The Hitting Zone

The coach looked at me, impressed.

"He can't hit a homerun obviously." Mr. Miller joined us. He looked down at me, making me nervous. I took a slight step back. "And he doesn't have a backbone."

Noah crosses his arms in front of his chest. "He doesn't need one with me around. The point is, he can hit well. Very well."

Mr. Miller looked at me. "Can you at least bunt?"

I pointed at the first and third base line.

"Are you asking us which side? Or telling us, you can hit both sides? The lack of communication between players and coaches are very important. How are we going to keep taking time out of practice to play charades with you?" The other assistant coach joined us. I think it was coach Luis.

I tugged at Noah's sleeve, feeling pressured by the man. Even Coach Wilcox and Mr. Miller frowned at him.

Noah glared at Coach Luis "Jake obviously said he could do both. If you keep bringing up his muteness, I'll tell my mom and dad." Apparently this Coach has said something while I was hitting against Garret.

"Luis, I don't think you're being very appropriate. Why don't you let me make the decisions here." Coach Wilcox made a stand. He looked at me. "So you can bunt?" I nodded. "How about fielding?"

"The basics." Noah answered for me. "He can play second so we'll be able to work together."

"How basic?" Mr. Miller asked.

"Let's find out." Noah rubber his nose, trying to hide a smile. "Jake hasn't actually played in a game before."

"What!?" All three coaches exclaimed.

Mr. Miller was the first one to react. He started to laugh and reached out, patting Noah on the shoulder. "You found an unpolished gem! Nice one!"

Noah swatted his hand away. "Jake had family problems and couldn't play before. So he only practiced batting. Everything else would have to be taught."

"Let's see what you can do." Coach Wilcox said. "As long as it's halfway decent we can keep him in the lineup and use his batting. Go grab your glove."

I did what I was told and ran back to the dugout. Which was still had half the team there. I slowed up and stuttered step, trying to decide if I'll be able to get my glove safely.

"What are you hesitating for?" Kyle called out. "We all saw your superb hitting. If we didn't let you on the team, wouldn't that mean that none of us pitchers should be on the team either?" I saw the other guys with him, smile and laugh. None were glaring at me or yelling at me so it must be okay now.

I went in the dugout and changed out my bat and helmet for my old secondhand glove. Then I started to run back out.

"Wait." A loud voice commanded. I froze and slowly turned around to see Dave coming my way. I felt my whole body twitch, automatically thinking about running back to Noah. Dave was the one that was the most pissed off and he might still be angry at me. To my surprise, he slapped a baseball hat on my head. "You need this. You can't play baseball without one." He gave me a serious nod then walked back to his friends.

I fixed the cap so I could see properly and went back to Noah and the coaches.

"They're just going to have you field some grounders to first and second. Then maybe catch some pop flies." Noah smiled at me. "If you can just do okay, they'll let you be on the team. Then later this week, you and I can start practice turning double plays."

I nodded eagerly.

Noah looked around. "I wonder where Zeke went. He's going to flip out once he finds out you made it. Then we can tell mom and dad and celebrate during dinner. Oh, then we can also call Mr. Duncan. He'll be happy for you too. Who else..."

I shook my head sadly. That was it. Just his family and my guardian. There wasn't anyone else to brag to.

Noah saw my depressed face. "Hey! No sad faces! You still have to show some fielding skill! Go, go, go!" He pushed me towards second base.