The Hitting Zone

"You've got to be kidding." Noah was staring at his fingers in frustration the next morning. 

"What happened?" Dave leaned over curiously. 

Kyle and I were also interested. 

Noah shook his hand and shook his head. "Forget it. It's fine. Just ugly looking." He headed for the bathroom. "I'm going to wash my face and brush my teeth."

Kyle looked to Dave. "Was something wrong?"

Dave shrugged. "I didn't see anything."

"Do you think it still hurts or something?" I spoke up to ask. 

"You never know with Noah." Dave said. He started to change. 

Kyle did too. So I pulled myself out of bed to join them. Today was Wednesday and we had our second to last game tomorrow. At home. Monday's was going to be at home too. For some reason, I didn't feel as sad as I did last year. Maybe because it felt a little more normal. Or maybe because the twins didn't pitch all the time anyways. 

After we got ready, had breakfast, and made it to school; I found time to ask Noah about his fingers as we waited for Mr. Miller. 

"It's not a big deal. Just a slight annoyance." Noah told me, looking pretty forthcoming. 

"Are you still going to practice today?" I asked. 

"Absolutely. It's really not anything." He showed off his fingers and I couldn't see anything obviously wrong. "I can't keep sitting the bench as we wrap up the season. What if I get rusty?"

I grinned. "You warmed up yesterday. How could you be rusty?"

"It's not the same. Games have a different kind of atmosphere and intensity." He looked at me directly. "Like you can mess up in practice. No biggie. It's not really rushed, it's more about getting the mechanics down."

I slowly nodded. I did feel more stress and pressure in games. 

"I'm going to play tomorrow." Noah stated confidently. 

Noah got checked by Drew and Coach before practice and got the all-clear. We paired up like normal and I also didn't see any abnormalities so it had to be like he said: a slight annoyance. 

"We still staying late?" Noah asked Dave during a water break.

"Ah. Yea, I think. I forgot to ask Coach or Mr. Miller about using the mound after practice." He quickly ditched us and walked up to the group of coaches. 

Coach listened to what he had to say and then looked at me. I straightened up subconsciously. Coach nodded then he started to walk over. 

"Listen up." Coach addressed the whole group. The side conversations stopped and he got everyone's attention. "Dave brought up that he wanted to test himself against Jake."

A lot of eyes went to Dave, who sat back down and picked up his water. He shrugged. "What? I just wanted to use an official size mound. We don't have a proper one at the park."

"Can I try too?" Bryce asked, looking at Coach, then looking at me. "I don't mind staying late. I'll help clean too."

Coach held his hand up to stop him. "I was thinking of calling practice to end early anyways. We've already done two games this week and have a third tomorrow. I don't mind if anyone wants to try to face off with Jake." He looked to me. "Do you mind, Jake?"

I shook my head. "Not at all." These guys would come at me with all that they've got. It's probably the best I'll see until playoffs. 

"Why don't we field too?" Noah suggested. "Make it a little harder on Jake."

My lips twitched. 

"I'll fill in at second." Dalton stood up. 

"Okay." Coach agreed. "We'll go with that then. Sean, Dalton, Noah, and Jason will be the infield." He looked around. "Jesse, Garret, Korrey for the outfield."

"I actually wanted to pitch to Jake too." Garret raised his hand casually. 

"You want Jake now or Quincy tomorrow?" Coach asked. 

"C'mon, Coach. I can do both." Garret grinned. 

"I'll take Quincy!" Kyle saw his chance for some more time on the mound. "I'm not interested in getting my self-esteem beaten by Jake."

"If you take Quincy, you can't have OLU on Monday." Coach raised an eyebrow. 

Kyle took a step back. "It's been nearly a month since my last start. I want the better team."

"You started on the 15th. It's only been two weeks." Noah corrected. 

"And you came in for me last week." Dave added. 

"I'll take Quincy tomorrow." Garret spoke up. "Make them my third perfect game this season!" 

"Yeah!!" A few of the guys got excited. 

Kyle rolled his eyes. "I just want to point out that you've done it against the same shitty team twice. It's not that impressive."

"It'll just be more impressive tomorrow then." Garret said. "Quincy scored the most against us all season. So I'll settle them and show off then."

"Okay, okay. It's settled then. Garret tomorrow. Kyle on Monday." Coach looked at Kyle. "You want a turn against Jake or not then?"

"I'll pass." Kyle waved his hand. "I'll save that until the end of the season. I don't want to mess up my rhythm right now."

I hesitated after hearing that. "I don't want to mess anyone up..."

"It's strictly voluntary." Coach looked around. "Who all wants a turn?"

A few hands went up. Dave and Bryce. Joey. Marshel. Tyler and Matt. Not all, but about half. 

I looked at Brian, surprised he didn't want to try. I thought he was good. 

Brian caught me looking. He grinned and shrugged. "Maybe next week. I just did seven innings yesterday. Gotta do a proper cooldown and rest the shoulder a few days."

"Oh, okay." I nodded, relieved that nothing was wrong. 

"Let's give the pitchers some time to do proper warmups with Mitchell and Oscar. Two get ready, then the others will warmup with Oscar in the bullpen. We'll give each pitcher three outs or three hits before switching."

"Hit it to me, Jake." Noah grinned. 

I immediately shook my head. No way would I be hitting to the left unless it was in the air. 

"Okay." Coach clapped his hands. "Let's get moving. Starters, take your positions and we'll do some fungo drills. Jake, you're own for stretching and swings."

The water break ended and we all started to go our own ways. Guys like Kyle and Bryce, who weren't participating, went on a jog around the field. Catchers and pitchers to the bullpen with a couple of coaches. 

I went to my bag and pulled out one of my better bats. It was hardly used and didn't show any signs of cracking or damage. I didn't ever want to break a bat again, but I really don't want to do it against my own teammates again. It can be dangerous if the bat split and accidentally hit one of them. 

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