The Hitting Zone

Coach actually didn't add much more. He just told us to rest up and be ready to go Monday. "We'll go with Garret." He announced. "Oscar, you'll start off calling the game, but if I don't think you're syncing well with him, I'll take over from the dugout."

"Garret gets to pitch before I do?" Kyle cut in to ask.

"Obviously." Garret grinned. "I'm number one."

"I should get the next game then." Dave laughed.

"You wish." Kyle elbowed him in the ribs.

"Quit it." Coach ordered. "I'm going with Garret because he's the easiest to get along with." He glanced at Noah. "You guys might want a different catcher behind the plate."

"Yes!"

"No."

Noah shot Dave a glare. "I'm not your personal catcher."

"Come on. We worked so well together." Dave grinned, coming over and trying to pull Noah in a side hug. "We legit can't be anymore perfect together."

Noah looked to Coach, showing some signs of distress.

"I'm not ruling the possibility out." Coach stated. "I'm not going to sabotage the team and ruin what works. We'll still give Oscar his chance on Monday with Garret. As for which twin gets Wednesday's game...I'll decide later." He looked around. "Pack it up and head for the bus. I'm going to check on the other teams." He mentioned the lower levels.

"Yes, sir." A lot of the team said together.

Coach left us and we went back to the dugout. We packed up and cleaned up, before leaving together as a team. Garret led the way back to the bus in the parking lot. Only Mr. Miller was there, talking to the bus driver. He started to direct us to put the bags underneath in storage, but didn't let us board.

"Both teams are still playing." He told us. "You guys can either go watch one of their games or hang out around here with me."

"Why can't we board the bus and take a nap?" Bryce asked.

Mr. Miller looked at him directly. "I think it may be best if you go show support to your schoolmates."

Noah moved his eyebrows up and down. "I'm guessing if you choose to hangout here instead of watching baseball, it might not look so good." He glanced at me. "Want to watch JV or freshmen?"

I made a face at the decision. I didn't know very many freshmen. But also...JV might have a lot of drama. We just spoke to Andy before we left for this school so I can't really stand to see them have a confrontation or fall apart.

"C'mon Jake." Noah nudged me. "I know what you're thinking. Don't pick the easy choice."

I scowled. "Why do you want to watch the JV game? It's like a trainwreck."

"Exactly." He snapped his fingers. "Hard to watch, but you also can't look away."

I looked around to see what the other guys were picking. There seemed to be a consensus that everyone was going to head to the JV game. I frowned.

"What are you two doing? Still dawdling?" Kyle stopped to ask as more of our team started to leave. Dave stopped too.

"Jake isn't really wanting to watch the JV game." Noah shrugged and told them.

They both looked to me. I gave a small shrug. "I just don't like the feeling it's giving me." I thought of another reason. "And no one is really interested in the freshmen game. What if they feel bad that no one came to see them?"

Dave laughed and slung his arm around my shoulders. "Okay, kid. I get you. Let's go cheer for the babies." He started to steer me to the freshmen field.

"I'm obviously going too." Noah hurried to my other side. "It's probably wrong of me to want to watch the collapse of the JV team anyways."

Kyle was only a step behind. "What's going on with them anyways?"

Looks like they all decided to agree with me. I felt lighter knowing I wouldn't have to watch the JV team with mixed feelings. Noah used the time it took us to walk to the field to tell the twins about our conversation with Andy.

The freshmen field looked extremely rough. There was absolutely no infield grass and the outfield grass barely looked any better. We sat in a nearly empty bleacher near the visitor's dugout. They didn't have a scoreboard to tell us the inning or the score, but we knew it was the bottom half of an inning since Quincy was up to bat and our guys were on the field.

"Any of you know the pitcher?" Kyle asked as he stretched himself out and got comfortable.

I shook my head, clueless.

"Trevor." Noah answered. We all glanced at him. He blinked. "Don't you guys pay attention in camp?"

