The Hitting Zone

I looked at Noah for help. Noah was already on it though. "How are we supposed to know that about your imaginary runners if you don't say so beforehand?"

"You'll have to observe the situation beforehand."

"What does that even mean?" Noah rolled his eyes. "The runners aren't real. We can't see them. Can't judge them. Can't see if they're leading off or not. I vote that Jake doesn't have to run the lap." My savior!

Zeke glanced at Garret. He shrugged. "Just a bit unfair. I'd let it slide until coach puts him in a game, but then double the punishment then." He sent me a thousand megawatt smile, yet it felt anything but friendly.

"He must be bitter about losing to you last Monday." Noah mumbled to me. I nodded in agreement. Garret didn't seem like an evil guy but looks can be really deceiving.

"Okay. In this upcoming tournament, when you play, for every error you commit, you'll have to run a mile the following practice." And sometimes you get what exactly is advertised. Zeke looked mean and scary, and his words definitely confirmed initial impressions.

"Isn't that too much?" Noah pouted. "Sounds like you're abusing your power."

Zeke smiled at Noah. Making us both shiver. "If that's what you think, then as his 'mentor' you'll help him run his laps. Half a mile for each of you for each error."

I don't know about Noah, but I felt better about it.

"We can discuss more with Coach during practice." Zeke added. "Let's get back to fielding now. Any more disagreements and you'll be running home." Noah and I got back into our spots, without argument. "Next play. Runner on first and second. No outs." He smacked a hard grounder to Noah's right side. He dove, using his glove on the backside, then use that momentum to keep turning right, throwing me the ball. I caught it while touching second and quickly threw to first.

I smiled at Noah and gave him a thumbs up, even thinking about saying something about how well he fielded that.

Only, Zeke spoke first. "Fail."

We looked at him, confused on what we missed now.

He looked at me, "You're going to get wiped if you play like that."

I looked at Noah for translation, finding him looking at me already. He nodded. "You can't hang on the bag like that Jake. The runner will come in hard, spikes aiming at your ankles to ruin your throw to first. Not only does your throw have to be quick, your feet has to move as well."

I sighed, but nodded. I could understand that.

"Hit one out here already! I'm getting boreddd." Kyle complained from afar as Noah was busy teaching me and Zeke was busy scolding us.

Zeke grabbed a new ball and got ready. "Runner on second. The score is tied at zero, bottom of the seventh. It's a single to left field. Jake, you're the cutoff man. Where do you throw?"

I pointed at home. We have to defend against the run. High school baseball only has seven innings so if the opposite team scores in the bottom of the seventh, we lose.

He nodded. Then he sent a line drive single between me and Garret, to Kyle. Kyle caught it off the bounce and threw a bullet to me, like it could have been him pitching. I caught it, then threw to Dave.

Dave caught it off a bounce. He looked at me on the edge of the infield. "Yo. You may be a batting genius, but you have really weak arms."

I turned red with embarrassment.

"He's only a freshman. He can't be good at everything." Noah defended. "Jake hasn't even practiced fielding so I think he's doing great."

"No." Zeke stayed firmly. "Dave has a point. Jake can't throw very far. We'll have to convert Julian into the cutoff man for this side." He thought for a minute. "Julian will go to the grass as the cutoff guy, Jake, you'll have to immediately go cover first base just in case."

I nodded, actually liking this plan.

"This is just a temporary solution." Zeke stared me down. "We don't want someone useless on the field that we have to constantly accommodate."

"Hey! Too far! Jake will make it up for it with his bat!" Noah glared at Zeke.

Zeke quirked an eyebrow. "We'll see."