The Hitting Zone
chapter-382

Monday's game was against Tulelake High School at home. Kyle was named the starter and wasn't given a pitch count.

"We need to win this one, boys." Coach said before warmups. "Even though they aren't in the league, they are ranked slightly higher than us in CIF division. And if that's not enough, I want you all to know that Servite beat them." The team straightened up. "That means Servite is ranked higher than us as well. We need to play catch up."

"But we're undefeated in league too." Noah spoke up. "Aren't we okay as long as we beat them?"

"Hypothetically." Coach nodded. "As long as we stay undefeated and win league, then we punch our ticket to CIF. But-" His eyes cut across the group of us. "We're not the only ones undefeated in league still. Servite and Golden West haven't suffered a loss yet. They play each other this week so one will drop, but that's only one loss. OLU only has two losses so they aren't far behind either. This next month will be grueling, but you all will need to touch it out."

Coach looked at Garret. "We also play Golden West this week. At home. On Wednesday. You'll get the start so I need you in peak condition."

Garret nodded. "I'll throw a few pitches in the pen during the game."

"Good." He looked around. "Next week is OLU and Servite. We're going to play six games in a span of fourteen days. It's not going to be easy." He made a face. "It's not good to say this, but we got the easy teams out of the way. We've already played American Christian Academy, Redwood, and Porterville twice. No more easy wins left in league. We have one win from Quincy and one from OLU. I shouldn't have to remind you boys how close they were."

He didn't have to remind me. Those were my worst games. Sort of. Against OLU, I went 1-2 with a walk and a run scored. It wasn't a pretty game for me. If it wasn't for Zeke's three run homer, who knows what would have happened. As for Quincy...that's a game I would like to forget. I went 1-3 with a walk, and two runs scored, but the embarrassment of the bad slide was still fresh in my mind.

A glance at Dave told me he didn't forget that game either. It's when he messed up his nail, and had to be benched ever since. It's been two and a half weeks, and his finger was looking somewhat better. No more blood or pus, it was making a comeback. He was able to start throwing again, yet wasn't allowed to start pitching until the end of this week.

"Okay, here's the lineup for today," Coach continued.

1 SS Noah Atkins

2 2B Jake Hollander

3 LF Mahki Holstrom

4 CF Zeke Atkins

5 1B Julian Wilson

6 RF Tanner Erickson

7 3B Jason Morris

8 C Alex Farrell

9 P Kyle Atkins

Garret would be in the bullpen for today's game in order to prepare for Wednesday's big game; meaning, Tanner would get the start in right field again.

Like Coach suspected, this game wasn't an easy one. We didn't get to have a hit fest. Instead, pitching dominated the game. Kyle was able to pitch all seven innings while not losing his temper. He gave up two runs off five hits, and earned four strikeouts. He wasn't as good as Garret in getting the strikeouts but their ERA was pretty close.

Noah had a rough start, striking out in three straight plate appearances. He was depressed that he wouldn't get a fourth at-bat, but after a few more hits and baserunners, he figured that he would come up last in the sixth inning. He really tried his best against the pitcher, fouling off a few balls along the way. It wasn't pretty; his swing was horrendous and all over the place, but he persevered. He was able to knock a roller between first and second, earning a single, and continuing his hitting streak.

I did slightly better, going 2-3 at the plate, with a walk and a run scored. Both of my hits were short singles, and the outfield was really good at getting the ball in quick. With my speed, there was no chance for me to try for second.

In fact, I didn't get to go far very often with Noah struggling before me, and Mahki struggling after me, there was only one opportunity where Zeke got to come up with me on, and that was his first at bat. Noah had struck out, I hit a single, and Mahki had popped out to the third baseman. Zeke came in and smashed a home run to right field, putting us up on the scoreboard early.

We ended up winning the game 4-2 with a little help from the bottom of our lineup. Coach was satisfied with the win and didn't keep us very long for a postgame talk.

On Tuesday, my history teacher returned the family tree projects to us with the grades already recorded. He congratulated everyone for turning it in and hoped we would not forget where our roots come from.

Looking at my 80%, I felt a little disappointed and frustrated. He had marked me down for missing spaces.

"Don't worry," Noah told me. "If you're unhappy with it, Mom can get justice for you. Honestly, you should get extra credit for her innovative idea to use two trees. You did double the work."

I shrugged and sighed. "It's not a big deal. I can still get an A in the class. It's just a stupid project anyways." I stuffed it in my backpack. "Do you think I'll have to practice sliding today?"

"No way." Noah stuffed his in his bag as well. "Coach wouldn't risk you hurting yourself before a big game like Golden West."

I nodded, feeling hopeful.

We finished classes and went to practice. Coach actually took it easy on us and didn't push us too hard. There wasn't that much running and I didn't have to practice sliding with Drew. It was a good day overall from that aspect alone; it even pushed the family tree out of my mind.

After practice, I followed the Atkins through the routine of home, shower, dinner, and then homework. Noah and I were both working on an English essay in our room, when Kyle burst in, slamming the door against the wall.

"Noah! You have to see this!" He yelled.

"See what?" Noah rolled his eyes, annoyed at the racket he was making. "If you made a mark on the wall, I'm going to tell Mom it was you, ya know."

"Yea, yea, whatever." He waved off the potential trouble he could be getting into. "Just look!" He thrusted his phone in front of Noah's face.

Noah's annoyance amped up to anger, but it quickly disappeared when he got a good look on what was being shown. "No way!" He jumped up. "Is this for real??"

"It has to be!" Kyle said excitedly. He bounced around happily before running out of the room. "Come on! Zeke and Dave are already checking ESPN! They have to be talking about it!"

Noah was hot on his heels.

Seeing all the excitement, I got up too.