The Hitting Zone

The rest of the afternoon I joined other infielders for a couple of drills before we were dismissed for dinner. Even though Noah and I were on the same field, there wasn't much time to chat until we headed to our bags to switch our cleats out.

"How was your hit-fest?" Noah asked as he packed up his bag.

"It was easygoing." I told him.

"Did you beat Danny again?" Noah grinned.

I nodded. "Yea, but-" I gave a small shrug. "I kind of lost to Cody so I don't think you can give him a hard time." At least, not without me getting a hard time for popping out to the pitcher.

"Kind of lost?" Noah asked, eyebrows raised. "How do you kind of lose?"

"Well…I didn't strike out." I defended myself before explaining. "But I popped the ball up and he caught it. For a technical out. It'll probably impress the coaches."

"Cuz no one else jammed you up?" Noah clarified.

I nodded. "Yea. Most were one pitch at bats. Even Danny's."

Noah grinned. "Okay. Not bad."

We picked our bags up and followed the crowd going towards the dining hall. On the way, I told Noah about some of my at bats. Only a few left an impression just because they threw a breaking ball, but made sure he knew that it wasn't any harder than playing in our league games.

"Yea, limitations on age can really work in someone's favor if they're spectacular like you." Noah nodded, then grinned. "It's going to work in my favor too. I doubt there'll be another great defensive player like me. If I keep up the fielding and just do my norm at the plate, I think I'll make it too."

I nodded along, happy so far with how this tryout and whole regional team thing was going. At first I was skeptical and maybe I am still a little nervous, but it's not as bad as I thought.

We went through the line in the cafeteria, getting a big square of lasagna and a side salad. We got settled on a table that had the least amount of people nearby.

Noah pulled out his phone once he placed his food down. He rolled his eyes. "Kyle didn't go today? Lame."

My eyes widened. "Dave didn't say anything when he handed me the snack bags."

"What kind of snacks?" Noah got sidetracked.

I shrugged. "I didn't check. It's in my bag."

Noah's eyes drifted to my bag on the floor.

I laughed. "It's not going anywhere. We can eat it in the room later. Mom will be mad if you just snack and not eat your dinner."

He rolled his eyes again. "I'll eat my dinner, of course. I ain't trying to starve myself. I just need a little extra subsistence." Yet he didn't pick up his fork and start eating like I did. Instead, he was typing away on his phone. "Kyle didn't give too many details. Just basically said he was worn out from last night's prom. He said he would take Grampa tomorrow instead."

"Grampa probably doesn't mind staying in his own bed for another night." I pointed out.

"Yea, but Zeke's running out of games left this season." Noah sighed, tapping on his phone. His shoulders went rigid and his face started to scrunch into a scowl.

"What? What is it?" I stood up and leaned over the table. It took me a second to read upside down, but when I comprehended what it was, I frowned too. I sat back down and muttered. "That sucks."

Stanford was down 6-2 with only a couple of innings to go.

"Come on, man." Noah started to tap on his phone again until he could get the radio broadcast of the game to play. "Let's go, guys." He groaned as we heard that Stanford gave up another hit. Noah twisted his lips in disgust, picked up his fork, and angrily stabbed his salad.

Noah stayed unhappy for the rest of the meal. We both did. Stanford lost 8-5. There were signs of life at the plate, but the pitchers kept getting beat.

"I don't know how, but this is Kyle's fault." Noah complained as we cleaned up our spot. "I bet if he and Grampa made it to the game, they wouldn't have lost."

"What happens now?" I asked, frowning.

"Well, San Jose State lost their second game earlier so they're out." Noah said, looking over the info on his phone. "Like they don't even get to play Texas A&M. It's like process of elimination. Now Stanford has to play Cal State Fullerton because they both have one loss. Whoever losses will be eliminated. Winner would have to win twice against A&M."

"So they have to win three in a row to move on." I started to understand.

"Lose and it's over." Noah sighed. "They need to win the first game tomorrow, that way we can go to the rematch against A&M."

I nodded in agreement. I pulled out my own phone to text Zeke. I also had a text from Jeremy, asking how the camp was going. I sent him a reply. Another text to Mom. By the time I was done, coaches were starting to break us up into smaller groups, presumably teams for scrimmages.

I didn't get to stick with Noah for this one, but I did get Ryan in charge of my group. He led us to an empty room where we were told to introduce ourselves and our positions. There were a few guys that said they could play anywhere and that made me wish I had that kind of flexibility.

When it was my turn, I wiped my clammy hands on my pants before stating, "I'm Jake. I play second base."

"Jake Atkins." Someone whispered.

"Him?"

"Yea, I heard from my friend. He faced the pitchers after lunch."

"He's smaller than I thought."

"You're not much bigger."

I shifted uncomfortably as the talks around me got louder. It's like they're talking behind my back…except it was in front of me.

Ryan clapped his hands twice and around went silent. "Alright, I know some of you have interest in one of the top players in the state, but you'll have plenty of time to see him in action tomorrow. Let's finish the introductions and then we'll discuss the plan for tomorrow."

Ryan got things going again. After everyone had a name and some kind of position, he stood up and started to talk about tomorrow. "As you can tell, we don't have any pitchers or catchers with us at the moment. They'll be assigned to us tomorrow with another set of coaches in charge of their rotations. They might want one pitcher doing an inning here and then maybe go to another field for an inning there. So expect to see a wide variety tomorrow."

"Sounds like they have it tougher than we do." Someone commented.

"They most certainly do." Ryan agreed. "But don't let that fool you all into taking it easy. If you ask me, it means there are less chances for you guys to stand out and make the final cut."

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