The Hitting Zone

Jason got jammed early in the count, hitting a short fly ball to left field. Mitchell followed it with a weak grounder to short. Two outs and we're back to the top of the lineup. Noah took some swings as he got to the batter's box. Sean moved to the on deck circle while I was in the hole with Garret right beside me.

Noah knocked his bat against his cleats before officially stepping in the box. He eyed the pitcher, holding his bat back steadily. First pitch, low and inside for a called strike. Second pitch had a similar trajectory, but Noah fouled it off for strike two. Third pitch was a high fastball; exactly what Noah was looking for. Noah made perfect contact despite it being above the strike zone. He hit a line drive that dropped way before the right fielder could get to it. A solid single.

Sean moved to the batter's box and I went to the on deck circle. The pitcher was a little restless after giving up the hit to Noah. It didn't help that Noah kept taking a big lead off of first. The pitcher did a check throw twice but couldn't get Noah. His first pitch to Sean was a ball.

He started his second pitch without doing a pickoff attempt. Noah took advantage and started sprinting to second base. The pitcher had no choice but to throw it off the plate for the catcher. The catcher caught the ball and made the big throw to second, but the tag didn't come down in time. Noah successfully stole second. He called time and got up, dusting himself off.

The pitcher wasn't in the right headspace. His third pitch to Sean went wild, hitting Sean in his butt. Hit by pitch. Sean tossed his bat back towards the dugout and jogged to first while rubbing his butt.

Before I could make a move to the batter's box, the opposing Coach came out of his dugout. He went up to the pitcher's mound with the catcher. The pitcher had to give up the baseball and went back to the dugout with his head down. A new pitcher came jogging in from their bullpen.

"Jake." Coach called me back to the dugout.

I turned back and went over. He and Garret were both waiting for me. "Yea?"

"Watch his warmup and tell me what you think." Coach had lowered his voice. "Two on, two out, I really want you to go for it, but I'm fine with just one run scored. Noah's on second so a hard hit single is the minimum."

I kept my eyes on the new pitcher on the mound. The opposing coach had gone back to the umpire off to the side and told him of the change while the pitcher threw a few practice pitches. There wasn't anything special about his style that I could see.

"You can't really tell the speed from practice pitches." Garret muttered.

Speed wasn't really problem for me. I watched a couple more. "I think I can get it out of the park."

Garret and Coach both turned to look me in the eyes.

"How positive are you?" Coach asked.

"Well...chances are, his first pitch will be a fastball. So if I aim for that...pretty positive." I told them.

Garret let out a small laugh. "If you believe, then I believe. Jake doesn't say things he isn't sure of."

Coach patted me on top of the helmet. "Attack early for the insurance runs."

I nodded. Coach gave me a small push forward when the umpire called me to the plate. I picked to bat from the right side against the new pitcher. No particular reason. The guy checked on Noah and Sean at the bases before facing me. He nodded at the catcher, got set, and started his motion.

Like I predicted, the pitcher didn't start off with a breaking ball. Fastball. In the zone. I took a small step and a big swing. I pulled the ball to left field and started running. It was over the fence. I knew it. My teammates knew it. And the spectators knew it.

As I rounded the bases, I could hear my name among the cheers and could specifically point out Rhys. I glanced up after rounding third and saw three young men near Mom and Dad, clapping for me. Jeremy, Zeke, and Rhys. It felt kind of special to see them like that.

Noah pulled me into a headlock as soon as I tagged home plate to make the score 6-0. "That was perfect! You gave that pitcher no time to get going!" He practically dragged me back to the dugout where I accepted a few high fives and compliments.

Noah let go of me when we got to our bags. He was talking a mile a minute about his successful steal when we heard the 'ding' of a bat hitting a ball. We simultaneously turned to see Garret's fly ball get caught by the right fielder near the warning track.

"Too bad, so sad." Noah laughed. "You still got something on Garret today." He slapped my back, making me cough. "Two homers! I have a feeling that we're going all the way this weekend!"

I grinned and nodded in agreement. We took the field under the stadium lights; the bottom of fifth inning got under way. Bryce gave up a single to the first batter up, but we countered with a 6-4-3 double play on the next batter. Bryce ended the inning with a swinging strikeout.

Bryce approached Garret back inside the dugout, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry, Garret."

Garret laughed. "For what?"

Bryce made a face. "Giving up the hit. Ruined our combined no-hitter."

Garret rolled his eyes. "Dude, we're winning. Who cares about a single. Just tie up this game and earn your win. Heck, put it behind you and focus on your at-bat coming up. You should be in the hole, not talking nonsense with me."

Bryce nodded and went to go get his batting gear on.

The top of the sixth started with Korrey, who hit a fly ball to center field. Then Jesse followed it up with a short fly ball that the shortstop was able to track down in the shallow outfield. Bryce was able to put the hit he gave up behind him by getting a single of his own. It didn't amount to much though thanks to Jason's ground ball to short. The shortstop merely flipped it to the second baseman on the bag and ended our offense.

Bottom of the sixth, Bryce kept finding good spots in the zone, giving the other team nothing good to hit. The seventh batter hit a hard grounder, right to Jason at third, who was able to throw him out at first without much difficulty. The eighth batter got jammed and hit a short pop-up in my vicinity. I didn't even have time to feel nervous before making the catch for the second out. Ninth batter hit a normal grounder to Sean at first. He scooped it up and tagged first base before continuing to the dugout.

6-0 going into the seventh.