The Hitting Zone

Dave only had one more out to get. Unfortunately for him, Zeke was the next batter. Mitchell got up and jogged to the mound for a small meeting. Noah waved for the rest of us infielders to go in as well. We gathered on the mound.

"It's your call, Dave." Mitchell said, not bothering to cover his mouth as he spoke. "You can face him or we can walk him and face Kelvin, who is 0-2 for today."

Dave grinned and squinted. "I'll take him on. I'm not one to back down from a fight."

"That's how it should be." Noah nodded in agreement.

Sean shrugged. "At most, he can only score one run. We'll still have the lead."

Jason let out a small laugh. "Yo. Don't jinx him like that."

Dave wasn't bothered. "I didn't get to pitch against him last week. Might as well see if I improved at all." He waved us off the mound, sending us back to our positions.

Dave looked rather relaxed on the mound despite his opponent. He got set and faced Zeke head on. He started with a fastball, low and inside. Zeke let it pass for a called strike. The second pitch was high, slightly still outside. Zeke didn't take the bait. Ball one. The third pitch came inside again, but a bit higher. Zeke fouled it down the line for strike two. Dave stared him down before the fourth pitch. He was going to face him. I could tell.

My stomach sank. If I could tell, then Zeke could definitely tell. I really wanted to yell out to Dave, but I froze as Dave started his motion. He threw a pitch with a little movement like it was dropping, but it didn't fool Zeke. He made perfect contact and sent the ball flying. Straight center. I turned to watch. Garret chased it to the fence, but it was just for show. He didn't have a chance at it.

Zeke ran the bases with a quick jog, tagging home plate after one last glance at Dave. On the mound, Dave was weirdly pretending to throw a ball, like he was trying to get the arm movement right.

"Dave!" Mitchell called for his attention before throwing him a new baseball.

Dave caught it and got set again. He wasn't upset about Zeke's homerun at all. Not even a frown. He bounced back well, getting Kelvin to strike out to end the inning.

We went back to the dugout.

"Not a bad outing, Dave." Coach greeted. "You're done for the game." His eyes roamed the dugout. "Luke, you pinch hit for the number six spot. Stretch while you're in the hole and make sure to take some quality practice swings in the circle."

Luke nodded and started to prepare. He would be the third up this inning behind Sean and Korrey.

I went to sit with Noah. Both of us were watching Dave and Garret at the end of the dugout. There was no bickering or joking, just a quality discussion in low tones with Dave occasionally fake pitching. They looked at their fingers a lot, and eventually picked up a baseball.

"I think Dave is trying out a breaking ball." Noah said.

I nodded. "I know. The last pitch to Zeke was his first attempt in a game. I think. I don't know if he tried in his other scrimmages."

Noah hummed. "Guess he thinks he can't just rely on speed and accuracy."

"Is that bad?" I asked.

"Depends on what he's trying to throw." Noah told me. "Some breaking balls can really mess you up if you're halfhearted. Or if you don't take care of yourself. There's a lot that goes into breaking balls. The way you hold the ball, the way you throw, those are just the basics."

I nodded. I knew a little by now. We've seen Rhys in action. When he was trying out his slider, there was a lot that went into it. Even after practicing for a such a long time, he didn't have perfect control of it. "Pitching is tough."

"No kidding." Noah sighed. "Though, I wonder what Dave is trying out?"

"Should be a sinker?" I wrinkled my nose. "Rhys throws a slider right? And that has some movement vertically and horizontally. Dave looked like he was trying to get it to drop."

"Maybe a forkball." Noah said thoughtfully. "Or he could be trying to put more emphasis on his two-seamer. There's also a split-finger fastball. Those are all considered types of sinkers. Tricky stuff: pitching." He laughed. "Maybe catchers have a better idea of this compared to us."

I nodded. I didn't know the name of pitches very well. I just knew I could control my swing and I could see the pitch clearly.

Bottom of the sixth. Sean grounded out to third base. Korrey smacked a hard grounder to short, but was still out. Luke made the most out of his at-bat, earning a single off of Bryce. Nothing came of it though when Logan hit into a fielder's choice, Luke out at second. End of the inning.

Luke was pulled just as quickly as he was put in. Coach used that same spot for Kyle as he came jogging in from the bullpen.

Kyle was getting more comfortable in his new windup and it showed. Only Michael got a touch on his pitches, hitting a short grounder my way for the first out. Then it was back to back looking strikeouts for Kyle. Jesse and Dalton didn't stand a chance. But I guess that's why they're playing with the graduates.

"Looks good, feels good." Kyle proclaimed as he strolled into the dugout. He headed straight for Dave. "Hey! Saw that your breaking ball didn't have good results. Do you want to go for speed like me?"

"Nah." Dave waved him away. "Zeke would own you just as easily as me and Garret. Fastball won't cut it."

Kyle grinned. "Who says I would face him with a fastball?" He turned to look for Mitchell. "Where's my catcher?"

Mitchell, who just put his helmet on after taking off all that catcher gear, looked at Kyle. "Uh...I'm getting ready to bat."

"It can wait." Kyle plopped down on the bench near Alisha. "Let me see the stats for Dave and Garret."

Noah rolled his eyes. "Pitchers."

I chuckled.

Jason got his second hit of the game: a single to right field. It didn't amount to anything when Mitchell hit into a double play though. With one out to go, the other team still made a pitching change since we got back to the top of the lineup. Noah and I both stood by the on deck circle, watching Brian warm up.

"I wonder why they have a different setup for their pitchers." Noah mumbled.

I shrugged. "To give them a chance to face everyone in the lineup at least once?"

Noah wasn't convinced. "Nah. It has to be something else."

"Coach might have known that the twins and Garret would be restless if they didn't get a fair share of the game?" I suggested. "Everyone gets a chance to face Zeke, but also get more into the rhythm of the game?"

"Wouldn't it be funny if Kyle gave up a homerun to Zeke too?" Noah said with a smile.

"Kyle says he has a plan though." I reminded him.

"Yea? Like Dave's plan worked so well?" Noah snorted.