The Hitting Zone

Garret made contact before I sat down. I turned to look as the right fielder track the ball down beyond the foul line and made the catch before hitting the fence. I cringed. Dang. Bet that hurt.

"Wow!"

"What a catch!"

"He's so fast; he can cover a lot of ground."

"That's too bad." Noah commented on Garret getting out. He looked at me as I set my batting gear to the side. "What was Coach saying to you?"

"That I tied Zeke's sophomore record for homers in the regular season." I explained the short convo.

Noah's eyes shone with excitement. "Oh man! I can't wait. Do you think you can bust out another one today?"

I laughed. "I can't do it all the time. I need a pitcher with good speed, decent control, and preferably no breaking balls. I don't know if they'll keep this guy in for much longer." I added just as Sean hit a single up the middle.

"Yea...he's already given up six runs." Noah agreed. "Too bad, so sad." He grinned. "Well, I believe you'll break the record no later than next week. We have three games against non league opponents so they shouldn't shy away from you too much. There'll be lots of opportunities."

I nodded.

"It'll be great to break the record before we go to the regional tryouts." Noah talked as Jason started his at bat. "It's like something you can put down on your list of accomplishments."

I made a face. "We have to list down accomplishments?"

"Probably." He shrugged. "It's a way to rule out some no brainers and to focus on the real potential. With you be ranked in county, state, and country, you'll have a lot of eyes on you."

I frowned. "What about you?" Noah wasn't ranked in state or country.

Noah laughed. "Don't worry about me. I know how to show off and catch some looks. I believe in my fielding. I believe in my speed. As long as I can make contact during my at bats, the rest will fall into place."

I relaxed a little with Noah's confidence.

Jason hit a single to left field, prompting a mound meeting for the Quincy players, but no coach came out. The umpire eventually went to the mound to break it up.

Noah slowly got ready for his at bat as we worked our way down the lineup. Korrey hit a sharp liner right to the second baseman though for the second out. Noah no longer bothered getting up despite being in the hole. With Oscar up and two outs, I kind of knew why. Oscar swung and missed three times for his second strikeout of the game.

"Can't be a good feeling." Noah sighed and took off his helmet. "Hope he doesn't think about it too much when he's behind the plate."

"I don't know; he seems pretty level-headed to me." I said, putting my hat on and grabbing my glove. If anyone should be feeling bad about their plate appearances, it should be Korrey. He's either been bad or plain unlucky. I feel like Coach might be more likely to bench him than anyone else.

We took the field for the bottom of the third. Oscar and Robbie were the last to come out of the dugout. They had a shorter amount of time to warm up before the umpire called for the batter to step up. We were back to the top of the order of Quincy's lineup.

The first batter came up and got set. Robbie nodded at Oscar's signs and got set too. He did a full windup and motion before pitching a fastball to the outside. The batter was able to reach it and pulled it to left field. Korrey came sprinting in, dived for it, making the catch before hitting the grass. There were some applause and a few shouts from our team of guys. That was a heck of a catch. Maybe his fielding will keep him safe from getting pulled from the game like my hitting does for me.

Unfortunately we weren't lucky the next time. The next batter was able to get the ball in the grass before Korrey could get to it. He caught it on a bounce and threw it back in to Noah as the batter rounded first. Noah threw the ball back to Robbie and most of us shifted around, aiming for a double play.

It didn't work. The third batter hit one into a gap for a single too. Runners on first and second with the cleanup at the plate. I bit my lip and wiped my sweaty hand against my jersey. I didn't feel as comfortable as I normally do with the twins or Garret on the mound. My worry was proven right after Robbie walked the cleanup hitter to load the bases.

Noah called for 'time' and headed for the mound. He didn't call for all of us to join him like last time so I looked to Sean and Jason to see what they were doing. Jason took the lead to start jogging in, prompting me and Sean to do the same. Oscar, Robbie, and Noah were already talking about what's going on when we joined.

"My control isn't there today." Robbie stated. He patted Oscar on the shoulder. "We aren't catching very many breaks today."

Oscar was frowning. "Just play catch."

"What do you want to do for the next batter?" Noah asked. "It's not like Coach will take you out right away."

"I want to throw my knuckle." He said, glancing at Oscar.

Oscar was still frowning. "That's risky. I don't have a hundred percent catch rate."

There was a silent pause as everyone looked around. Robbie was a little too passive, seemingly uncaring about the runners or what Oscar wanted.

"Let him try it out." Noah took charge. "If it's no good, switch it up to fastballs outside and high."

Robbie looked to Oscar. Oscar thought about it for a second before nodding. He put his mask back on and headed back for home plate.

"You're a Junior, Robbie." Noah said. "You've got to show some command on the mound."

Robbie shrugged lightly. "It's not like I have a whole lot of game experience. It's fine. No matter what happens, it's my own stats."

Noah pursed his lips and didn't say anything more. Jason and Sean had already left for their own positions so we went back too. Everyone got set, bases loaded, one out.

Robbie went to his knuckleball, throwing it six consecutive times before walking the fifth batter. He walked in a run, pushing the score 6-3. Still have a buffer zone but now the winning run was at the plate. It's not a good feeling. However, Robbie didn't show any signs of frustration. He just went back to his fastball like Noah had told him too. The sixth batter connected on a high fastball, hitting it to right-center. He drove in two runs and stayed at first while pushing the other runner to third. 6-5.

I kicked the dirt, not liking the rhythm of this game at all. We haven't given up this many runs in a game since the finals of the Tulare Invitational back in February. And we were only in the third inning still.

"Aright! Settle down!" Noah hollered, clapping his glove. "Focus on the batter! One out!"

I don't know whether his shouts helped or if we just got lucky, but Robbie was able to get the next guy to go down swinging. His fourth strikeout of the game. Batter eight was the catcher and he pulled a grounder down the line. Jason was there, playing close to the bag because of the runner. He fielded the ball and made the throw to Sean to end the tumultuous inning.

All the starters jogged back to the dugout, losing a lot of the earlier excitement. It was back to being a close game with us only having a one run lead.

"Do your cooldown, Robbie." Coach said when Robbie walked in. "Logan is going to pinch hit for you."

Robbie didn't look surprised, nor did he make a big deal out of getting benched so soon. He just got out of the way and started to do some stretches.

"Want me to take over, Coach?" Garret asked. He hadn't pitched since his perfect game a week and a half ago.

"No." Coach shook his head. "Marshel is already warming up. We'll see what he can do on the mound and what we can do at the plate. You can be ready as a potential closer."

"Okay." Garret went to his bag and started to get ready. He wasn't even up until fifth but maybe he was hopeful with us being back at the top of the order.

Noah didn't waste time or spared a word about the ugly half inning we had just seen. He simply got ready and went out to take some practice swings. Logan was out there soon enough too as first up.