The Hitting Zone

We jogged back to the dugout. The attention of the team was split between Kyle's solid performance on the mound and Garret's spectacular grab to prevent the hit.

"Too bad Bryce isn't in the dugout with us." Sean laughed. "I'm sure he's catching a lot of grief in the bullpen. His performance against these guys definitely can't compare to Kyle today so far."

Kyle shrugged. "I'm not competing against Bryce from last year. I'm competing with myself from last year." He grinned. "And I'm feeling pretty darn good."

"Last year, you started in a hitfest." Noah mused.

"It wasn't necessarily a 'hitfest'." Kyle argued.

"Five runs in five innings isn't considered a hitfest?"

"Shut up." Kyle pushed Noah away. "I need to go get ready for my at bat."

Noah laughed at his back. "Touch a nerve?"

Kyle lifted his middle finger, but kept walking to his bag.

I nudged him. "Should you really be saying that?"

Noah shrugged with a smile. "It's my job to keep him grounded. It's not like I would say these things if he had a bad first inning. It's all about timing."

"Would you say that to me?" I pointed out.

Noah shrugged again. "You're different. I tease everyone base on their personality. You don't see me calling Kyle names like 'Bambi'." He laughed. "He'd probably throw the baseball at my head or something. Don't we laugh about your fielding and running all the time?"

"Oh. Good point." I nodded. Kyle has it easy compared to my ugly baserunning. God forbid Coach ever asks me to steal a base anytime soon. I just know what the guys will do: outright laugh.

Top of the second inning, the University Prep pitcher was hot. Too hot. Korrey struck out swinging. Mitchell struck out looking. Then Kyle went down swinging. It was ugly for us.

Noah who made it to the hole, had to come back and switch out his gear. "Okay, that was rough. No worries though. We aren't the ones losing."

We took the field for the bottom of the second inning. Kyle was last out after being the last out. He didn't rush himself though, casually moving to the mound and getting his practice pitches in before facing the cleanup hitter.

The cleanup spot is notoriously known for being the best hitter on the team even if it wasn't true for our team. University Prep stuck with tradition though. And it was proven real quick that this guy had some skill. He attacked Kyle's first pitch, hitting it above my reach. Tanner had to come running in, and fielded the ball back to me. I turned and saw the guy already on first. He had rounded the bag and faked going to second.

"To me." Kyle called out, getting my attention.

I willingly threw the ball back to him, near the mound. Kyle got on the mound and started to toe the rubber as the rest of us shifted into position. With a runner on first, Sean had to be on the bag so I shifted over more and played with my heels on the grass. This is when I would have the most ground to cover.

Kyle got the fifth batter to a 1-1 count when the runner on first suddenly took off. Kyle rushed his pitch.

"Ball!"

Mitchell caught it, stood as he shifted the ball to his throwing hand, then did his best to throw to Noah, who was covering second. The runner slid into the bag feet first. Noah had to get out of position to catch Mitchell's throw that was going a little wide. He caught the ball and made the tag as the guy slid onto second base.

"Safe!"

Groans and cheers echoed in the early morning mist. University Prep now has a runner in scoring position. No outs.

"UNIVERSITY! UNIVERSITY! UNIVERSITY!"

"Sounds like their cheer squad showed up." Noah mumbled to me as we walked to the mound together. He handed the ball to Kyle.

Kyle frowned as he took it back. "I should have thrown a strike and forget the runner."

Mitchell had just jogged up to join us. He patted his head. "My bad. Not a good throw at all."

"Let's keep him close to second." Noah lowered his voice and spoke into his glove. "Check throws to me, Kyle."

"What part of forget the runner did you not get?" Kyle raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not saying we have to get him out. Just keep him close to the bag. He's fast. A single will allow him to score." Noah explained.

"Wouldn't it be better to throw on Jake's side, considering the way Kyle is on the mound?" Mitch asked.

Noah shook his head. "We're trying to spook him. Not Jake." He glanced at me. "No offense."

"None taken." I shrugged. I definitely prefer the ball going to him anyways.

"Just play catch." Noah told Kyle. "Don't do anything fancy like throw a fast one at his body. We keep him contained. Until we have an out or two."

Kyle started to understand and nodded. "Alright. Okay."

"You've got this!" Noah patted Kyle on the back and backed off the mound.

I jogged away too. As did Mitchell. Kyle had the mound to himself. I played back towards the grass, but more shifted towards second. Even though Noah was going to cover for check throws, it's not like the other team knows that just yet.

Mitchell gave the sign to Kyle and Kyle nodded. A fastball inside but still in the strike zone. Kyle followed through. The batter swung and missed for strike two. Mitchell threw the ball back to Kyle. Kyle got set again. Mitchell gave the sign for check throw. Kyle stepped off the rubber, turned and threw to Noah. The runner dove back for second. Noah placed the tag late.

"Safe." Clearly.

Noah kept the tag on for an extra second before throwing the ball back to Kyle.

The runner got up and dusted himself off.

Mitchell gave the sign to check again. Kyle obliged. The runner didn't have to dive back this time, but Noah held the tag until the umpire declared him safe again.

"Tch. Annoying." I heard the baserunner mutter. He took an even shorter lead off of the bag though. So it must be working. Noah knew the game.

Kyle focused on the batter with his next pitch, throwing a fastball up high. The batter swung late and missed. Strikeout for out one.

The sixth batter did better, making contact on Kyle's first pitch, lifting it to left-center field. Both Korrey and Garret were running towards each other.

"I've got it!" Garret called Korrey off.

The baserunner was holding at second, trying to tag up. Noah moved out to the grass to be cutoff and I moved to the base.

Garret made the catch and the runner took off.

"To third!" Noah yelled.

Garret must have heard or had the same idea even. Because he threw straight to Jason, covering third. He was our best arm on the team and it showed. The baseball went directly to Jason. The baserunner had great awareness and immediately turned back to me and sprinted for second base under me.

"Two! TWO!"

Jason threw the ball to me. I caught it and tried to get the tag down as the guy came in sliding, feet first. My glove knocked against his body and my grip loosened. The ball slipped out.

"Safe!"