The Hitting Zone

Drew was trying to kill me. I could feel it. Every muscle screamed as he kept pushing me, even tempting my lungs and heart to jump out of my chest. This is borderline abuse.

"You did well today." Drew watched me as I stretched. "You're not even close to your limit, but you've improved compared to last week." He looked as the team was running plays on the field. "Looks like you could go join them now."

I panted, but nonetheless made my move so I could get away from this devil. I approached the coaches that stood near home plate.

Coach Wilcox looked me over. "You're smaller than I remember. Didn't I say to gain muscle?"

I discreetly pointed at Drew as he was leaving the field.

Mr. Miller laughed. "I think he's blaming it on Vishnevsky."

Coach just shook his head. "Okay, it's not like I was expecting you to hit homeruns." He gestured to the where the team was practicing. "We're running potential game plays. Zeke mentioned that he taught you on Saturday?"

I nodded.

"Good." He looked at his team, before calling out, "Hey Roberts! Head to the bullpen with the other pitchers. Jake is going to try a few plays."

Roberts was a lanky second basemen. He sent a look my way, not exactly a pleased one, yet not an outright glare. He took off and jogged to the bullpen where some pitchers and catchers were working together, under Coach Luis.

"Jake. Treat this as a real game. Full effort at all times. I want to see if you could potentially play in real games." Coach slapped my back and pushed me forward. "Get out there!"

I jogged on out to a neutral spot for second base. Noah gave me an encouraging smile and Julian gave a simple nod.

A player held a bat and ball. He called out. "No outs, no runners!" He tossed the ball and then smacked a hard grounder at me.

As I had just taken someone else's spot, I kind of expected they would start with me. I'm the new one after all. I ran up to greet the ball, caught it on a hop, then quickly sent a throw to Julian, who caught it right at chest level.

"Good start." The play caller told me. "Next! Runner on first! One out!" He tossed another ball up and sent it towards the third baseman.

The third baseman grabbed it bare handed and attempted to throw to second base, but no one was there...

Noah was running towards third base and I was standing awkwardly, trying to remember what to do. We didn't practice any plays on Saturday that was related to third base. I could remember watching some videos pertaining to covering second base but I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be me or Noah. Noah's the better fielder so I was going to let him grab it, but for some reason he was moving to third. The play died and everyone paused to look at me.

Coach Wilcox blew a whistle and stepped onto the field, near the play caller. "This would be an error. And the worst kind too." He looked at me. "Jake. Second base was yours to cover." A snort came from the third baseman. "You got something to add, Chris?"

The third baseman straightened up. "No, sir."

"Then why the unnecessary noise?"

He sneered. "Well, sir, I'm just not surprised that a freshman would make such a fatal error."

"Hey!" Noah shouted, standing tall. I turned red with embarrassment, just wishing the Earth would swallow me up.

"Quiet Noah. You aren't the coach." Zeke came in from the outfield. He jogged in, taking a stance near me, but not too close. "Sorry Coach, I didn't work on third base plays this weekend. There was a lot to cover just between second and short, first and short, and cut offs."

Chris, the third baseman snorted once more. "You shouldn't even have to go over every play with a varsity player. This is ridiculous."

Coach Wilcox slowly walked a little closer. "You're right. I shouldn't have to. Especially with a seasoned varsity member like you. Why don't you tell me why you didn't throw to first after seeing no one covering second? If we couldn't get a double play, it would only make sense to get at least one out to lessen the pressure on your pitcher."

Chris seemed to be at a loss for words. "But, but-"

"No buts. Ten laps. Go. Under thirty minutes or I'll make you run another ten." Coach Wilcox said with authority. Chris threw down his glove and took off fast. "Jason! Play third!"

"Yes!" A boy the same height as Noah came from a small group watching from the sideline. He had black curls leaking out from under his cap, which had a stark contrast to his pasty white skin.