The Hitting Zone
chapter-714

Joey was right-handed, tall, and threw like he was hurling the ball as hard as he can. His style made me tired just looking at him. Doesn't he feel exhausted putting so much effort into one pitch?

The first pitch went high, almost eye-level with Noah, for ball one. The second pitch was a little bit closer, but still another ball. I could tell that Noah wanted to swing, but he was holding back. Joey currently had no control. Joey's third pitch got closer to the strike zone again, but Noah held up and let it pass for ball three. The fourth pitch was a borderline call...a call that went Noah's way for ball four. He earned a walk. Noah turned and tossed his bat back towards the dugout and jogged to first.

Garret left the on deck circle and went to the lefty's box.

I moved from the dugout entrance to the circle. I took a few light swings, still mostly focused on Joey.

Mitchell had stayed standing for an extra beat before squatting behind home plate. He gave the sign and Joey nodded. He got set, then went through his motion, throwing a rocket right down the middle. Garret let it pass for a called strike. Mitchell threw the ball back to Joey, who looked satisfied with that pitch.

Garret took a step out the box and took a practice swing. With Joey now being abled to get the ball over the strike zone, he had to be ready to swing. Joey had a lot of similarities with Garret, but he didn't have a cutter. At least, I don't think so. I've only seen fastballs so far.

The second pitch was high, but still within the zone. Garret didn't hesitate to swing and connect, putting the ball into play. The ball got over the infield and rolled to Tanner in right field for a single.

I moved to the batter's box and made a last minute decision to bat right-handed against Joey. There wasn't any particular reason why I chose that side, but I figured I might want a better view of the ball coming out of his hands.

"A minute." Mitchell stood up and went to the mound.

I barely had any time to think about what he was going to talk to Joey about, because Joey sent Mitchell back. He didn't want to hear what Mitchell had to say apparently. Wow. So arrogant.

Mitchell came back with pursed lips and got back into position.

I got set and watched Joey with a better view now. He was tall. Six foot, by my guess. Slightly shorter than the twins, but looked bigger. Thicker. I guess he had more weight and more muscle. That could be why it looks like he throws super hard.

His first pitch to me was a fastball inside. Really inside. I jumped back to avoid being hit. Ball one. I eyed him as he got the ball back from Mitchell. It didn't seem intentional, but it didn't look he was sorry about almost hitting me either. I got set again.

He threw a fastball down the middle for a called strike. 1-1.

Hmm. I think there was a difference between those two pitches. I focused more on the ball coming out of his fingers, looking for something different. As he cornered me on the next pitch, putting the count at 1-2, I started to foul off his pitches. Four. Five. Six. His pitch count grew. As did my confidence.

Joey didn't have a breaking ball specialty pitch. What he did was switch between a two-seamer and a four-seam fastball. The four-seam was the generic fastball, whereas the two-seamer had some downward movement coming inside on my swing.

After pushing him to the double digits in pitches, I settled on aiming for the normal fastball. That would be more likely to leave the field for a homerun than a ball with movement.

It seemed like Joey had the same thought of bringing this at-bat to an end. He threw his fastest pitch right down the middle. I don't know how he thought he could beat me so straightforwardly, but I wasn't going to complain about such a perfect pitch to knock out. I took a step forward with my left and hurried my swing to meet the pitch. With perfect contact, I used all my power to hit the ball. It went right, flying over the infield, then over Tanner, and then finally over the fence.

I ran the bases with ease and a small smile. I was no Zeke, but it was a good feeling to know that I could aim for homers now. I was stronger and this was just the beginning.

"Jakeee." Sean complained as I rounded second. "Have mercy on us." He laughed, clearly joking.

"What a blast!" Jason commented from third.

I ran home and touched the plate. 3-0 lead.

Garret and Noah had waited for me before going back to the dugout. One was patting my head while the other slapped my shoulder. These were my friends. The guys I could trust to be near me.

I glanced at Ethan as we got back to our bags.

He glanced at me. "Good hit." Them he quickly looked away.

Mr. Miller must have had a talk with him like he said he would.

"Here's your bat." Davin, a freshman from my morning group held out my wood bat.

"Thanks." I put it away with my helmet. After putting my hat back on and turning back, I noticed that Davin was still around. "Uh...Yea?"

"I was just curious as to why you use a wood bat?" He asked. "I wanted to ask earlier in the group, but I figured it might be for training purposes."

I froze, unsure of what to tell him. I couldn't even touch an aluminum bat, let alone swing one. Wood is the only option.

"To prepare for The Show." Noah jumped in to answer for me. "If you want to play in the big leagues, we can only use wood so might as well get a jump on it. But only if you bat as well as Jake does."

Davin nodded in an understanding manner. He said a few more words before heading back to his own bag. He bats seventh so he has a chance to come up to bat this inning.

Noah put his elbow on my shoulder and leaned down a little. "Just use that as an excuse from now on. Not too many people will doubt it. You have the skill to use a wood bat so why worry."

I knocked him off my shoulder. "I know. I just didn't expect someone to ask me outright."

"I should probably start using a wood bat too." Noah said thoughtfully. "After high school, I'm going straight to the minors and we can't use aluminum bats there anyways."

"You can't just write off college so soon." I told him.

He gave me a look. "Okay, 'Mom'."

I rolled my eyes. "Nothing wrong with playing in college. Zeke is doing it. The twins are going to do it."

Noah shook his head. "I'm not them. They aren't me. I have my own dreams, and my own path to get there." He looked at me. "Are you considering college?"

I shrugged and nodded at the same time. "Yea, probably."

"Where would you go?" He frowned.

I shrugged again. "I don't know."