The Hitting Zone



Our offense tacked on one more run with Jason's RBI single. 6-0. Bryce ended the inning with a groundout though. 

Garret had the best inning a pitcher could do, striking out the bottoms three in the lineup. I thought he did great, but Noah was quick to cut in. 

"If you didn't waste those balls, it could have been an immaculate inning." Noah smirked at Garret. 

Garret rolled his eyes. "Throwing two perfect games this year isn't enough for you?"

"An immaculate inning is more rare." Noah pointed out. 

"Throwing intentional balls is part of strategy." Garret defended himself. "You want to get them to swing and miss. Don't let them get a hit when you have an 0-2 count."

"Blah, blah, blah." Noah said. "Pitcher stuff is so boring with all the deception and mind games. This is why I can't be in a battery. Have to face them head on."

"You know you would think differently if you were behind the plate." Garret told him. 

"Good thing I'm not." Noah snorted. 

The two separated, going to their own bags. 

"You sound like you're in a bad mood." I told Noah. "You've been picking at Garret at every chance you get."

"Yea." Noah agreed rather easily. Seeing me look taken aback, he laughed. "I can hear myself too, okay? I think I'm just frustrated that the ball isn't coming my way and that Dave was annoying last night, plus this morning. Hitting is your relief. Fielding is mine."

"I can hit grounders and fly balls for you this weekend?" I offered. 

Noah grinned. "Yea, it's the least you can do for me if I have to be a pretend catcher for you." He thought about it for a second. "Do you think the boss will make me wear catcher's gear? Even though it's you hitting."

I got serious. "You absolutely have to wear catcher's gear. You're going to try to distract me. I really might make mistakes."

"Fine. Fine. I'll lug the heavy gear all the way there. But I better not hear any complaints about how long I want to play at the park."

I grinned. "When have I ever complained about hitting?"

"You think hitting baseballs my way is the same as the cages? No way. I'm going to make you work."

I laughed. "As long as I don't have to run the bases or take my turn to field, there won't be any complaints from me."

"Ok, let's see who gives up first." Noah smirked. 

"You're on."

Bottom of the third, our offense came up empty thanks to a pitcher change. Korrey struck out. Jesse hit a sharp grounder to first, who was able to snag it and throw to the pitcher who came over to cover the bag. Mitchell got on by single. But then Noah went down swinging to end our side. 

I gave him a pointed look as we were at our bags, changing out our gear. 

"What?" Noah shrugged. "Can't be perfect all the time."

True. I nodded. 

Garret started the fourth, back at the top of the lineup. The leadoff guy got jammed for the second time in a row, hitting a slow roller to the mound. Garret was ready for it, sprinting to get the ball and throw him out at first. Batter two popped out to Jason at third. Batter three was the fourth groundout to Garret at the mound, leading to more complaints by Noah. Garret could only be helpless that his cutter was working really well today. 

Bottom of the fourth. Sean led off with a groundout to third. My turn. With our 6-0 lead and no one on, I wanted to take this opportunity to try for the fences. The result was a little less than desirable: a lineout to right. I overcompensated and didn't get underneath it enough. 

"Nice try, Jake!"

"You'll get the next one!"

"Good swing, good swing!"

I jogged back, picking up my bat on the way as some of the people in the stands called out to me. I was nervous I would hear someone say that I could have done better, but all of the things I heard were supportive. I gave a small wave to them before getting back into the dugout. 

"Looking more comfortable running. Looking more comfortable with the fans." Noah commented as he grinned. He slapped my back when I got closer. "I'm proud of you, kid."

I rolled my eyes, yet smiled. "You're only a couple of months older."

Our half of the inning ended with Garret's long fly to center. If he had hit it to the corners, it surely would have been gone. It's okay, we were still winning and Garret was still dominating on the mound. 

Top of the fifth was another three up, three down scenario. Cleanup struck out. Batter five hit a groundout to Jason at third. And batter six was another strikeout victim. This time, Noah didn't give Garret any grief on the way back despite still not getting a grounder his way. Garret was onto something special again. Something significant. A potential third perfect game in one season. No one said a word to Garret as he headed into the dugout and took a seat near the end. He was the last out so he didn't have much chance of coming up this half. Neither did I.

