The Hitting Zone

Rose left us in the room on our own, needing to go back to work. We helped ourselves to the food laid out, but held back since we knew we would be sharing this room with Maberry's family.

"Do you know how expensive this really is?" I whispered to Rhys so the others wouldn't hear my concern.

Rhys patted me on the shoulder. "Like Dave said, your brother makes more than my dad. What I think is expensive may not be expensive to Jeremy."

I frowned. I didn't want Jeremy to be spending all his money on me. He already did that for Uncle Jack. I'll need to talk to him about this. I like going to games with Noah and everyone, but not if it's going to cost him a lot of money.

"No reason to worry about it now." Rhys added. "Just enjoy the night."

I guess...

Shortly after we got settled in the outdoor seats, we could hear some voices from the inside. Maberry's family must have shown up.

"Hello!" A woman holding a baby came out to greet us. "Which one of you is Jeremy's-" She stopped abruptly at the sight of me. "You must be Jake! You look just like Jeremy."

I blushed and put my head down.

"Jake's a bit shy." Noah stood up and took over. "I'm Noah. This is Rhys, Zeke, Kyle, and Dave."

She gave a small wave. "Hello, everyone. You all can call me April. Mrs. Maberry makes me feel old." She held up her baby. "This is Junior. I also have a four-year-old daughter, EJ. She's with her uncle right now."

The conversation lagged a bit as we didn't know what to say to her.

"Don't mind me." She laughed, a little self-conscious. "If you all need anything, let me know and I'll handle it."

"No, it's alright." Noah answered. "You don't have to wait on us. Sit down and watch the game in peace."

She laughed. "It's fine really. As the oldest one here, I'll be responsible for you guys." She turned at the sound of someone coming into the suite. "Sounds like everyone is here now! Let me introduce my daughter, EJ." She pointed at the little girl being held by a tall young man. Then at the young man. "And this is my brother-in-law, Parker."

Parker gave us a head nod. "Hey." He paused. His gaze rested on Rhys. "I know you from somewhere. Do you play locally?"

Rhys nodded. "Yea, I graduated from St. Francis just this past spring. But I haven't played in over a year."

"Oh." He gave a small smile. "I graduated from Mitty two years back."

Rhys grinned. "Small world."

"That's great that you guys are close in age." April said. "I'll take EJ inside so she can eat before the game starts."

Parker put the little girl down and watched April take her kids inside. A different guy came out, passing the family of three by.

"This is my cousin, Conner. Conner, this is Jeremy Patterson's family." Parker introduced.

Conner gave everyone a friendly smile. "Hello, hello. I've heard a bit from the news, but I'm surprised to see such a big group."

"Jake is Jeremy's actual brother." Noah explained who everyone was. How I was adopted and that Rhys is a friend.

"Crazy complicated." Conner whistled, settling down in the seat. "But most families are like that. It's cool that you guys all play baseball together though."

"Do you play too?" Kyle asked.

Conner shook his head. "Nah, not really."

"He's lying." Parker said plainly. "Conner plays for a community college in the area. Will enter the draft next year."

We all looked at Conner strangely. Why would you lie?

"Hey, hey." Conner said. "I wasn't lying. Compared to the serious players here, my skills can't compare. I'm not on y'all's level." He looked at Zeke. "First round draft pick, right?"

Zeke glanced at him. "I'm going to Stanford."

"That's what they all say." Connor nodded in a knowingly manner.

"I've already started classes and missed the report date." Zeke added.

Connor scrunched up his nose. "What does college have that the pros don't?"

"Time."

"Education."

Zeke and Parker spoke at the same time.

Zeke nodded at Parker. "Yes, I need time too."

"Your stats make you look pro-ready though." Conner said.

Zeke cracked a smile. He gestured at me. "If you're basing it on stats, I know a player with better numbers."

Conner peered at me. "You've got a point. I can't imagine such a small kid in the big leagues."

"You should have seen him at the beginning of the year." Dave laughed. "He was like three inches shorter and twenty pounds lighter. Looked like a fifth grader."

I felt my face heat up again.

"You act like you've never been short or small before." Noah rolled his eyes. Then moved them to Conner. "If you think school isn't any good, why are you in one right now?"

He looked to Parker. "Went to kill some time with my family."

"You go to the same school?" Kyle asked Parker.

He nodded. "I took some time off for an injury then used community college to get back in the swing of things."

Rhys nodded, understanding. "I got hurt as well and had the same idea." He grinned. "But then Zeke here chose Stanford so I had an 'in' I could follow. Plus, getting a ring or two might be nice."

Conner sat up straight and nodded in agreement. "Yes! I wanted a ring too!"

"Did you get it?" Noah asked.

Conner grinned. He pulled out his phone, gave it a few taps, then showed us a picture of him and Parker posing with rings on and a championship hat of some sort on their heads. "JUCO champs. Crazy tournament this past summer."

"Wow."

"That's nice!"

"You must have a crazy good team!"

We spent the rest of the time before the game listening to Conner recount the story of their championship run. He did all the talking, with Parker only adding corrections here and there. Once the game started though, Conner didn't keep up the chitchat and started to focus on the game.

Game six had the best pitcher from each team going tonight. It started tight, few hits, fewer walks, a couple of strikeouts and awesome dives, but in the sixth inning, Jeremy broke through, hitting a ground rule double. Maberry added onto that, hitting a double of his own, allowing Jeremy to score. The following batter also hit a double to score Maberry. 2-0. Pitcher got pulled and the offense stopped there.

The A's held their lead until the top of the ninth. A yankee hit a two run homer to tie it up. We could only groan in frustration. Luckily it was only a tied game. Unfortunately the A's came up empty in the bottom of the ninth. Extra innings, here we go.

Tenth inning was scoreless. So was the eleventh. In the twelfth, Jeremy was the lead off batter. Noah was standing the whole time, yelling his lungs out for the both of us. Jeremy came through, almost as if he could hear Noah's yell for him to hit it out of here. He smack the ball down the right field line. The right fielder tried to make a jump but came up empty. Home run!

"WE'RE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!" Noah jumped and hugged me with one arm, waving his free arm like crazy.