The Hitting Zone-Novel

It was almost like a repeat of last year.

The San Marino coach didn't take his ejection lightly. He made sure he got his two cents worth as he yelled at the umpires. The catcher was the first to go back to their dugout under the guidance of an assistant coach. I could see him taking his gear off. Someone else started to put it on. Presumably the new catcher.

"Jake." I heard Coach call for me.

I turned to face him and Jason.

Coach gave a small nod. "This opportunity is even better than we expected. A backup catcher. If and when you do get walked, make sure to get off that bag. You're faster than you think. Go out as far as the first baseman." He instructed.

I nodded. I glanced back at Noah on first with Coach Luis. "That looked like it hurt."

Coach's lips twitched. "I bet it did. I don't think the catcher did it intentionally though. He was probably just frustrated and made a bad throw. It happens."

"Noah's tough." Jason said. "He can handle it. After the game, we'll reward him with a bag of ice and some ibuprofen. He'll be good to go for the championship." He winked.

I grinned. Noah was always 'good to go' for a baseball game. Especially if it's a championship game.

This delay was even longer than the last as the umpires had to escort the San Marino coach off the field where he was met with tournament officials that could hopefully calm him down. The home plate umpire met with an assistant coach from their dugout and talked it over as a new catcher came out and caught some practice pitches.

After everything was sorted and those that were ejected left, the umpire called me up to bat. As I walked up, the catcher stood up. Yep. An intentional walk. Just as we thought.

I dropped my bat and jogged to first, pushing Noah to second. I swallowed a lump in my throat and shook out my hands. This would be the most important step. Noah has to get to third safely.

Coach Luis gave me a small pat on the helmet and nodded. I took a deep breath and started to step off the bag. The first baseman was five to six feet off the bag but was behind me. They were hoping for a double play.

I felt a little nervous being so far out, not to mention that the pitcher had such a good view of me. But he simply kept an eye on my, glanced back at Noah, then turned his focus back on Jason.

I tried not to look at Noah, keeping my eyes on the pitcher who held the ball. I didn't want to give away the fact that we were trying for a steal.

The pitcher kept his motion short and threw a fastball towards home. Noah was sprinting. Guys were shouting all around.

"Go!"

"Steal!"

"Third!"

Jason did a crappy swing and completely whiffed. His big ugly motion had some influence on the catcher, slowing him up. The catcher caught the ball and jumped to his feet, then did his best to throw to the player covering third. Noah dove head first and the tag came down. I had, possibly, the worst view.

"Safe!" The umpire extended his arms.

It soon felt like everyone was yelling, but our dugout was the loudest. Noah got up and clapped twice towards Jason in the batter's box. "Let's go!!"

The energy was high all around. Jason connected on the very next pitch, a fly ball to right field. I turned to watch so I could tell if I was to run or stay. The right fielder made the catch and I went back to first base in a hurry. But no one cared about me.

"HOME!"

"GO HOME!"

,m The right fielder threw over my head, intending for the baseball to go straight to the catcher at home plate. Noah was doing another head first slide, arms stretched out. The baseball got to the catcher and he turned to make the tag. Another close play. All eyes went to the home plate umpire.

He extended his arms "Safe! Safe!"

Noah jumped up and pumped his fists. He and Jason went back to the dugout, heads held high as they were greeted with cheers. We took the lead 4-3, thanks to Noah's plan and Jason's sacrifice fly and the inning wasn't over yet.

Korrey came up next. Unfortunately he hit into a routing 6-4-3 double play. But that was a-okay! No harm, no foul. I headed back to the dugout still satisfied with our one run lead.

"Garret, you have the mound." I heard Coach say just as I came back in the dugout. He looked at Dave and held up a hand to stop his disagreement early. "You did great, Dave. You kept us in this game the whole time. Good work. Do your cool down and take a break." His eyes roamed the dugout. "Jesse, move to center. Tanner, you go out to right." He made some moves and the guys agreed.

I switched out my gear.

"You guys have fought hard. Don't stop now." Coach said. "Shut them down and keep them out of the championship game one more time."

Noah grinned. "You've got it, Coach!"

The nine of us hurried to take the field. Coach let the umpire know of the pitching change, getting Garret some extra time to warm up and get some practice pitches done.

Top of the seventh inning. Three outs away from a win. Garret had to start with their cleanup hitter. He didn't get a hit off Dave, but has been making contact. This third time up wasn't any different. He smacked a hard line drive that Noah had to jump for. He came down with the ball and the first out. Garret handled the fifth batter on his own, getting him to strike out swinging.

Then it was the sixth batter. The guy responsible for all runs driven in for San Marino. Two homers. Three RBI's. Garret waved at Mitchell to join him on the mound.

I checked with Noah to see if we were supposed to go up too. But he shook his head. Good thing too, because Garret and Mitchell's conversation was really short. Not even a full minute. Mitch went back behind home plate but didn't squat down.

I heard a few 'boos' from the San Marino dugout and fans as Garret threw four intentional balls to walk the batter. Garret wasn't bothered. He shut down the next batter for another strikeout and effectively ending the inning and the game.

We exchanged high-fives with the guys on the field and then with those in our dugout. We laughed as we packed up our bags.

Coach clapped his hands once to get our attention. "First off, good game boys. I'm proud of all of you. You really pulled through when the going got tough. You were tougher." He looked at Noah. "You were innovative. Sometimes we need a little creativity to get through games like this. Play the small ball." He paused. "We'll talk more after lunch. For now, clean up and let's get out of here."