The Hitting Zone

I tried to look away, but made eye contact with Coach Luis. His eyes narrowed and I knew I couldn't get away with missing the signs. I resisted the urge to sigh, looked back across the diamond at Mr. Miller and gave the sign that I acknowledged his call. To steal a base. Second base. Ninety feet.

I swallowed a lump in my throat and inched out. One. Two. Three. Four. Five feet. The pitcher merely glanced back at me, mostly focused on Noah at third. He even did a check throw to third, trying to keep Noah closer to the base.

I know it did for me and I was on the opposite side. I had retreated back to first until the pitcher got the ball back and reset himself on the rubber.

"Be brave, Bambi!" Dave hollered from the dugout.

"He ain't worried about you! Take that lead!" Kyle added.

I felt the first baseman's eyes on me.

I slowly took my lead, trying to act as normal as possible. As soon as the pitcher lifted his leg, I took off. Which wasn't the right decision. I could hear screams from all over. I saw the shortstop catch the ball and start running towards me. Shoot. I cut back. The ball came over my shoulder to the first baseman. It was his turn to chase me down. I cut back again.

"TO HOME!"

"HOME!"

"RUNNER!"

The second baseman caught the ball and I turned back again.

"Go! Go back to second!" Coach Luis was waving me to turn around again.

I didn't think, I just did what I was told. Second base was clear of any player so there was no need to slide.

I turned to look at home plate just in time to see the umpire repeatedly extending his arms.

"SAFE! SAFE!"

The crowd roared and Noah jumped up and hopped back to the dugout, waving his arms at the crowd. We added a run: 2-0. I also stole a base. I clenched my fist and gave it a small pump.

The Eastside Coach came out and started to argue you some more. It's becoming a common occurrence. But I can see why. It's a close game. Finally tilting our way on a couple of close calls. And he was going to let the ump hear about it.

"Jake!" Mr. Miller waved me over.

I jogged over. "Yea?"

"Not bad, kid." Mr. Miller patted me on the helmet and leaned down while covering his mouth. "Don't lose your focus just yet. If the ball is on the ground, I want you to be sprinting to third. If it's to the outfield, look at me. I won't make you tag up on any flies, but if it's a hit, you're headed home."

I nodded.

The game took a couple minutes to resume again. I went back to second base and the defense got back to their positions. Jason stepped up to the plate once more. The pitcher got set. I took my lead off of the bag, glancing back at the shortstop to see how close or far he was from me and the base.

"Back!"

Someone yelled and I rushed back to second. A look around told me that the ball wasn't thrown. The pitcher must have just took his foot off the rubber. I took a lead again, intending to go a little further. My efforts didn't amount to much as the pitcher started to focus on Jason. He got him to go down swinging. The same happened to Korrey. Back to back strikeouts. Whatever. We had a two run lead. Three more outs stood between us and the finals.

I had a feeling that I was floating back to the dugout. I was soon greeted by cheerful teammates and claps on the back despite not being the one to drive in a run or to even score a run.

"Great run, Bambi!"

"Not bad!"

"You're doing a lot better!"

"Zeke would be proud!"

I got to my bag and took off my helmet. Noah was there, waiting. I gave him a small smile. "I have a funny feeling that you told Mr. Miller that I needed to steal second."

Noah laughed while getting up. "Hey man, I'm not the coach. Just a player with some crazy ideas."

"What if you couldn't score?" I asked, putting on my hat and grabbing my glove. "Or what if I was tagged out?"

"I would definitely be safe if they kept trying to tag you." Noah shrugged. "Similar to a sac fly in my opinion."

We left the dugout together, jogging to our spots on the field. We did a small throw around as Tyler got some practice pitches in. Bottom of the ninth, he started with batter eight. It was a pinch hitter.

Everyone got set. Tyler did his windup and threw his first pitch. The batter shifted into a bunt stance.

"BUNT!"

The batter connected, dropping a slow roller between first base and the mound.

Originally, I ran forward, but soon saw Jason coming out from first. He was going to the ball first. I made a beeline for first base, as did Tyler. Jason threw the ball to the running Tyler and it became a footrace between him and the batter.

"Safe!"

Tsk. I let out a puff of air. Tyler walked back to the mound, not focused on the guy at first anymore.

I looked at Jason. Jason called 'time' and went to the mound with Tyler. I hurried to follow. Noah and Jesse came in too.

"Tough break." Noah said, not down at all. "They probably got that idea from me."

"Small ball is a part of the game." Tyler wasn't bothered. "Honestly wouldn't be surprised if they try it again." He looked to Jesse.

Jesse covered his mouth with his glove. "You think I should play in more to watch for a squeeze? Try for a double play?"

"Nah. Take the out at first." Tyler told him. "Don't try to get fancy. If needed, I can give up a run."

"Your ERA would be trashed." Noah joked.

"A win is a win." Tyler looked around at all of us. "I can't say I'm the best one to have on the mound, but I know how Coach would want us to play. Steady. Get the ball, get the out."

We all nodded. We broke up the small mound meeting and got into our positions. Jason stayed at first with the runner. I was shifted more over. Noah was near the same while Jesse also played in.

The ninth batter, originally held by a pitcher, was replaced with another pinch hitter. He showed bunt right away. Tyler wasn't bothered. He checked on the runner, did a shorter motion and threw his first pitch the batter. The batter pulled his bat back and took a full on swing, fouling it back.

Uhhh. I looked around. I was not expecting that. Was he swinging now? Should I back up more?

Noah gave a small shake of his head. I wasn't sure if it was for me necessarily but I took it as 'don't change'.

Tyler got a baseball back from Mitchell and got set once more. He threw another pitch, lower and inside. The runner on first had took off for second. The batter dropped his bunt on the ball and it went down the third baseline right to Jesse. Jesse picked the ball up and threw to Jason at first.

"Out."

And the runner was safe at second.