The Hitting Zone-Novel

Chapter 281 Game: @ Lassen Union HS 7

Batter number five was first up, hitting a hard grounder between me and Sean. Sean was quick to dive at it, making sure it didn’t reach the outfield grass. I paused not sure what to do since I expected that I would have to field the grounder.

Sean glanced back at me with a look of surprise. I looked back at him, still confused.

"Sean! Here!" Matt yelled out as he raced the batter to first base.

Sean threw it to him underhanded. Matt caught it and tagged first just one step before the batter.

"Out!" The first base ump pumped his fist.

Sean got up on his feet and walked over to me. "Uh, Jake? I’m no pro at first base, but weren’t you supposed to cover if I got the ball?"

"Was I?" I blinked, not sure.

"It’s fine." Matt came over, towering over both of us. "I covered. On a grounder to the first baseman, either you or I can go cover the bag, depending on who’s closest."

Oh. I was closest...

"Don’t mind." Noah joined our little meeting, with Jason right behind him. "We’ll work on it this week with your fielding."

"So I was at fault?" My face fell.

Matt laughed and patted my shoulder. "Take it easy. I said it’s my responsibility too."

"It probably doesn’t help that I only know the basics of playing first base too." Sean added.

"Why are you all even hung up on it?" Jason asked. "We already got the out."

"It’s called a learning experience." Matt said. "There’ll be plenty of practice for everyone. Let’s work together as a team." He glanced towards home plate. "Let’s get back to our positions. Kelvin and the umpire look like they’re done waiting on us." He moved to the mound in an unhurried motion.

Jason and Sean jogged back to their spots as I moved towards mine.

"Matt is very easygoing." Noah walked with me for a second. "For a pitcher, especially."

"Is that bad?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Not really. But maybe I like to see more competitive players. Or at least...I’m used to it. It’s not very often you meet such a relaxed dude." He glanced at Matt one more time before leaving me for his own position.

Matt’s next opponent was batter number six, who had previously grounded out to Noah in the second inning. Matt agreed with every pitch Kelvin signed for, pushing the count to 2-2. The next pitch was smacked towards Brian in right field. Except, it went well over his head, and not long after went well over the put field fence. A home run. 3-1 now.

I pulled my eyes away from right field to quickly check up on Matt at the mound as the batter ran around the bases. He was busy waiting for a new baseball from Kelvin, not looking too affected. Heck, I couldn’t tell if he had even watched it go over the fence. Maybe this is what Noah has against ’relaxed’ teammates? They don’t seem interested?

But that’s not right. Matt was the one to run to first to cover the bag on the groundout. It’s not like he isn’t trying. After the home run, he faced batters seven and eight. Seven sent a high fly towards the left field fence, but Garret was able to track it down and catch it for the second out. Batter eight didn’t swing all the way through on his connection, just letting the ball bounced off the thin part of the bat. It slowly rolled to the mound. Matt was quick to get to the ball and made a smooth throw to Sean at first to get the last out of the fifth inning.

"I just don’t like how he doesn’t seem interested in winning." Noah spoke up about Matt again as we took our seats in the dugout. Top of the sixth would start with Jason, Sean, and Kelvin so we needed them to get on base in order to bring us up to bat again this inning. "It’s like he doesn’t care."

"I think he cares." I whispered back. "He covered first base on the first out and he fielded a grounder for the third. If he didn’t care, then why would he try so hard?"

Noah’s lips thinned. "I don’t know. I just don’t like the lack of passion on the mound I guess."

I cracked a smile. "You want all pitchers to be as loud as your brothers?"

He laughed. "It’s what I’m used to okay."

The sixth didn’t have much action for our team as Jason struck out swinging, Sean grounded out to short, and Kelvin hit a slow roller to second. Three up, three down.

Luckily our defense produced the same result. Bryce, the sophomore, came in to deal for the bottom of the sixth. He’s one of the few pitchers I’ve seen in multiple games besides the usual starters; he had played against Durham and University Prep earlier this season. Both teams were in the Foothill Classic and had proven to be tough teams to play against. Especially University Prep. We still haven’t played another team at their caliber. But that didn’t mean Bryce wasn’t good. He came in and got Lassen Union to go three up, three down with a groundout to third, a fly out to left, and another groundout to short.

As soon as the sixth ended, he raced back to the dugout and went straight to Coach. As I jogged back to the dugout with Noah, I watched as he had put his hands together like he was pleading and praying to Coach. Coach gave a slight nod and then he was off again. He raced to his bag, pulling out a helmet and bat. I guess it’s not hard to figure what he had asked Coach. He just wanted to bat. I understand the feeling.

Noah laughed as Bryce bolted by as we headed to our own bags. "He’s so eager like Coach might take away his only chance to bat."

I shrugged. "It kind of is though. For today. And also the other days he doesn’t pitch. If he was a starter, he might get more plate appearances though so I don’t know why he doesn’t try for that instead."

"Because Garret and the twins hog the starter spot. They’re the best not just on the team, but in the county now too. It’s hard to compete with a left-handed ace, who is also good at batting AND a set of twins that have thrown a perfect game each." Noah put his helmet on and grabbed his bat. "I just thought it was funny the way he was running around. It’s not like the ump won’t let him bat. The defense gets like a minute and a half for warmups."

I slid my helmet on and nodded. "So he’s the opposite of Matt. He has too much energy?"

Noah let out a laugh. "I guess that’s where I’m getting at. One’s too relaxed and the other is too hyped up. What a pair." He gave me a nod before leaving the dugout and getting in the on deck circle while I patiently waited in the hole.