The Hitting Zone

I put my helmet and bat away near my baseball bag before sitting down. Just as I was sitting, it felt like everyone around me jumped up in excitement.

Feeling their energy, I jumped up as well, then used my eyes to try and find what was worth cheering for. It's not like I heard the familiar sound of a bat hitting a baseball, add in the yells for 'Noah!' and I immediately looked for my friend.

Noah was halfway to third base! I quickly scanned the rest of the infield. Sanchez had already thrown a pitch to his catcher. Garret couldn't even attempt to swing to distract the catcher like I had done. The pitch was way outside, almost in the right-handers box. That pretty much set up the catcher to throw to third with so much space.

The pitch came, the catcher was already in a half squat while receiving the baseball. He transferred the ball to his right hand and threw his hardest to the third baseman as Noah slid in. The third baseman received the ball and made the tag as dirt was kicked up from Noah's slide. All eyes were on the umpire.

The third baseman umpire stared for an extra second, which almost felt like an extra hour. He straightened up and extended his arms. "Safe!"

"Woo! Noah!"

"Good job, Noah!"

"One more!!"

Our team and smaller amount of fans went wild for Noah as he got up and brushed himself off.

The Servite head coach came out and approached the home plate umpire. Our dugout simmered down a little, but the whispers were still audible.

"Is he challenging the call?"

"Can he? It's not like we have instant replay."

"Maybe the home plate umpire had a better view than the third base ump?"

"How can that be? The catcher jumped up in his line of vision."

The home plate umpire signaled to his third base ump and they both met halfway without the Servite coach. As they spoke, our Coach went out to join them. The Servite coach didn't wait to be invited over, making it a party of four. The discussion lasted only two minutes before everyone went back to their respective spots.

Before we had a chance to ask Coach what had happened, the home plate umpire pointed at Noah at third base and then extended his arms, "Safe." Back behind the catcher, he signaled for Sanchez, telling him to resume.

"What was that?" Kyle asked aloud. Everyone quieted down so we could hear Coach's explanation.

Coach shook his head. "He wanted to challenge the call, but we don't have the tech for that so he asked if the head umpire could confer with the umpire who made the call. It's still in our favor so don't dwell on it."

The dugout had a few murmurs, but I was too far away to overhear. Being alone like this didn't bother me too much. There was a twinge seeing that everyone else had someone to whisper to or gossip with, but that's fine. I'm fine. I probably wouldn't have much to contribute to the conversation anyways.

I gave my attention to Garret's at-bat instead. He continued his struggles against left-handed pitchers, eventually striking out, unable to drive Noah in for the team. That's okay though. We still have Zeke.

Zeke stepped up to bat and the stands started to generate some noise. Whether because it was cheering for him or against, there was a noticeable difference in sound when he stepped up to bat.

Sanchez started him off with a fastball, outside of the zone. Ball one. Then a fastball inside, upping the speed. Ball two. For the third pitch, he went with a curveball. Zeke swung and pulled it foul, yet it certainly had the distance to be a homerun if he straightened it out. The following pitch had more movement on the curve, maybe it was a slider; too hard to tell from the bench. It didn't matter to Zeke though. He was able to connect and send the ball to right field.

The hit bounced before the right fielder could reach it, allowing Noah to score with ease. Zeke stood on first with no intention of pushing himself for a double. Which was smart, I think. Servite has good outfielders. Surely that right fielder may be able to throw him out if he tried for second base.

"Nice running Noah!"

"You sure are gutsy kid."

"I can't believe you ran on your own like that. You're lucky you weren't caught." Kyle was the only one to lecture him. "You could have easily been thrown out."

Noah looked at Kyle with disbelief. "I knew what I was doing. Exchanging signs would just give it away. Besides, I scored, didnt I?"

"That's the only reason I'm not benching you, son." Coach laid a heavy hand on Noah's shoulder, preventing Kyle from picking on Noah. "Don't try something so reckless without consulting me first or you'll have to face the consequences. Understand?"

"Understood." Noah gulped.

"Good base running though." He knocked on Noah's helmet and went back to his spot to watch Julian's at-bat.

Noah laughed and came back to our spot, accepting high-fives and compliments from our teammates. "That was crazy." He said while taking a seat. "It really got my heart pounding."

"Adrenaline junkie." Garret came over, slapping him on the shoulder. "I can't believe you ran on your own like that. It makes it hard to believe that you're just a freshman."

Noah laughed light-heartedly. "I had to do something. I can't just live in my brothers' shadows all the time." He nudged me. "Even Jake outshines me."

"Offense always gets the most attention." Garret nodded, understanding. "Only dominant pitching can show off in the defense."

"That's not always true." Noah rebuked. "For example, bad pitching can lead to a lot of balls being put into play. That's a time that defense can shine."

Garret raised an eyebrow. "Are you jinxing Kyle?"

Noah laughed, leaning back. "No, of course not. I'm just saying...I've got his back."

Garret chuckled and walked away, hearing someone call his name from the other side of the dugout.

"I wouldn't mind if Kyle took a little beating though." Noah said under his breath for only me to hear. He saw my stricken expression. "Not too much to lose. It's just...he's been getting on my nerves lately."

I raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that normal?" An everyday occurrence I would say.

Noah shrugged and sighed at the same time. "You saw how he just attacked me as soon as I got back into the dugout. No one else did that. Even Coach wasn't that mad. Then there's the fact that he skipped reconnaissance to hang out with his girlfriend instead. It's just...a bunch of small things piling up."

I nodded, trying to be sympathetic. I couldn't understand what he was feeling, but I could hear his frustrations.

Julian struck out swinging, ending our short lived offense. We grabbed our gloves and jogged out, moving a little more to warm up and get the blood flowing.

"I don't want to lose." Noah expanded. "It just wouldn't be a bad thing if Kyle could be knocked down a leg or two."

I fought back a laugh. "Better not let Zeke hear you."

Noah immediately swiveled around, making sure no one overheard us. He glanced at me meaningfully. "Don't even joke."

"You're the one joking." I smiled at him. "You don't really want to see Kyle perform poorly. You're just talking nonsense."

Noah had the good sense to look slightly guilty. "Okay, you're right. I like bragging that my brothers are good baseball players too." He shook his head aggressively and backed up to his position. "No more bad thoughts."

I laughed and got into position as well.