The Hitting Zone
chapter-426

"Good work out there, James." Coach told him. "Take a seat. Kyle will close it out."

"Thanks, Coach." James sat down and grabbed a water bottle and downed it. He took off his hat and revealed a forehead drenched in sweat. I guess pitching for even part of an inning can be tough.

The bottom of the fifth started with Zeke, Julian, and Noah. Since Noah was tugging on his batting gloves and busy getting ready for his at-bat, I decided to follow Garret and some of the guys that were checking on Dave.

Dave was at the far end of the dugout, seemingly trying to stay out of the way. He forced a grin when he saw us coming. "I'm not dying so don't look at me with so much pity, okay?"

Garret laughed, sliding on the bench to sit next to him. "We're just making sure that you're alright. Your season isn't dying, is it?"

Dave shook his head. He held out his right hand, palm up. On his middle finger, a blister was taking over. "The friction caused a blister."

I blinked. Friction?

Garret shook his head, looking sympathetically. "You were going hard out there. Those strikeouts came with a price, huh?"

Dave looked a little sheepish as he shrugged. "Drew said the moisture from my sweat, plus me throwing harder than normal, caused the friction. He said he'll give me ways to prevent it in the future, but now I have to wait for it to heal." He slumped a little in his seat. "Another week on the bench for me."

Silence fell upon us. No one spoke. I tried doing the math in my head. We had three games left. Tomorrow was against a non-conference opponent. Thursday was at Golden West. Then next Monday was at Servite. That's all we have left. If Dave has to sit for a week....he won't be able to play for the rest of the season.

A 'ding' sound came from the field, making us all turn to look. Zeke had hit a nice line drive to center field. The center fielder sprinted forward and snatched it before it hit the ground. It felt like everyone sighed in the dugout.

"Why are you all so depressed??" Dave spoke up. "We're still winning." He caught me looking at his finger. "C'mon Jake, it's just a blister. In the grand scheme of things, do you really think it's that bad?"

I shifted. "But...you might not be able to play anymore this season."

Dave laughed. "You dork. If we win the remaining games and win our conference, we'll go to the CIF tournament. That means, there'll be more games to play."

I perked up. That'll be good!

"Yea, but Golden West hasn't suffered a loss yet." Mahki spoke up. "So even if we beat them, we have to make sure we beat them in run differential." He looked at me. "That means we have to beat them by two because they had beaten us by one." He put his hands behind his head. "We also have to beat Servite. Another tough game." He smacked Dave's knee. "Heal up quick."

Mahki and the others walked away, Garret included. Just leaving me and Dave by ourselves.

"Are you still worried?" Dave asked, watching me closely.

I stood tall. "No." Yes. "We'll go to CIF." Hopefully.

A heavy hand fell on my shoulder. I jumped, but the hand held me in place. I looked to see that it belonged to Zeke. He was back.

"Don't feel so stressed." Zeke said. "Golden West and Servite also have to play a second time. And we'll have you back for the second Golden West game. Do you think I won't be able to drive you home a few times?"

That's right. As long as I get on base, I'll be able to score a few times with someone like Zeke hitting behind me. And Garret. Mahki. Julian. The upperclassmen won't just roll over and take a second loss. They're good.

"What a show off." Dave snorted at Zeke. "I could have cheered up Jake on my own."

Zeke rolled his eyes. He looked at me. "Go watch the game."

I nodded and went back to my seat. I snuck glances at the two of them as I watched Julian's at-bat. Zeke has sat down next to Dave and they were talking to one another in low tones. No one else went over to them so it didn't feel right for me to go eavesdrop either.

Julian hit a fly ball to right field for the second out, then Noah followed up with a strike out. It wasn't until we switched to defense, that Zeke finally left Dave. Whatever they talked about must have been serious.

Like Coach told James, Kyle came out to close up the game. He jogged to the mound from the bullpen as Coach spoke with the head umpire. Alex gave Kyle the ball so he could get some pitches in.

Kyle's pitching was a little lackluster compared to Dave's. But unlike Tyler, he got the job done. He got his first batter to hit a foul fly ball that Julian caught with ease. The next batter struck out, swinging. The third out came from a line drive that Noah caught after diving in the dirt. It was a clean inning, yet...

Comparisons just weren't good for anybody.

The bottom of the sixth brought up the bottom three of our lineup. I sat down next to Noah near our bags, and put on my helmet.

"Dave has a blister." I told him. He was staring at the end of the dugout where Kyle went to go talk to Dave.

"Yea, I heard..." He pulled his eyes away from the twins to watch our teams offense. "Dave has had blisters before. Kyle too. Common pitching injury."

"What do you think they're talking about?" I glanced at the twins as they separated. Kyle was up after Alex so he had to get ready to bat too.

Noah shrugged. "Probably about the blister? About Dave's pitching? Anything really." Noah was brushing me off, but I couldn't tell why. I also didn't want to put him in a bad mood so I let it die.

We watched as Jason hit a long ball to center field, but the outfielder caught it for the first out. I grabbed my bat. Alex struck out so I walked to the on deck circle slowly, hoping for Kyle to do something. Unfortunately the curse was still alive. As I stood in the circle, I watched Kyle strike out to end the inning.

Now if Kyle closes out the seventh inning with us in the lead, we won't have to bat in the bottom of the seventh. It's not a bad thing, but I would have liked to have another at-bat...I pouted as I put my bat and helmet away.

"There's a game tomorrow." Noah tried to cheer me up.

I nodded, but wasn't feeling it. I grabbed my hat and glove, and hit the field. I would have liked to score more to cheer up the team.

Kyle didn't falter and closed it out cleanly. Pop up to left field. Strikeout. Fly out to right. No one sprinted to celebrate like before, but there were smiles of relief.

Coach gathered us for a postgame speech and to talk about tomorrow's game. "Good win, boys. It may not feel like it, but you played great. We got on the scoreboard early and our pitching held up. Tomorrow, we'll let Bryce get the start. Garret and Kyle will be reserved for Thursday against Golden West. As for Monday, everyone will be ready because of the three days off. We're going to be okay. Everyone should be focusing on doing their best for every game." He looked at Bryce. "Even against non-conference opponents. It's a tight race to first right now. Everything counts. Wins. Runs scored. Runs given up."

"So don't let up." Zeke added, standing tall. "Dave is okay. He'll be good to go for CIF." Dave nodded to show his agreement. "So don't let him heal up for no reason. Prove to him, that we'll need him back for playoffs."

"Yea!"

"Of course we'll need him back!"

"You better not slack off, Dave!"

That last comment came from Garret and earned a few laughs.

"Alright, get going." Coach waved us away. "Go home. Finish your homework, eat a big meal and get some rest. Tomorrow's game is at 4pm so we'll warmup after classes. No skipping!" He dismissed us.