The Hitting Zone

As our rambunctious team started to settle down, the other team replaced their pitcher. A little too late in my opinion.

Noah returned to his seat next to me as the team congratulated Zeke. He raised an eyebrow at me, "Why didn't you celebrate with us? That was a grand slam! Zeke's only done that two times now."

Oh. It was something special. Like Kyle's perfect game. I turned my focus on the new pitcher, and mumbled, "I don't like to be so close with others."

"That doesn't make sense. We're around you all the time." Noah argued.

"I don't like to feel trapped." I admitted, more clearly.

Noah didn't reply. And I didn't look his way, effectively ending the conversation. It would be hard to explain that I always need an exit plan, in case I get hurt. Noah can think of these guys as teammates and friends, but for me, they're still strangers. They could have anger issues like my mom.

Back to the new pitcher on the mound, he was just what they needed. He got Tony and John to groundout for back to back outs. As we go in to the top of the fourth inning, the score changed to 6-2, with us in the lead. For a called game, we have to score six more runs and keep them from scoring anymore.

Like Pleasant Valley, we changed pitchers. I recognized the guy as Ryan, a senior like Zeke. They spoke frequently at practice so I knew of him even though we have never spoken personally.

Ryan looked relaxed on the mound, with the four run lead. He got the fifth and sixth batters to both groundout. Gave up a bloop single. Then struck out the eighth batter. Not bad. Exactly what we need to attempt for a called game.

Bottom of the fourth, brings up our weakest part of the lineup: batters seven, eight, nine. Daniel, Kelvin, and now Ryan. Daniel really didn't look good at the plate. He had an ugly strikeout that made me wonder if he needed glasses. No wonder Noah started over him in game one. Even though they're both weak in hitting, at least Noah didn't look as shameful.

Kelvin finally ended his hit-less streak by sending a grounder between third and shortstop. Unfortunately, Ryan ruined it by hitting a soft grounder to the pitcher, who threw to second, who threw to first. A 1-4-3 double play. The dugout seemed to be full of groans. Guess we might be playing the whole seven innings. Which isn't a problem for me. I really didn't mind sitting on the bench and watching them play.

At the top of the fifth, Ryan got back on the mound. No one seemed worried that we couldn't pull off a called game anymore. Unlike other pitchers, Ryan didn't give off a fierce vibe. He just took his time and didn't shake his head at Kelvin's signs. He was able to strikeout the ninth batter easily.

Even when he gave up a double to the next batter, the leadoff man, he still looked calm. I wonder if he's always like that, or if he's only like that because we have a comfortable lead. The next batter hit a hard line drive between Mahki and Zeke in the outfield. The guy in second hustled around the bases and scored with ease. But with Mahki's strong arm, they were able to tag the batter out at second for our second out. 6-3. Ryan wasn't upset with giving up a run and simply started to work on the next batter. The batter in the third hole spot, was having a bad game with two groundouts. That didn't change even with the change in pitching. Ryan got him to groundout to the second baseman who threw to Julian.

This was the first time I got to see John field a ball. He greeted the ball like he wasn't afraid to make an error. And maybe he wasn't. He treated it like any other grounder from practice and fielded it cleanly. I thought back to game one, where I caught a line drive right to me and a pop up that was pretty average. Grounders make me the most nervous due to the fact that they're unpredictable and can take a bad bounce. I guess if I went to the ball like John did, then there would be less chance for the ball to get away from me.

As I thought over the different actions between mine and John's fielding, Coach called us to pay attention. I snapped out of it and looked on with the rest of the team.

"Boys, Zeke has something to say before we start the offense." He nodded towards Zeke.

Zeke looked around at us, making sure he had all of our attention. "I know we're winning, but I'm not satisfied."

"He's never satisfied." Noah whispered lightly under his breath. I mentally nodded in agreement but didn't dare to acknowledge aloud, in case Zeke caught us.

"This inning, I want us to score seven runs. With seven, the mercy rule will come into effect. It's been a long day between traveling and playing two games. With our second win, we'll have to play game three tomorrow. I want us to be well-rested so it only makes sense to cut this game short." When Zeke spoke, the team listened. Everyone nodded in agreement. "Jason, Julian, Mahki, and I will start the offense. Coach?"

Coach nodded his head. "This would benefit us in the long run. You all take charge and make sure to get on base and avoid getting out. Tony, John, and Daniel, I'll be replacing you guys since today your bats aren't working. We need to get on base." He looked over at me and Noah. "Freshmeat, grab your bats."

I swallowed hard. All eyes were on us and not all of them felt friendly.

"No easy outs Noah." Zeke said sternly.

"Aye, aye, captain." Noah gave him a salute. The team let out little laughs, loosening the atmosphere.