couldn't compare to Noah. He just wasn't as daring. His reach and willingness to try diving and sliding also wasn't on the same level as Noah. His batting was on the weak side going up against Kyle, but that isn't something we could fault him for. He wasn't even in high school yet while Kyle has a couple years of playing at a higher level under his belt.

Noah's batting showed a big improvement though. Or maybe it's because he has faced the twins all his life. He was able to get a few good hits with our imaginary runners on base. It was kind of cool to see him stand up against Kyle and get some hits off him. I'm sure it helped with his confidence.

It didn't help us win though. Zeke called the game after who knows how many innings we played. It was time to get home and prepare for Alisha's party.

"Ugh." Andy grunted as he switched from cleats to shoes.

Noah noticed his somewhat depressed mood. "Hey, you didn't do so bad. Show some pride. You've got a few hits off Kyle."

Andy glanced up at Noah, face frozen over with attitude. "I'm not as good as you guys."

Noah was stunned for a second before laughing. "It'd be scary if you were. Don't stress over something small like this. You have all summer. You can join us whenever we go to the cages or practice fielding here. Zeke makes us run most mornings now, but probably not tomorrow since we have that softball game."

Andy gave a small nod.

"I feel like I'm not good enough too." I spoke up, feeling the blood rush to my face. "My running, my fielding, my throwing..."

Noah looked surprised. So did Andy.

"But were you better than before?" Zeke asked out of nowhere making me jump.

I looked up at him.

Zeke smiled. "Are you better at running, throwing, and fielding than last month?"

I gave a weak nod. "I think so..."

"That's good. Keep taking steps towards improving your game." Zeke told me. Then he jerked his thumb to Kyle. "Do you think it's easy on Kyle to give up a hit to you every time you step up to the plate?"

"Hey!" Kyle looked up. "You're not supposed to put others down to help others feel better."

Noah, Julian, and Dave laughed.

Andy looked up at Julian. "Can we join them on their runs and workouts?"

Julian stopped laughing. He looked a little embarrassed. "How about we run on our own? I don't think I want to wake up this early all summer." He saw how Andy's facial expression glazed over. "We won't work any less than them. We'll just get better sleep."

"Shut up." Noah gave Julian a playful shrug. "I want to sleep in too." He looked to Andy. "If it wasn't for the fact that we're taking a summer class, I'm sure we wouldn't work out so early."

That's a lie. Zeke had us working out early since baseball season ended.

Andy seemed to be appeased. "Okay. That makes sense. Julian, we should still run in the mornings before lunch. That way we still have the afternoon to play and practice."

Julian nodded and gave a smile. "Sure." He looked to Zeke. "We can probably arrange a few days together or something. We aren't going anywhere all summer."

"We aren't either...for the most part." Noah said. "Only the twins. They'll be coming and going, but when they're here, we can try and get them to pitch to us."

Kyle stood up and puffed out his chest. "Definitely. I'll come back from each camp even stronger than before. My goal by the end of the summer is to strike Jake out."

I was taken aback. "Me?"

"Of course you!" Kyle nodded. "You're going to be the best batter now that Zeke's gone. If I can strike you out, then I can strike anyone out."

"I bet you won't be able to." Noah smirked.

Kyle threw his glove at him.