We could have gotten Garret an early perfect game if we had scored more, but with the new pitcher, we just weren't seeing the same kind of hits. Surprisingly, Quincy took that guy out and put in someone new. He walked Jason to start things off before getting Bryce and Korrey to pop out to short. I could feel Noah's exasperation as he saw the other shortstop get work in. Jesse got walked, pushing Jason to second. Mitchell ended the inning with a short fly ball to right. 

With him being the last out, it took extra time for him to get his gear on and get behind the plate for Garret and his practice pitches. Didn't bother either of them though. Garret struck out batters seven and eight again, then the nine spot was replaced by a pinch hitter. The guy got a good piece of a fastball and pulled it to the left. Somehow Jason reacted in time and was able to snatch the line drive out of the air before it could get through to the outfield. Six perfect innings. 

My heart rate started to climb. I was anxious and excited for him all at the same time. I think everyone was. 

Bottom of the sixth. New pitcher. Noah ripped a hard line drive...right to the second baseman for the first out. Sean hit a routine grounder to short. My fly ball to left field came up short and ended the inning. Garret was left in the on deck circle. He slowly went back, taking off his batting gloves and then his helmet. 

I bit my lip and resisted the urge to say anything. I changed my gear and took the field. Garret and Mitchell didn't take long coming out too. They did a few practice pitches and the game was called to resume, with the leadoff batter to come up first.

Garret landed a fastball nearly right down the middle for a called strike. The crowd clapped crazily for him. Everyone should know what's going on by now. Garret threw his cutter next, coming inside. The batter fouled it off for strike two. Garret got a new ball and got set. He nodded at Mitchell's sign and started his motion. He threw another cutter, going inside on the player a little more. The batter was a little late to jump back and get out of the way. Then the confusion started. 

The batter grabbed the front of his jersey and said something to the ump. The ump suddenly pointed to him, then to first. He tapped his body and indicated hit by pitch. Mitchell was up in seconds, talking to the umpire. Coach came out as the crowd groaned and booed. The other coach came out too as his runner went to first. 

I looked to Noah for help and saw him walking to the mound. I hurried to follow. Sean and Jason had the same idea. Only Mitchell didn't come as he was arguing with the ump. 

"Mitch looks more upset than you." Jason told Garret. 

Garret gave a self-deprecating smile and shrugged. "He does have a better view than me. I've just got to take the umps word for it."

"I don't get it. What happened?" I spoke up. 

"He said the ball brushed his jersey." Jason told me, having been closer to home plate than me and Noah who played so far back. "The umpire agreed and that counts as a hit by pitch."

"Bullshit. What a bad call." Noah cursed, kicking the dirt. 

"Mitchell seems to agree." Sean had eyes at home plate as the drama unfolded. "Someone better drag him away before he gets thrown. Then he'll be suspended for OLU game too."

"I'm on it." Noah headed to home plate. "No way are we playing OLU with a backup." We watched as he got ahold of Mitchell and guided him with a heavy hand to the mound to join us. 

Mitchell let out a few more choice words before the guys got him to calm down. "I swear on my life that it didn't even graze him. What a pretender." He frowned at Garret. "Why aren't you mad with me?"

Garret lightly smiled. "What good will it do? The umpire can't take it back now."

We all stood around as the three adults finished talking about the call. The opponent's coach went back while ours came to us. He took one look at Garret, pointed at him and said. "Finish them." Then he left. 

Garret waved for us to go away. "You heard him. Let's end this." We all went back to our respective positions. 

Garret stuck with the cutter, unafraid of making the same mistake. Or at least being called for a non mistake. The second batter connected, hitting one up the middle. 

"I've got it!!" Noah called me off and I froze. Which was for the best. Noah got the ball just behind second base at an angle, sprinted and stepped on second before throwing to Sean at first. Out and out. A double play. 

Garret ended the game with his tenth strike out, still earning the honor of a no-hitter. Noah was the fastest and reached him first. Mitchell and the rest of us were there in seconds, still happy for our captain. The rest of the team from the outfield, bullpen, and dugout joined us too and Coach let the celebration last. 

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