The Hitting Zone

I somewhat expected Coach to tell us his decisions on the roster during or after a practice, but Noah explained that it would be awkward for those that didn't make the cut. Coach would have the lists posted outside his office during or after school.

Tuesday we would start practicing with our assigned teams. Even though I had a good idea that I would still be on Varsity with Noah and the twins, I was still excited to see where everyone else would go and to find out who would be on my team.

Coach got the lists out early because by lunchtime someone had taken a picture of the lists and forwarded it by text.

Pitchers:

Garret Knudsen

David Atkins

Kyle Atkins

Bryce Finn

Brian Swoope

Joey Henderson

Matt Dalquist

Tyler Larsen

Robbie Harwell

Marshel Butler

Outfield:

Tanner Erickson

Korrey Alvarrez

Jesse Shipman

Logan Porter

Infield:

Noah Atkins

Jake Atkins

Jason Morris

Sean Isner

Mitchell Torres

Dalton Nelson

Oscar Garcia

I was familiar with everyone on the new varsity team, on some kind of level whether that be a lot or a little.

"I kind of expected that Joey would make the team, but why Marshel?" Noah said with a twisted expression. We both took out our lunches after sitting at our usual spot. "Did he stand out at all when he faced you these last couple of weeks?"

I shook my head. If anything, I tried my best to make him look worse.

"I feel like Coach is testing us." He bit into his sandwich. "Us...or him. Coach also left two open spaces on the roster so there's room for change."

I shrugged, helpless.

Noah chuckled. "Well, we can just ignore him. We don't usually do much with the pitchers anyways."

"What about the other two sophomores?" I asked, mentioning Logan and Dalton. I didn't know either of them well, just vaguely. Logan had won the 'most improved' award from the JV team before summer break. Dalton had won 'most improved' from the freshmen team. I think Coach could be testing them too. Maybe we're all being tested. Official tryouts may have ended, but it felt like Coach was still grading us on our performances.

"They're okay." Noah told me. "I think Coach has good vision. Dalton went from nearly not making the freshmen team to varsity within a year. Logan moved from the freshmen team to JV starter after the midseason rearrangement. They're both hardworking. Focused on baseball and not being jerks." He paused to swallow some food. "They were at your birthday party. At Alisha's."

I rubbed my nose, embarrassed that I didn't remember.

"The team looks good." Noah nodded and swiped his phone to look at the next page. "I wonder how Andy did. I kind of think he deserves a spot on varsity more than this other freshman, Oscar." He went through the next list. "Yep! JV! Like I thought!"

"Is he the only freshman on JV?" I asked.

"Nah." Noah shook his head. "I see a couple of others. Do you remember Max? He's a pitcher."

I nodded slowly, having some kind of impression of him.

"Too bad our least favorite classmate didn't get cut."

"Who? Austin?"

Noah sighed. "Enemy number one. Oh well. Out of sight, out of mind."

Noah and I went over the three rosters, making a few comments here and there while we ate lunch. After lunch we had class with Alisha and Kaylee, and used the free time in class to go over the rosters again.

"We got our rosters too." Kaylee spoke up. "No surprises."

"Still relying on Marie to carry you guys?" Noah joked.

Kaylee raised an eyebrow. "You guys rely on Jake."

"Jake doesn't hit and pitch." Noah rebutted.

The two bickered back and forth like normal until it was time to split ways and go to our last class of the day. After school, the twins took us to The Cages, choosing to spend the afternoon batting instead of working on their pitching. It was a rare sight to see Kyle here, but it soon became a comedy show as Dave showed him up at every speed. The twins were no longer similar players; they each had their own style on the mound and at the batter's box.

Tuesday morning, the twins parked in our old spot near the Varsity field. From now on...we were back. Mr. Miller showed up in a timely manner to take Noah and I up to the school.

"Has Coach picked a captain yet?" Noah asked him during the ride.

Mr. Miller glanced at him. "Not yet. The plan is to watch how you all interact with your new teams. It's not like last year, where we already had a captain returning to take charge."

"Zeke was a good captain." I spoke up for him.

"The best I've seen." Mr. Miller agreed.

Noah didn't say anymore on the topic about captains to Mr. Miller. As we got to our lockers though, he brought it up again. "Do you think I would be a good captain?"

I nodded almost immediately. "Yea. Definitely."

Noah let out a small laugh. "I shouldn't have asked you. You're biased." He thought about it. "So are the twins. And it's a little awkward to ask anyone on the team. That would make it seem like I'm campaigning to be captain."

"I think you act like a captain during games." I pointed out, trying to comfort him without sounding 'biased'.

Noah rubbed the back of his neck. "That's because I'm serious about winning. I don't know how to act like that during practice because you're with the team. In practice, it's us versus us. Not us versus the other team."

I shrugged, unable to help him.

After school we walked down to the car to switch out our backpacks for our baseball bags. Then headed for the Varsity locker room by the field. Noah and I went to our old spot, getting baseball pants out of bags. I took a deep breath and hurried to change. My shirt was okay to practice in so I only had to do that little bit. I looked around to see if any of the guys were looking at me, but everyone in here were too busy talking.

I caught Noah smiling at me. "See? That wasn't so bad." He bent down to put his socks and cleats.

It really wasn't so bad. I got my cleats on too and tied my laces as my heart rate came back down to earth.

Noah and I joined a few others heading for the dugout. We spread out our bags and pulled out waters and gloves, getting ready for practice. The dugout filled up quickly, but there was still no sign of the coaches.

Garret frowned and looked around. "Coach and them must be held up or something. Let's go to the outfield and start our warmup. No slacking. Just because we made it to the roster the first time, doesn't mean Coach will keep you."

With Garret taking the lead, the rest of us followed. It had been awhile since we ran through the old warmup. With less people, it was easier to do the dynamic stretching. I had actually forgotten a few and had to look at Noah to copy his movements.