The Hitting Zone

I looked to Coach for help.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to, Jake." Coach assured me.

I tried not to die of embarrassment as I rubbed some dried sweat off my cheek. "I'm not really sure what he's asking." I said in a low voice.

"Am I tipping my pitches?" Cody repeated. "Is there a telltale sign that gives away what my pitch will be?" He elaborated. "I feel like you and your team could possibly tell."

"Oh. Jake probably could." Noah shrugged. He nudged me. "Tell him how you know."

Oh. "Well, when you're throwing a curve, your index and middle fingers are on the outside. When it's a fastball, they come out on top of the ball." I tried to show him what I would see.

Coach Wilson laughed. "That's not really what he meant. That's not actual tipping. That's the normal consequence of throwing different pitches. You have excellent vision then, Jake. I'm not surprised you have such skill given your success."

"Actual tipping is like when the pitcher does something out of the ordinary." Noah explained to me. "Like closing and opening their glove for different pitch types. It could be something as small as biting their lip for when they get ready to throw a breaking ball."

I immediately looked to Danny.

Danny was taken aback. "What was that look for?" His eyes narrowed and he stepped closer. "Do you think I'm tipping pitches?!" His raised voice gathered a lot of attention from both teams.

I had flinched back and Noah stepped in front of me.

"Is there any reason to yell about it?" Noah sneered.

"He basically cheated to get that double off of me!"

"Cheating? It's part of the game." Noah rolled his eyes. He glanced at me. "Want to pack up?" He was clearly inviting me away from this guy and this situation.

I glanced to our team that was starting to get closer, clearly interested in this conversation. Dave and Kyle stood together; they probably were talking about one another's performances.

I pursed my lips. Then peaked over Noah's shoulder to try to look at this guy. He didn't look like a bad person. He was loud, yes, but so were the twins. The constant need to get better and dominate on the mound. I rubbed the back of my neck, unsure. "Do you...want to know?"

Noah swiveled around to look at me and block me from Danny at the same time. "What are you doing? These are our opponents. The kind that we have to see next year. And the year after that. If you've got an edge, you should take it."

"But I think it's the right thing to do." I stressed. "If Dave or Kyle had a tell and someone saw it. I would hope they would let them know so they could fix it."

"Who cares about the twins." Noah rolled his eyes again. "They're grown. If they get bombed, they'll start figuring it out. Just like this guy can."

I squinted at him. "Do you think I'll lose to him without this advantage?"

Noah started to shake his head. "No." Then he paused. He lowered his voice. "Do YOU think you would?"

I shrugged. "I wouldn't promise a perfectly hit double, but I know I wouldn't strike out."

Noah sighed. "You really want to tell him?"

I nodded. "Yea." He might be loud and a little scary, but- "He didn't walk me. It would have been a different game if he walked me."

"Tch." Noah rolled his eyes. "I bet we could have still pulled off a win. You walk. Korrey and you do a double steal, rattle him. Maybe cause that distraction we were talking about and Korrey would have scored."

I let out a short laugh. "Yea? I think it was closer than you thought."

Noah took a deep breath. He turned back to Danny and stopped blocking me. "Jake is willing to tell you. On the condition that you keep your distance and stop the yelling." I grinned. Noah knew me best. "He's only doing this because he feels bad so don't take it for granted."

"Noah." Coach said in a warning tone.

Danny stared at me eagerly. His coach and teammate were still standing nearby too, also interested. I guess they haven't noticed.

I headed for the mound. "I'm not a pitcher so I don't know why you do it, but I'll show you." I got on the lump as the others started to surround me. "After nodding at your signs from the catcher, you do this," I toed the rubber twice before setting. "And that's your fastball. For the changeup, you do this." I toed it once.

"That can't be right." Danny immediately denied. "I wouldn't do something so stupid." He started mumbling under his breath.

I shrugged, not sure what to tell him. That was how I saw it.

"You probably didn't realize it." Cody spoke up. "Now that he has said something, you should try to be more conscious of it." He looked to his coach. "We have a few videos that he can watch, right?"

"Yes, that should be his homework for the weekend." Coach Wilson agreed. He smiled at me. "Thank you, Jake, for taking some time to advise him. And to reassure Cody that he doesn't tip his pitches. You guys will go all the way again, I believe. Especially with you in the lineup."

"Oh. Thanks." I nodded. I stepped off the mound to stand near Noah. His ice bag was starting to become a bag of cold water.

"Do you guys want to join my travel team?" Cody spoke up to ask. "It's closer to our school obviously, so I understand if you can't do the hour drive twice a day."

"Yea, that would be too much for our parents." Noah said. He smirked. "Plus, we actually really do have plans this summer."

"Camps?" Danny joined our conversation. "Which ones? We can compete there."

My lips twitched. This guy...

"Stanford for sure." Noah told him freely now, different than twenty minutes ago. "That's where our brother goes so that's kind of obligatory."

"Zeke Atkins, right?" Danny asked. "I heard he was good. I want to try to face him. Do they let high schoolers face off against the college players?"

"They're more like camp counselors." Noah said. "You know..." He grinned. "If you want to face better players, you should do what we're doing. Trying out for the regional team."

The pair both looked surprised and confused.

"That's the stuff you do if you want to try to make Team USA, right?" Danny mused.

"You can make Team USA in a few different ways." Cody told him. "Playing travel and going to the big tournaments is the same thing. They'll have people selecting players to invite for a camp of sorts." He looked at us. "You guys are taking the regional team route instead of playing for a travel team? That's significantly less games."

I felt a hint of relief.

"Already made it to round two." Noah grinned. "Can't pass up trying something new. Jake's pretty much a lock." I glanced at him and he quickly redirected. "Travel ball is similar to high school if you ask me. Constantly playing with the same guys, against the same guys. How are you supposed to get better?"

"Practice." Cody said at the same time that Danny said. "Exactly!"

Danny looked like he found a kindred spirit with Noah. "Is there any way I can make it to round two? Is it like a tryout?"

The two started to talk about the process of making the regional team. It started to go so long that their coach had to really force Danny to go back. It was time for them to travel back to their school as it was getting late. We all still had school tomorrow.