The Hitting Zone

While we were celebrating our win, getting on the bus, we found out that the lower levels had lost again. Close games they couldn't pull out of. It didn't affect me, but Coach certainly frowned when talking it over with the coaches. It hit the back of my mind once we got back to school.

I carried Dave's bag as Noah and Kyle helped him to the car, not letting him put any pressure on his ankle. At home, we met up with Mom, Dad, and Grampa.

Dave was taken to the couch in the living room. Everyone hovered as Mom took a look at his ankle.

"ER for sure." Mom frowned. "It's so swollen. Did you actually keep the ice on?"

"Yes, Mom." Dave said.

"Want to take him now?" Dad asked. "You or me?"

"I will." Mom said.

"Can I eat first?" Dave pouted.

Mom hesitated. It was getting late.

"I'm not a real emergency." Dave pointed out. "They'll make me wait in the waiting room for hours. Do you really want me just snacking on vending machine foods?"

"Let's just order pizza." Kyle suggested. "Fast and easy."

"Fine. But you all are having a side salad with it." She gave in. She looked at Dad. "Wayne, can you put the order in? I'm going to get Dave another ice pack." Dad nodded and stepped away to make the call. She looked at me and Noah. "Showers. Pajamas. You know the drill."

Kyle didn't sweat nearly as much as us so we had to go first while he stayed with his twin. By the time we were down, Kyle was in the room, typing on his phone. No doubt texting Marie. Noah and I went downstairs and found Grampa sitting with Dave so at least he wasn't alone.

"I think we should both take him." Dad was re-discussing with Mom. "The other three will be fine for the night. This way I can help him move around until we find out the situation."

Mom agreed. Dinner arrived and was soon going through the digestive process. Mom told Kyle to put the leftovers in the fridge and reminded Grampa to send us to bed when he went upstairs too. Dad helped Dave out to the car in the garage, not letting him putting any weight on his bad foot. I saw Dave grimacing and thought maybe it was more serious than I thought. I shared that thought with Noah and Kyle when we laid down in bed.

"It's on the bone." Noah sighed. "Even if he didn't break anything, he won't be doing much this week."

"It's fine. He already signed with Vanderbilt." Kyle told us. "Even if he's out for the season, he knows what the next step is."

"A pitch to the ankles won't end his season." Noah refuted.

"He's out for two weeks. Easy." Kyle sighed. "We've only got a little over a month left of baseball."

"Okay Debbie Downer." Noah huffed. "I bet he's doing drills by next week. Back in the bullpen when school starts up again."

"I hope you're right." Is all Kyle said.

I'm pretty sure I was the first to fall asleep, but also the first to wake up when I heard some noises in the dark. I blinked and saw Dave's silhouette hobbling to his bad with Dad's help.

"Are you okay?" I whispered.

Dad and Dave stopped. Dad turned my way. "He's going to be okay. Just has to take the week off and let himself heal."

"That's good." I yawned and snuggled back under the comforter. I could hear Dad get Dave settled, returning a time or two, placing things near him.

"Jake?" Dave's whisper cut through the dead quiet room.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think I'm a suck-ass pitcher?"

My eyes opened immediately and I sat up. "What. No."

"Shhhh." Dave shushed me. "Keep quiet, man." He paused. "Do you think I'm a bad pitcher?"

I started to shake my head but remembered he couldn't see me. "No, no. You're good." I tried to think of ways to reassure him. "You're just a little unlucky right now. Look what you've been doing when healthy. You haven't given up any runs since.."

"The Foothill Classic." He finished for me. "Semi-finals. I didn't do that well then either. It was the teams batting that won that game."

I stared into the dark. "That was against a good team. A better division with better talent." I sighed. "I like playing teams like that. More of a challenge. They let me hit."

It was Dave's turn to be stunned. "It won't always be like this. I'm sure."

"Same for you." I told him. "I know how easy it is to get down on yourself when you feel like you're not doing enough."

"Thanks, Jake." He yawned. "Next time, for sure. I'll crush it."

"Yea."

It wasn't long before I could hear him start snoring. The next morning, Noah went on a run while Kyle and I trailed behind. Dave stayed at home with Grampa while Mom and Dad got to work.

"You know." Kyle said between breaths. "You do, do enough."

"Huh?" I huffed, confused. It wasn't often I could keep up with Kyle on a run. It was taking most of my energy to keep pace and he wanted to talk?

"I heard you and Dave last night." He continued. "You said it's easy to get down on yourself when you feel like you haven't done enough. I just wanted to be the one to tell you, you've done more than enough. I can't imagine what you were like before coming to us, but seeing you now..." His head bobbed up and down. "You're doing your best. We all see it. On the team, in school, even with Jeremy."

"Thanks." I gave a small smile. "I think...everyone needs to hear that sometimes." I glanced at him. "Maybe you should tell Dave something similar too."

"Dave and I have a different way to communicate." Kyle grinned. "It'd be different if I knew he was out for the season. But since he can make his way back again? I can't let him off so easy." He started to pick up the pace. "There's only so much time left that I can be on the same team to compete with you guys." He lifted a hand as I trailed further behind. "I gotta beat you when and where I can. See you at home."

I rolled my eyes.

As expected, I was last one back to the house. What I didn't expect was to see Dave in the garage with Kyle and Noah, doing a workout. Nothing involving his legs but he was there lifting weights, doing ab exercises, even challenging Kyle to a handstand competition.

No one bothered to shower since we had practice after lunch. Dave refused any of our help and hobbled everywhere even if it meant he had to take it slow. When Noah asked why he didn't get crutches, Dave laughed.

"Crutches? For a bruise? What a joke." Dave scoffed. "Besides. The doc said I should keep moving to keep the blood flow going. I just can't jump or move very fast."

"Did you get anything for the pain?" Kyle asked as we watch Dave struggled on the way down to the varsity field.

"No. They said to stick with Tylenol." Dave rolled his eyes. "Mom told them that she thinks I've taken too much lately and is worried about addiction."

"Very realistic concern." Kyle nodded.

"No way. I wouldn't become addicted to anything other than baseball." Dave refuted.

The pair started to argue about the odds of becoming an addict to prescription painkillers. In the dugout, a lot of the guys came by to check on Dave and see how he was feeling. Coach did the same when he showed up, coming to him first. Dave did a lot of reassuring, saying he had to rest a week and then see how it feels.

"You're with Drew. All week." Coach instructed. He looked to Mr. Miller. "Drive him up. I don't want to see him messing around down here."

Mr. Miller nodded and Dave didn't have any room to complain.

Coach waited until all the guys were on the bench, lacing up their cleats before he started to talk. "Yesterday was another good game. All of you are putting in the work and effort to make this a good season. We have two more league games this week. Redwood Thursday and Porterville on Saturday. Don't think about slacking for even a second." He looked to Kyle.

Kyle straightened out and grinned. "When have I ever gone easy on someone? I hope to shut these guys out. Maybe a no hitter. I wouldn't rule out a perfect game."

"You're such a braggart." Bryce rolled his eyes.

"You're just jealous." Kyle merely shrugged.

"Garret you get Saturday's game." Coach ignored the other two. "I don't want to give either of these teams a chance to surprise us. Next week we have some non-league games that the others can try for." His eyes scanned the pitchers like Bryce, Brian, Joey, and Marshel.

Garret nodded.