The Hitting Zone

"Hey, what's going on with you?" Noah waved a hand in front of my face. "Why are you staring down Coach and Zeke?"

I shrugged sheepishly. "Well, James came from the bullpen to speak with Coach."

"Yea, I saw that." Noah nodded, glancing at his oldest brother, who was now leaving Coach and the dugout. He was about to begin his at-bat. "Do you think he said something that Coach has to repeat to Zeke?"

"Kind of." I shrugged again. "I'm just curious, that's all."

Noah's gaze sharpened as he looked around from Zeke, to Coach, to the bullpen and back to Zeke. "Hmm. There'll be an opportunity to ask at some point. For now, let's just see what Zeke does at the plate."

I nodded and we both got comfortable in our seats. There wouldn't be much of a chance for either of us to bat this inning unless we score a few runs.

As for watching Zeke? We did so with intensity and interest...yet, it just led to disappointment. Zeke made some amazing hits, but they all went foul of the pole. When he finally straightened one out, it went too straight. A line drive right to their center fielder.

Our dugout was filled with a two second groan, but it was cut short thanks in part to Coach, who sent an angry glare down the line. Everyone felt stifled and tried to hold back the depression.

"It's still early." Noah clenched a fist. "Still have at least one at-bat left."

I nodded in agreement. It's not like we're losing. With a 1-0 lead, you would think our team wouldn't feel bothered by a scoreless inning. But after back to back groundouts by the seniors, Mahki and Julian, there was some pressure as we took the field in the bottom of the fourth.

It was clear to see in Kyle's pitching that he was feeling the invisible pressure. His pitches were wild, putting him in an unfavorable 3-0 count. He forced himself to throw one down the middle, which the batter let pass for a called strike. 3-1. Kyle wasn't so fortunate on the next pitch. The batter, number three in the lineup, wasn't going to let such an easy pitch pass twice. He connected and pulled it to right field.

Everyone started to move: the batter took off running as Garret chased the ball to the fence. Noah moved out to the grass and I moved to cover second base. The ball hit the outfield fence and rolled back to Garret; he picked it up, spun around, and threw the ball back with some speed. Noah had to go out a little more to make the catch, then he did his best to relay the ball to me at second while the runner was coming in.

I caught the ball and swung my gloved hand down to make the tag as he slid into the bag..and me. I toppled over him, but it didn't hurt as other collisions so I quickly popped up, looking at the umpire. Waiting.

The ump extended his arms. "Safe."

Shoot. I made a face, trying to hold in my displeasure. I really thought we had him beat. I threw the ball back to Kyle on the mound, who looked annoyed. I couldn't tell if that was directed at me, the batter, or even himself so I turned away to break eye contact and spent a few extra seconds wiping the dirt off my uniform.

By the time I turned around and backed up to proper positioning, Kyle was studying his next opponent: the cleanup hitter. He had previously struck him out in the first inning, but Kyle didn't have the same kind of energy anymore. He was...slumping.

Kyle threw a few balls out of the zone before coming inside, making him foul one off. Back at the dreaded 3-1 count, Kyle shook his head a few times at Alex before settling on one that he liked. Apparently, the batter liked it too. He swung and sent the ball to the outfield. From the trajectory, I could tell it wasn't going to be good for us.

Zeke could tell as well. Same with the crowd. They roared with excitement as Zeke stopped at the warning track and watched the ball go over, not even able to make an attempt at stopping it. It was gone. A two run homerun. We lost the lead.

Alex brought up a new baseball to Kyle on the mound, and the pitching coach came out. He waved for all of us to join him. Surprised, I hurried with the others and we gathered on the mound.

"Kyle, I'll give it to you straight, you just don't have it today." He stated clearly. "That's nothing to be ashamed of." He said as Kyle hung his head. "Power through. Keep attacking." He glanced at Noah. "Run to Garret and tell him to start stretching. We'll switch to him if Kyle's struggles continue."

Noah nodded and sprinted to the outfield where the three gathered for their own mini meeting.

The pitching coach shared more strategy and advice with Kyle and Alex, up until the umpire broke us up. The coach went back to the dugout and we all went back to our positions just in time for Noah to be coming back from the outfield. A tense energy seemed to surround us. A mixture of pressure and expectation.

Kyle tried shaking his arm out and taking a few deep breaths. It didn't calm his pitches at all. He continued to look wild, and scared. He was folding. He gave up a single to batter number five and started to focus on the next batter. But with his pitches lacking speed, strength, or accuracy, it was almost like batting practice for Servite. The batter swung at everything, getting a piece of a high fastball. He pulled it down the left field line.

Garret tracked the ball to the corner, but the speed of the hit surpassed him. Not like it mattered in the end. It had the height and easily cleared the fence. A two run homerun. Almost like déjà vu, we watched as the runners jogged the bases amidst the yelling and cheering of the crowd. We're now down 1-4.

Coach came out of the dugout as we moved to the mound. We all knew that Kyle blew it. It was only a one run lead, but now we're down by three. An uphill climb. Heck, we don't even have one out to this disastrous inning.

After speaking with the umpire, Coach came to join us on the mound. He waved at Garret in left to call him in. He held his hand out at Kyle. "It was a tough fight."

Kyle wordlessly handed the ball over and left. He walked back to the dugout, almost as if he was in a trance.