The Hitting Zone

Monday morning was hectic. Our first school morning sharing a room with the twins led to an early shouting match. I stayed under the covers for too long, listening to Kyle and Noah arguing over who should get to use the bathroom first.

Dad came in to break it up. "Okay, that's enough." It got a little quiet. "Noah and Jake can use the hallway bathroom still. That means the twins are still responsible for their own bathroom." There were some complaints, but Dad shut them down. "Nope. Don't want to hear it. You're all old enough to be working on your own conflict resolution. If I need to intervene like this, then the final verdict is in my hands." He paused. "Someone get Jake out of bed. If you guys are late, I won't be writing you a note to excuse it."

"Ugh." The three complained.

Noah pulled my comforter away. "Come on, Jake. Time for school."

I let out a small groan of my own, but got moving. Washed my face. Brushed my teeth. Then started to bundle up to face the cold January morning. I double checked my baseball bag to ensure that it had my athletic wear, cleats, glove, bat, and running shoes. Just in case.

Dave laughed at the sight of me coming downstairs. "Aren't you a bit too warm with all those layers on, Jake? You know they have heating at school, don't you?"

I pursed my lips. "Half of my classes don't turn on the heating."

"They must like the cold." Mom gave me a small smile. "You wear what you think is best. Worst case, you'll put your coat in your locker."

I nodded and sat down to eat breakfast. We were in a rush with the small delay so I couldn't fill up. I grabbed an extra bagel to eat on the way to school. The twins decided to keep the rule of whichever one drove us to school, the other would get to drive us home. It was as fair as it could be, sharing driving time with your twin.

Kyle mumbled as he got settled in the passenger seat. "Zeke never had to split driving time with us even though we had our licenses."

"Zeke is the oldest." Noah pointed out.

"By mere months." Kyle scoffed.

"A solid year." Noah rebuked.

Kyle turned around to glare at him. "Can you not?"

Noah shrugged. "I'm just stating the facts."

"Just wait. You'll hate having to share drive time with Jake."

"No thanks." I spoke up, but kept my eyes closed, leaning against the window.

"Jake, you don't want to learn how to drive?" Dave asked, currently driving us.

"Not interested." I answered.

Noah laughed. "Don't worry. I'll chauffeur you around. Anywhere you want to go. We'll be able to go to The Cages everyday without complaints."

"We're pitchers. We don't need to do batting practice everyday." Kyle stressed.

"And I'm not a catcher so I don't need to catch for you guys every day." Noah shot back. He had helped the twins for a couple of days, catching their bullpen sessions, and he never lets them forget it.

"Like Dad said earlier, we should work on our own conflict resolution." Dave said, trying to sound mature.

"What are you suggesting?" Noah asked, suspicious.

"I say you let us get some extra bullpen sessions in on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In exchange, we'll go right to The Cages after practice on Mondays and Wednesdays. At least for the rest of January until games start." Dave rolled out his proposal.

I cracked an eye open to glance at Noah. He was already looking at me. Noah understood my interest right away. He looked forward at the twins. "Do I have to catch for the both of you on both days? It's not like you have to pay for us after all. You're just drivers."

Kyle's lips twitched. "You're so annoying."

"Is that a deal or not?" Noah asked.

Kyle and Dave stayed silent until the car pulled into the school parking lot. Dave was the one to answer. "Fine, but we'll only stay an hour at The Cages. We still have to get home before dinner after all."

"Okay, deal." Noah sold his catching services happily. I bet he would have done it for less, like an extra cookie or two.

Dave parked in the usual spot by the fields and then headed to school with Kyle. Noah and I waited for Mr. Miller to show up in his golf cart.

Noah's eyes were locked on the varsity field. He took a deep breath in and slowly let it out. "This season will be different without Zeke, but I don't think we can lose. With Garret and the twins on the mound, I can't see them giving up a bunch of runs. And with you blasting out homers, this season will be our best yet. We'll go completely undefeated. Not one loss. Let Zeke see how we handled the season without him."

