The Hitting Zone

"Shorts instead of pants?" Garret asked me when Noah and I approached him and the twins. "It's going to hurt if you have to slide."

"Shorts are more convenient." I lifted them a little and showed off my bruise.

"Dangggg." Garret squatted down to get a better look. "That's almost the shape of a real baseball. You're just missing the stitching."

I let my shorts fall and turned to face him. "You don't think I'll really have to slide today, do you?"

"Nah." Garret straightened up. "I was just messing with you. Besides, you're not the only one in shorts. Take a look around. A lot of guys find baseball pants uncomfortable when practicing."

I glanced at his baseball pants. "I don't think I've ever seen you practice in shorts."

He laughed. "Well, I like to make sure I practice the way I expect to play. Not bashing on those who do practice with shorts instead, but I don't like to change the way I pitch." He grinned down at me. "Speaking of pitching, I think we need to schedule our showdown for Friday afternoon. I got some work in with Mitchell and I think I can strike you out."

I squinted up at him. "Just a couple days is all you need?"

"I've been training all summer." He reminded me.

"What's this about a showdown??" Bryce came over, bringing more attention to us. "I want in!"

"Me too!" Brian crowded us.

Bryce pushed him back. "You had your chance. You and Dave. Let the rest of us try."

Brian was distressed. "That's not fair. I want a redo!"

Noah laughed. "There's plenty of time." He nudged me. "You want me to be your secretary? I'll start scheduling showdowns for you."

"Won't I see some of them during the scrimmages this week?" I pointed out. "If anyone doesn't get their chance, then they can stay late on Friday like Garret."

"You don't think you'll face Garret in a scrimmage?" Bryce asked.

I shrugged. "Don't know. But I think he specifically wants to be paired up with Mitchell when he does face me."

"Smart." Bryce nodded at Garret. He looked around suspiciously before leaning in. "Did you guys hear about what Kyle did yesterday?"

Everyone in hearing distance started to look around for Kyle. He must still be near the softball field. Only half of us looked confused while the other half looked eager to gossip.

Seeing that Noah and I were part of the confused group, Bryce looked even more eager. He came over and put his beefy arms around the both of us. "You kids have a good big brother."

I nodded in agreement, but Noah was skeptical. "You say that like you think Kyle is the good big brother. I would rank Zeke first no matter what Kyle did."

Bryce laughed. "I'm just saying, in general." He looked around again before leaning in. "Yesterday, Kyle was matched against a few sophomores. Total domination. Then, randomly, he hit one of them in the rib cage. The guy totally lost it on him even though Kyle was sent back to the dugout."

I was stunned. Something similar happened in our game yesterday, but it was the pitcher who went ballistic instead of me.

"Who did he hit?" Noah asked.

Bryce shrugged. He looked to Brian.

"Austin Goetz. I think he won one of those freshman team awards." Brian answered.

My eyes widened.

Noah was shocked speechless.

A coach blew a whistle and raised his voice. "Cleats should be on. You boys have two minutes."

We broke apart and started to get ready. Eventually Kyle came sprinting in, dropping his bag and putting his own cleats on. I watched him closely and didn't find anything odd about the way he was acting. Not to say that he was hiding it well, but wow. He had a good reason not to talk about his pitching yesterday to us. Zeke might be upset.

There was a chance he didn't do it on purpose too. I didn't think Joey hit me on purpose. He was just frustrated and tired.

"Bring it in." Coach Wilcox demanded. Alisha stood right beside him, clipboard in hand. The other coaches stood a few feet behind him, all eyes on us. "I want to be clear about a few things before we start today." Coach sounded a little angry, making me nervous.

I scooted a little closer to Noah. He noticed and gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"If any of you disrespect any coach, it comes back to me. If any of you disrespect another player, it comes back to me. I don't tolerate that kind of behavior on my team, nor in my program." Coach raised his voice to be heard above everyone else. "If I have to start kicking you kids out to get my point across, I will. First up, every coach here is on the same level. One does not outrank the other. You do what they say. If what they say doesn't sound like something you want to listen to, come find me after. We'll have a civilized conversation."

Coach looked around. "Next up, hit batters. As a program, we work towards improving your skills and limiting injuries. Any pitcher that hits a batter will be asked to sit. We don't care if you're on top or on the bottom. If you have the tendency to be wild, then you better work on your control. If you don't want to work on your control, then what are you doing on my team?"

No one answered.

He glanced in my direction. "Jake. Joey. Kyle. Austin. You four come here." He looked beside me. "Garret. Noah. Lead the boys around the field. Five times."

"Yes!" Garret and Noah answered.

I gulped as I watched everyone start their run.

"It's fine." Kyle stepped up beside me and gave me a small push towards Coach. "Coach isn't mad at you."

I glanced up at him and whispered. "Is he mad at you?"

Kyle's lips thinned, saying nothing.

We moved up, closer to Coach. Joey stood on the left of Kyle and Austin stood on the other side of him. I was relieved neither of them stood beside me.

Alisha gave me a smile, proving that I wasn't in trouble.

"Do you all know why I held you four back?" Coach asked.

"Because all four of us were involved with some kind of hit by pitch." Kyle answered, standing tall. He didn't look nervous or scared.

"Some kind of hit by pitch?" Coach asked, squinting at him.

"Well, I can't speak for the other pair, but I had accidentally hit Austin here with a wild pitch." Kyle said.

"Accidentally!?" Austin repeated.

"What are you trying to say, Kyle?" Joey glared at him. "That mine wasn't an accident??"

"I think the three of you need to cool down." Coach looked at Alisha. "You take them down to the track and watch them run laps."

"For how long?" Alisha asked.

"Until I feel like their attitude has changed." Coach said.

"What about Jake?" Austin asked, looking directly at me.

"I've never had a problem with Jake's attitude." Coach's eyes narrowed at Austin. "Are you questioning my decision?"

Austin had his jaw clenched, but shook his head no.

Coach wasn't satisfied. He looked at Alisha. "Every other lap needs to be under two minutes. No slacking. Do you need a stopwatch?"

She pulled out her phone. "I can use this. Should I keep track of the times."

"Yes. Do that." His eyes roamed back to Kyle. He looked at him like he had something to say, then chose to just shake his head. "Go. I don't want to see any of you right now."