The Hitting Zone

Only one out and I was on second. This was a good chance. Mr. Miller thought so too. I was to run on contact. He would tell me if I could try for home. Garret got in the lefty's box...and the catcher stood up. He turned to the umpire and said something to indicate an intentional walk. Garret turned, gave his bat a small toss towards our dugout, and jogged to first.

Jason moved from the circle to the batter's box. The pitcher started him off with a curve outside the zone for a ball. The next one was able to fall in the zone for a called strike. Jason must have started to feel that the curve was the only pitch he would see. Third pitch was another curve; this time Jason swung...and missed. 1-2 count. Fourth pitch, Jason swung at what he thought was going to be another curve, but it wasn't. The pitch hit the thinner part of his bat and rolled to the shortstop. I did my best to sprint to third.

"Out!"

"Out!"

I tagged third and slowed to jog back to the dugout. Eastside had completed a double play, probably just the usual 6-4-3. I entered the dugout just behind Garret and Jason.

"Damn." Jason cursed. "I definitely feel targeted." He took off his helmet and ran his fingers through his hair as he made eye contact with Coach. "Sorry, Coach. I was too zoned in on trying to reach that curveball."

"No worries." Coach said. "Today's going to be a tough battle. This tournament has so many great players, we're bound to stumble a time or two. Just stay focus." He looked around and addressed the team. "That goes for everyone. Don't get down on yourselves. We're in it to win it. Heads up and backs straight. We'll take advantage of the few opportunities we're given."

"Yea!"

Everyone got moving.

I switched out my gear, but before I could leave the dugout, Coach made me stop. Sean and Alisha were with him too. He took the clipboard from them and showed me who's been seeing what. "What do you think?"

"I don't know what to think." I gave a small shrug. "I do know that hitting the curve is easier for me. I can get it to land in a similar spot again." I looked at Coach. "I could probably foul off a bunch too. Should I try to?"

Coach rubbed his chin. "For now, yes. The boys aren't as adept as you at hitting the curve. What I find more concerning is how conservative they are at defense. Walking Garret despite already having him get out in the previous at bat?"

"Conservative? Or cocky?" Sean questioned. "Like Jason said, I think he was targeted. They knew they could get him out. These guys are as good as University. It's stifling."

Coach chuckled. "You forget...we're as good as University." He nodded at me. "Take the field. Something will have to change to break this game open."

I hurried out to take my position. I could only hope that we were the ones to break the game open and not Eastside. It would be hard to swallow if we were losing at any point in this game. Like a rock on your chest.

Luckily, we had Garret on the mound today. He got the second batter to go down swinging. The third batter, Carson, made solid contact on a fastball sending it out to center, but Bryce was there to make the catch. The cleanup hitter, who previously had a hit, had popped up a short fly. It could have been a short flare single, but Noah was able to track it down and make a catch over his shoulder to end the inning.

Top of the fifth. Korrey hit a fly ball to right. Jesse smacked a grounder to short and Tanner hit a grounder to second. Three up, three down. Bottom of the fifth, Garret held them down with Noah's help. A pop out to Noah in the short outfield grass. A groundout to Noah. And then a swinging strikeout.

Garret rested his hand on Noah's head as we entered the dugout. "You're all over the place today, kid."

"Yea, you're covering his ass." Kyle laughed. "I can't imagine how many more hits Garret would have given up if it wasn't for you."

"They have as many hits as Jake does." Garret rolled his eyes. He approached Alisha. "How's the count?"

Alisha didn't speak. She simply pointed at a spot on her clipboard and it made Garret frown.

"Does this include yesterday's pitches?" He asked.

She nodded.

Garret rolled back his shoulders. "Alrighty then. I'm doing alright. Two more innings."

Top of the sixth. Mitchell struck out swinging. Bryce pulled a grounder right to the third baseman. Noah hit a grounder to his favorite position: shortstop. Another three up, three down. I was left in the on deck circle with nothing to do. I was ineffective if there were no runners on. I sighed and went back to the dugout. Noah was right behind me.

"Do we know the pitch count on this guy?" Noah groaned and complained to Alisha.

Alisha nodded. "I do. 89."

Noah glanced at me. "Think you can have 21 pitch at bat and get rid of this guy?"

I shrugged. "As long as he doesn't intentionally walk me, I should be able to."

We went to our bags and switched out our gear.

"Go for it. It's too demoralizing to see him smoke us like this." Noah said.

"You think they don't have any good relief pitchers?" Dave laughed as he stood nearby. "You might have a better chance facing this guy as he gets tired."

"Would we?" Noah asked seriously. "Look around. Only Jake has gotten a hit. The rest of us need a break."

Dave looked at me. "The next inning is the seventh. I think you should just aim for the fences the best you can. Don't be afraid."

"I'm not afraid." I hurried to correct. "I just don't have that kind of physical power. I need a fastball."

"You hit that curve pretty far into the corner." Dave pointed out.

"That's near the best I could do." I told him, putting on my glove. "It comes down to mathematics. Speed and location of the pitch versus the speed and launch angle of my bat."

Dave held up his hand. "Please stop. It's the weekend. I wouldn't understand anyways."

I shrugged.

Noah and I were the last ones to leave the dugout.

"Do you think you can help me get a hit by fixing my launch angle?" Noah asked.

I shook my head. "I have great control over my swing. Good eyesight. It's not something I could tell you to do. You just have to practice it in the cages."

Noah sighed. "Worth a shot."

Bottom of the sixth. Garret earned back to back strikeouts from the bottom of the lineup before getting the leadoff guy to hit a grounder to Noah. Noah may struggle at the plate, but no one could compare to his fielding. He could cover twice as much ground as me and had the reflexes to deal with any bad bounces.