Kyle lifted his glove to smack Noah, but Noah was quick to jog back to his position. Kyle looked down at . "You got anything else to add?"
I vehently shook my head no and ran back to my spot. I think Noah only dragged up there was to use . I don’t know how effective the chat was, but it was nice to see Kyle showing so emotion again. He looked lively.
Kyle faced down the sixth batter, with the bases loaded, and two outs, still the top of the first inning. It was a long beginning for a ga in my opinion. Kyle’s face was no longer a blank sheet of nothingness. He straightened up after getting the sign and started pitching. A called strike. A foul. An 0-2 count almost imdiately. Foul. Foul. Another foul. This batter wasn’t giving up. His team had a good scoring probability as long as he could get a single. On the sixth pitch, he connected and put the ball in play. It flew high and towards Zeke in center field. Noah was backing up and he was running in. I cringed, afraid they could run into each other.
Zeke didn’t let that happen. He yelled out, "Mine!" Noah slowed up and watched as his eldest brother caught the ball, underhanded, for out number three. We actually made it through the inning without giving up a run.
The team jogged to the dugout to get ready for our offensive. Noah and I put on our helts and grabbed our bats. We both stepped out of the dugout, ready to get to work. Sean was close behind, but he staying in the dugout in the hole spot.
"You think this guy would be easy to hit off of?" Noah asked as we watched the Lincoln pitcher do his warmups with his catcher.
I nodded. This guy didn’t have speed and seed to lack velocity. He was no better than a pitching machine in my eyes. We watched as he mixed in a high-to-low curve that the catcher was able to catch with ease.
Noah whistled under his breath. "That was a good pitch." He glanced at . "Ya know, when I asked if this guy looked easy to hit off of, I ant for the normal players like ."
"Oh." I mumbled. "Maybe so difficulty..?"
"You don’t know?"
I shrugged. "I don’t know what you see, or how you swing. It’s not easy for to judge. I know I can hit off him. And Zeke can too."
Noah rolled his eyes. "Ridiculous. You both have perfect averages right now. Don’t compare yourselves to re mortals." He left to head for the batters box. He took so practice swings before stepping up to the plate.
"Jake. Co here for a sec." Coach called back to the dugout. Zeke stood next to him with his helt on. I walked over to the both of them. "You’re sticking to walks today."
Again? My excitent deflated. I looked at my cleats, wondering if I should just sit down or sothing. "Walks aren’t very fun."
Coach laughed. "It’s a free base."
"I could get on base with a hit." I mumbled.
"Do you really want the attention though?" Zeke asked. I looked up so I could see his eyes. "It’s not like you’ll do this for every ga. We let you go crazy on Sunday night, right? You went 4-4. So how about we calm it down before we start playing the teams in our conference?"
I thought about it. I really did grab a lot of attention...both good and bad. It’s probably best to blend in and not stand out so much. Hiding in Zeke’s shadow would be a good cover. "But...I really want to hit." I don’t even get to do batting practice with the team; I’m always stuck training with Drew.
"I’ll pay for The Cages on Sunday." Zeke stayed.
I started to nod, but then thought of Noah. "Just for ? Or Noah’s too?"
Zeke’s lips twitched. "Fine. Noah’s too."
I gave a nod and smiled, happy with the deal. I moved back to the on deck circle, but Noah was already done with his at-bat, having to pop out to the second baseman.
As we switched spots, he raised an eyebrow. "Was my pop up that funny to you?"
I stopped, still smiling. "Zeke is paying for the cages on Sunday. For the both of us." Then I continued on to the batters box. I stepped in and faced down the pitcher.
He wasn’t impressive at all. Strike. Maybe a little bit taller than Noah. Strike. His speed was in the low 70’s. Ball. His fra was thin like he was still growing. Foul. But I guess that’s true for every boy in high school. Foul. I’m still only five foot. Ball. I’d be extrely disappointed if I stopped growing so soon. Ball. I wonder what it takes to grow as tall as the Atkins? Ball.
"Ball four. Take your base." The umpire told .
I carefully set down my bat and jogged to first. Coach Luis was there, waiting. I wanted to ask to see if he knew, but his scowl told that my mind shouldn’t be wandering. I turned my attention to Sean at bat, and Mr. Miller near third base. I didn’t want to accidentally miss a steal, especially now that I’ve practiced it.
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