The Hitting Zone

I was stunned by his pitching motion.

"He throws sidearm." Coach Luis put his hand on my shoulder and leaned down so he could talk in a low voice near my ear. I resisted the urge to pull away. Coach Luis wasn't a bad guy, just very intense about baseball.

I looked up at him.

Coach Luis moved his hand to the top of my helmet and forced me to watch the guy warm up on the mound. "Pay attention. It's not often you see one of these guys in action. Golden West, in our league, has someone similar. You missed that game last year so you probably don't remember, but we lost."

Oh. I stared intently at the pitcher. It was hard to watch from this angle though. With him being right-handed, all I got to see was his backside.

"Sidearm pitchers are especially tough on lefty's because of what they can't see. The pitcher might be limited in how long they can last, but in a tight spot like this...they're a good tool. Probably their closer." Coach Luis continued in low tones but the first baseman could still hear him. He kept glancing our way with a smirk on his face. "But don't panic. I don't think he can be that good if they still avoided you with a walk." The first baseman frowned and looked annoyed. I have a feeling that Coach Luis was intentional.

I tried not to ask any questions, but I really was interested in this guy. It would be even better if I was the one at the plate. One thing was certain though, Wheatland thought they could get Garret with him so he has to be good-good. Garret wasn't just number two in the county for his pitching.

The umpire called for the game to resume. The pitcher got set on the mound and Garret stepped up to bat. Mr. Miller gave the sign: sprint on any contact. There were already two outs...no worries about tag plays. Noah was given an extra sign: go home. He was the fastest on the team and we were down by a run. We have to take the chance.

Noah took a lead off of second. Inching closer and closer to third.

The pitcher looked back at him. Noah didn't budge. The pitcher stepped off the rubber. Noah slowly went back to second base. The pitcher got set once more. He faced Garret, checked on Noah again, back to Garret. He started his motion. I had a bad view of him but a good view of Garret's swing and miss. Strike one.

Pitcher got the ball back. He got ready on the rubber. Check on Noah. He wasn't satisfied with how far Noah was off second base, so he stepped off and threw to the shortstop coming over to cover second base. Noah dove back and took a tag on the shoulder.

"Safe."

The shortstop gave the ball back to the pitcher. The pitcher got set once more. We started to get into this pattern of him checking on Noah between every pitch. Even after Garret fouled a ball back. The pitcher got a new ball and threw it back to his teammate covering second. If they wanted to wear Noah down, he picked the wrong guy to go after. I'm sure I would have made a mistake by now after four check throws. Heck, I probably wouldn't even bother to get off the base. But Noah is different. He loves the attention. He's probably wishing that the pitcher messes up so he can go off and run to third.

The count stayed 2-2 for awhile as Garret fought the guy off with a couple of foul balls. Coach Luis got really into this at bat, clapping and cheering Garret on for every pitch. Garret must be doing an even more impressive job than I was thinking.

On the tenth pitch of the at bat, Garret poked the ball between the shortstop and third baseman. Noah was off. I was too; sprinting for second as I watched the left fielder come in to field the ball. I stood safely on second and watched the outfielder throw the ball straight to the catcher at home. Where Noah was heading.

It was almost simultaneous. Noah slid into home with his hands outstretched while the catcher came down with the tag. I couldn't tell.

"Safe!" The umpire extended his arms.

The catcher got up first and started to argue.

Noah popped up and headed back to the dugout amidst claps and cheers. All the guys were swarming him as soon as he got in. Then they were yelling out Garret's name. Garret proudly pumped his fist on first base.

We were tied up now. 5-5.

The umpire had to warn the catcher before he could settle down. The catcher went up to the mound and spoke with his pitcher as Jason got ready for his at bat. The pitcher occasionally looked back at me, but didn't do any check throws. I wasn't as daring as Noah so the guy had no reason to try and get me. He went after Jason at the plate. Jason went down swinging, striking out to end the inning.

I jogged back to the dugout.

Coach was already addressing the team. "Extra innings. Brian, you better have started your cool down."

"Already doing so." Brian answered while stretching.

"Matt will be taking the mound." Coach told the rest of us. "Stay focused out there. Let's hold them here and take the lead back in the bottom of the eighth."

"Yes!" The guys said together.

Everyone broke apart to go their own way. Coach went out with Mitchell to the mound to meet with Matt. Garret and I were the last ones to change out our gear at our bags.

I met Noah out by second base. "Good run."

He grinned and gave a small shrug. "I did what I could." He raised his eyebrows. "You see that pitcher though? Garret had to work for that single. I'm glad it worked out."

I nodded. Me too.

Top of the eighth. Senior Matt Dalquist on the mound. Wheatland didn't play around. There was no time. Someone had to score for this game to be decided. Batters three and four flied out to Jesse in left field. Unfortunately the next guy got a better piece of it, pulling it to left field and getting it over the fence. A solo shot home run. 5-6.

Noah clapped with his glove to get the infield's attention. "Don't mind. Onto the next one."

Matt touched the brim of his hat and nodded. He turned back to Mitchell and got ready for the next batter. He put that home run behind him and got the next guy to strike out swinging. Back to the dugout we went.

I met Noah at our spot on the bench. "You didn't hold a mound meeting for that?"

Noah shrugged. "What good would it do? It won't change the outcome. And Matt isn't the type to need a pep talk. He's got a good head on his shoulders."

Matt was really easygoing. Last year, he had very few appearances and no complaints. He just went with the flow.