The Hitting Zone

"The ALCS starts on Saturday." Noah told me, looking at his phone. "The A's get to be home for game one. Then travel to New York on Sunday, then stay for three straight away games: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Off Thursday, play game five on Friday, if they need to. Potential game six would be Saturday and game seven would be Sunday."

"It's a seven-game series." I stated, understanding that they might only have to play four games. Or all seven. It just depends. "Do you think the A's can win?"

Noah nodded. "Of course I do!"

I smiled.

The rest of the school week flew by, with the only excitement coming from Friday's practice. We scrimmaged and then I got to face a few of the pitchers afterwards. After a month of this, most of the regular players stopped trying to pitch to me.

"You feel any improvements among those repeat challengers?" Coach asked me afterwards.

I unlaced my cleats and put on my regular shoes. "Not really." I paused. "Well, I don't give too much of a chance for them to throw more than a pitch or two. Do you want me to?" I looked up at him.

Coach shook his head. "No. Just checking to see if you saw anything special that I couldn't."

I gave a small shake of my head. I felt like most of my challengers were freshmen and sophomores. Not to bash on their skill due to age, but I just think the upperclassmen have more of an advantage when it comes to pitching. They're physically better all around.

Coach let out a small sigh. "Don't worry about it then. When the fall sports end at the start of November, we'll start seeing some more players joining us. I'll pick out the last challenge date to be right before thanksgiving break. I'm sure that'll motivate some of the older boys. Especially if they aren't sure if they'll make the varsity roster."

"Okay." I nodded, happy to hear that there would be some changes next month.

"Have you and Garret faced one another yet?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Our weekends haven't really lined up." I was either gone or he was busy. "I told him we could just do it here on Fridays, but he said he didn't want to embarrass me."

Coach let out a short laugh. "That kid..."

"You're not talking about me, are you?" Noah had walked over to join us.

"No. Garret." I told him.

"What about him?"

I shrugged and looked at Coach.

Coach waved his hand around. "Don't worry about it. I'll have a talk with him to see what he's been doing. Get on out of here and enjoy your weekend."

"Bye, Coach." I waved after getting my bag on my shoulder.

"See ya on Monday!" Noah called out to his back.

Coach waved again but didn't look back.

Noah and I left the field and joined the twins at the car. Even though Jeremy had a home game tomorrow night, we decided not to go this weekend. Mom and Dad had a lot of work to catch up on and just couldn't make the drive. It didn't help that Zeke and Rhys had a school thing going on so they couldn't meet up with us either.

Jeremy said it's better not to force things and just see if they'll have to play a game five next weekend at home. Of course Noah took offense to that, because it meant that the A's would have to lose a game.

Game one on Saturday went really well though, with Jeremy going 3-3 at the plate, hitting another homerun this postseason. The A's won 6-4. Sunday, they traveled to New York while we treated it like any other day. The twins worked on their pitching with Noah acting as their catcher, then Dave would drive us to The Cages. Kyle would use his free time differently, visiting with Marie or whatever.

With the next few games being held in New York, it meant that the games would start 4pm our time. Unfortunately Coach wasn't about to let us cancel practice for the whole week. He did take pity on us though and ended early Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We would get home and rush to shower, then gather in the living room, usually joining the game somewhere around the third inning.

Monday was a tough loss for the A's, losing 1-4. Noah was a mix of happy and angry. Happy that Mom and Dad could possibly take us to the Friday home game, but angry that the A's couldn't come up offensively. His anger only amplified when the A's won both game three and four by big blowouts.

"They could have swept them!" Noah complained Thursday morning in our chemistry class. Today the A's and Yankees would be traveling back to Oakland to wrap up the series. "If they had just scored a few more runs in game two..."

"You're still on about that?" Kaylee rolled her eyes.

"Yes! I am! So what?" He slouched in his seat and leaned forward on the table in a lazy manner. "We could already be headed for the World Series, but noooo, we have to play a game five."

Kaylee looked to me. "Aren't you guys going to tomorrow's game?"

I nodded. "Yea, we're going to leave school early again like we did two weeks ago."

"Are you staying the night there again?" She asked.

I nodded again. "By the time the stadium clears out, it's already so late. Dad says it's just safer not to force the long drive. Plus, we have friends to stay with."

Kaylee looked to Noah. "It sounds like you don't want to go. Can I have your ticket?"

"No way!" Noah sat back up with more energy.

Kaylee laughed. "That's what I thought. You're such a baby sometimes."

"Only when it comes to the A's." I added to defend my friend. I scratched my nose before looking at Kaylee. "Did you want to go to the game? If I knew, I would have asked Jeremy for more tickets."

"It's fine." Kaylee told me. "Like you said, the drive is long. My parents wouldn't be okay with me staying the night with a bunch of boys either."

"Yea, your parents are real psychos." Noah snorted.

Kaylee shrugged. "It's the hand I was dealt. At least they aren't-" She stopped herself, glancing my way.

Noah made a face. "Yea, there are worst parents out there. Sorry."

Kaylee shrugged.

I knew they were sensitive around me when it came to bad or crazy parents, but I was okay for the most part. I have the Atkins for parents now. They're the best.

Friday, Mom pulled us from school early again. We packed up the car once more and ate lunch before hitting the road. Meeting at the Johnson's house again, it kind of felt like déjà vu. We hung out at their house for awhile before hitting the road in two separate cars. Somehow traffic was even worse than before, taking over an hour just to reach the parking lot. It took another thirty minutes to pay for parking and to get a spot. They were organized, but it was just so busy.