"Your memory is pretty good." Dave commented.

Noah rolled his eyes. "I'm just not self-absorbed like you guys are." He noticed my hurt expression. "Not you, Jake. It's different."

"Why is it different?" Kyle asked. "It's not like we would see him often. We don't bat against him at all. Maybe see him around in the pitcher workouts." He shrugged.

"Because Jake has social anxiety." Noah reminded them. "He avoids eye contact with just about everyone. Heck, we came to this game because he didn't want to see the other one because of anxiety."

"We also came to support the freshmen." I added.

"Yes, yes. The fresh meat." Dave joked.

Just then, a Quincy batter made contact, hitting a sharp line drive to center. The center fielder came sprinting in and made a great catch before the ball could drop.

I gave Noah a pointed look.

He understood in a millisecond. He stood up and clapped. "Nice catch! That's the way!"

"Yea! Good one!" Dave echoed without getting up.

The two of them looked at Kyle.

Kyle sighed before raising his voice. "You boys got this!"

Trevor got the ball back and faced the next guy. He struck him out, looking pretty good. They rolled the ball to the mound as our freshmen team all jogged it in. I guess that was the third out. We got a lot of looks from the guys jogging back in, as if they were curious who would be cheering. I saw a few looks of surprise and confusion. I tried to be friendly and lifted a hand casually to wave.

"Let's get it boys!" Noah clapped excitedly. "Get some baserunners and wreak havoc!" Noah cheered for every batter that came up, calling out their name and changing it up for every single one. I don't know if it was because of him and his cheers or not, but our guys did well, get back to back base hits, driving in runs, and not giving up easy outs. The twins started to get into it too, yelling out cheers while clapping. I was team clapping. It was one thing to yell out cheers for people I know like Kaylee during her game, but I didn't want to mess up some of their names. Like I trust Noah, but he could still be wrong.

Their dugout was getting energized too as they raked in the runs. Maybe they were losing or in a close one, because it was definitely a different vibe for the freshmen team as they took the field for the bottom half of an inning again. Trevor was back on the mound and did well, going three up, three down. The infielder started to convene and slapping hands.

"Looks like they won." Noah nodded with pride before standing up.

"As they should." Kyle stood up too.

Dave and I got up as well and we all started to walk down the stands.

"You boys want to hang around a second?" A coach from the freshmen dugout asked us.

"Do you need us to?" Kyle asked.

Dave elbowed him. "It's not like we're in a hurry. The bus ain't going to leave any faster if we leave the field now."

Kyle glared at him and rubbed his side. "I was just asking; not being rude about it."

"We'll stick around, Coach Ryan." Noah told the guy.

He nodded. "Thanks." We watched as his guys celebrated before heading back to the dugout. He waved them over like he was holding a postgame meeting with a fence between us. "Not bad, boys. Way to hang in there until the end. I've got to say though. I didn't see that spark coming until Noah here, started to take charge with the cheers and chants." A lot of eyes went to Noah. "I'm not saying you guys didn't work hard. You did. I just believe his support came in a timely manner. Could you feel it?"

Trevor was the first to nod. "Yes, Coach. It's definitely a good feeling hearing someone call out my name to cheer me on. It's uplifting."

A few others agreed.

"It's important to keep your head up no matter the score or how many innings left." He talked some more about their game and what aspects they performed well and what needed work.

"Anything you guys want to add?" Coach Ryan looked to us.

I immediately took a step back.

However, Noah took a step forward. "We weren't able to see much, but from what I saw, you guys did your jobs. No errors. Physically or mentally. And even if you did, way to brush it off." He noticed some kid picking his head up. "Fun fact, Jake had an error today."

A lot of eyes drifted to me. I wanted to go hide in a hole.

"But he didn't let it take him out of the game." Noah continued. "He just had to pick himself up and try harder next time. Don't waste your thoughts on what you could have done better until after the game when you can afford to do some reflection. Then put it to action and work on it."

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