My lips twitched. "Yea, as long as no one gets hurt this time around."

"Bryce and Brian are waiting in the wings." Noah shrugged, not caring too much about his own brothers. He pulled me closer, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. "And I'll keep a close eye on you to make sure you don't get hurt."

I grinned, feeling more awake as we talked about the upcoming season.

Mr. Miller showed up and gave a small honk with his golf cart. "You brats still aren't walking to school? You're halfway through your sophomore year."

"But who else would you talk to in the mornings?" Noah smiled and got in next to him.

I sat in the back. "Good morning."

Mr. Miller took us up. "I heard from Coach about your grandmother. I'm sorry for your loss."

"Yea...it was unexpected." Noah sighed. "On the bright side, our Grampa moved in with us, but it's weird to know we won't be able to see her anymore."

"She was really nice." I added.

"Best grandparents around." Noah said.

The mood was a bit somber as Mr. Miller dropped us off at the front of the school. "Didn't mean to bring you boys down like that. I just wanted you to know that I'm thinking of you kids. Be good in school."

"Thanks Mr. Miller." Noah and I said together.

He left us. Our first day back at school seemed to be a mix of 'hellos' and 'welcome back' and 'sorry for your loss'. Gramma's passing was still relatively recent and it was nice to know that so many cared about our feelings on the matter.

Even at practice after school, a lot of the guys said some words of consolation. Coach addressed us as a small group too.

"If any of you need a second, take a second." Coach said, looking at each of us in the eyes. "I understand what it's like losing a family member. Even if extended family. Death and grief don't just last a minute or two. We have a month's worth of practice before Tulare Invitational. If you need a mental health day, just let me know."

"I'd feel better just keeping busy, Coach." Noah stated.

Coach patted Noah on the shoulder. "Don't push it."

Coach led us to the dugout where the team was putting on cleats and getting ready. "You guys have a seat. I want to have a short talk about this upcoming season."

We found some empty spots on the bench and the team quieted down as Coach took center stage.

"First off, welcome back." Coach said to the team. "I hope all of you have healed up over the break."

Dave raised his hand. "My brace is off and I can move my pinky again."

Coach stared at him.

Dave got the hint and sat back. "My bad. I can share that later."

Coach nodded, then looked around. "As I was saying, get healed. I don't want you to practice until you're fully able to go. Players like Dave, coming back from an injury, can go check in with Drew at the start of every practice. If he gives you the green light, then you can talk to me. The rest of you, who are healthy, will be breaking up into smaller groups. I want you guys working on different aspects of the game every day."

He continued. "The groups will be divided into infield and outfield. Pitchers will be divided into two groups. Every group will hit the weight room at least once a week." He then assigned an assistant coach to each group.

I was with the usual starters: Noah, Sean, and Jason. Dalton Nelson, a sophomore utility player for the infield was also put in our group. The two catchers: Mitch and Oscar were assigned to the pitching coach. They had to work with the pitching groups everyday, with the exception of going to the gym with us.

"Before we split up, I have a few more announcements to make." Coach stopped us again. "With that tournament win over the break, and considering our performance last year, AD Barber has told me that we've been invited to the Foothill Classic once more."

"Let's go!" Noah pumped his fists. "Redemption time!"

The guys laughed and cheered with him. A drastic difference between last year's outlook.

"That's the energy I'm looking for!" Coach pointed at Noah. "This is the longest heads up we've had for this tournament. If you were with us two years ago, you would know that we were out of our league. Last year, we made it to the semi's and unfortunately fell apart against a great team. This year, I want to win it all. If you can't picture us winning, let me know and I'll send you down to JV for some extra inspiration."

No one said anything.

"Use your time wisely, boys." Coach said. "We'll practice hard for the next month and take on the Tulare Invitational. Then we'll have a couple of regular games to start the season. Then it's the Foothill Classic. I want us to be in the best shape possible."