The Hitting Zone

Kyle finished his short warmup on the mound and then the first batter was announced. Kyle accepted the signs that Alex gave and started his setup and motion. The first pitch was thrown...then put into play just as quickly. It was popped up.

I squinted, trying to track the high fly with my eyes.

The ball should fall somewhere in the shallow outfield. I moved to cover second base as Noah ran over behind Jason, trying to track down the ball with not just his eyes. He was going for it. Just like we practiced with Zeke yesterday.

Noah and Garret were both converging at the drop point, but it was Noah who called Garret off and made the catch. He smirked and said something to Garret, but I was too far to hear. He lightly tossed the ball to Garret, who caught it with his left. Garret then threw the ball to Kyle on the mound as Noah jogged back to his position.

Noah was still smiling to himself even after getting back, making me curious on what was said. There was no opportunity to ask in the middle of an inning though.

Kyle faired better against the second batter, getting him to strike out swinging on three pitches. The third batter was more patient, fouling off a few pitches before finding one that he liked. He ripped it down the first baseline; unfortunately Julian wasn't playing too close to the line. The ball went to right field, where Mahki had to chase it to the corner before grabbing it. He then threw the ball to me, the cutoff man.

I turned fast, but I knew I wasn't going to be abled to make a play. And I was right. The batter had safely made it to second without even needing to slide. I threw the ball back to Kyle on the mound.

Kyle looked like he was clenching his teeth, but it was hard to tell when I only had a couple of seconds to look at him, face to face, before he turned to look at Alex. Kyle was almost always abled to bounce back from little setbacks like that. This time was no different. He tried his best, throwing some of his fastest pitches I've seen from him, getting their cleanup hitter to strikeout. An impressive feat considering that that was the same kid who hit two homeruns off him the last time we faced Servite. Kyle pumped his fist excitedly as we headed back to the dugout.

"That was a close one." Noah whistled as we jogged in as well.

I glanced at him. "Feeling guilty?"

Noah rolled his eyes, slumping in his seat, looking relaxed. "Don't know what you're talking about. My words have no influence on the way Kyle pitches or the way Servite hits."

I snorted, taking a seat next to him. Ignoring that, I addressed the words he shared with Garret on that first out. "What did you say to Garret after you made that catch? Why did you give him the ball to throw in?"

Noah cracked a grin. "I was just telling him that he was deadweight and I gave him the ball to throw in since that's the only time he'll be able to touch it."

"Punk!" A yell accompanied by a water bottle hitting Noah came from across the dugout.

Noah laughed and picked up the water bottle.

I glanced down at Garret, but he had already turned to chat with Julian. "I don't get it..."

"You don't have to." Noah shrugged. "I'm just having some fun with him."

"But...you can't stop fly balls being hit towards left field..." I looked at him, confused.

"I was just implying to Garret that I'll be able to steal all the fly balls hit his way." Noah told me. "There's no other meaning behind it. I was just telling him that we don't need him."

"That's not very nice." I scratched the back of my neck.

"It's just a joke." Noah shook his head. "Lighten up, Jakey. We're here to win. And to have some fun."

I slowly nodded. Noah was always like this so I really should be used to his sharp tongue by now. I'm just afraid that it'll catch up with him one of these days and get him in trouble.

Top of the second didn't have any excitement on our part. Mahki struck out swinging, Jason popped up to the third baseman, and Alex hit a short fly that the shortstop was able to catch in the outfield grass. Three up, three down. Bummer. At least I was guaranteed an at-bat in the next inning; I consoled myself as we jogged out to defend the second inning.

Bottom of the second. Kyle didn't achieve any strikeouts, but he was abled to get Servite to go three up and three down as well. Batter five got jammed and hit a short grounder to Jason, who easily fielded the ball for the first out. Batter six made better contact, blasting the ball to right field. Mahki caught it at the warning track, just a few feet short of a homerun. Batter seven had the best shot of getting a hit in my opinion. He smacked a grounder right down the third baseline. Luckily for us, Jason was closer than normal to the line. He made the stop and then made the nice long throw to Julian at first. A throw I know I couldn't make. Not yet anyways. It helped that the runner wasn't the fastest on his team; if Noah had hit something like that, he could probably make it to first safely depending on their third baseman's arm.

We all jogged back to the dugout, happy to hold onto our 1-0 lead after two full innings.

"Nice play, Jason!" Kyle clapped him on the back.

"I didn't even see you creeping towards the line." Garret remarked.

Kyle put on his helmet. "I thought for sure that would sneak by ya."

Jason turned a little red in the face. "It was just a hunch. Plus, I knew that Noah could cover more ground than me with him hanging back. He had a good angle to cut of anything that came our way."

Noah smirked and wiggled his eyebrows at the pair of juniors that were complimenting Jason. "Guess you guys can thank me and my awesomeness as well."

"Go get ready for your at-bat." Garret gave Noah a light shove.

Kyle merely rolled his eyes and left with his bat in hand. He would start us off for the top of the third inning. Then Noah and me. Then hopefully a few more of our guys.

"Such haters." Noah mumbled as we moved to our bags to get ready. He set his glove down and took off his hat.

I laughed a little. "It's because you're bragging so much today." I changed my hat for a helmet and my glove for my bat.

"It's because I'm feeling good." Noah grinned. "Today's already off to a great start. Two stolen bases and a run scored." His grin widened. "So many scouts are here and they all witnessed me stealing two bases off of Sanchez. Off. Of. Sanchez." He emphasized.

He wasn't wrong. That's already a good start on such a tough opponent. "Let's tack on a few more runs though for insurance."

He nodded. Noah had put on his batting gloves and was finally ready to bat. "This time I need to get a hit. That way I can honestly say that I owned Sanchez in today's game." He led the way to the dugout exit.

I could only shake my head at his cockiness and follow him.