267 Game: VS Shasta HS 2 (1/2)

The second inning followed the same pattern of three up, three down. The fourth batter had the best performance with a hard line drive right to Chris's glove. It would have been a double down the line so I thought it was a nice grab. Batter five hit a grounder to Daniel at short, and batter six struck out.

”He wastes too much movement.” Noah grumbled as his eyes followed Daniel, tracking him back to the dugout.

”He took his time.” Zeke replied. At first it sounded like an agreement, but then he continued. ”You should learn not to rush as well. Be more aware of the runner. Is he fast? Is he slow? How much effort is he putting in?”

Noah made a face to show his displeasure. ”Or, don't worry about the runner and just focus on getting the ball to Julian for the out.”

”It's more about accuracy than speed, Noah.” Zeke lectured.

”When have I ever made a bad throw?” Zeke opened his mouth to answer, but Noah cut him off. ”This year! Have I made an error yet this year?”

”It's still early in the season.” Zeke warned.

Noah didn't reply.

The team had filled up the dugout again as it was the bottom of the second inning. If our pitching and defense could be described as hot, then our offense could only be described as ice cold. Garret grounded out to third. Chris grounded out to second. And Kyle was the third out of the inning with a fly ball to right field. Odd that it was so similar to the first inning, but maybe it was just easy to connect on this guys pitches. Kyle was the same way. He allowed a lot of contact, banking on the fielding of his team. One of the first things I learned about the game was that there was no defense against a walk.

The third inning was surprising in the sense that Shasta's hitters weren't any good at the bottom of the lineup. Like, at all. The first up tried laying down a bunt, only to send it right to Kyle. Kyle easily threw him out without a stutter step. The last two were both strikeouts swinging.

Sadly, our team didn't perform any better. Kelvin hit a fly ball to right field, Tony was called out on strikes, and then John followed up with a swinging strikeout. The teams switched out. I sighed and Noah groaned.

”This isn't fun to watch at all.” Noah glanced down towards Coach, who was talking to his assistants Miller and Luis. ”Do you think if I got down on my knees and begged, he'll let me go in?”

Zeke rolled his eyes. ”Stop being so dramatic. It's one game.”

”Says the guy who also wanted to protest.”

Zeke's lips twitched. He stood up suddenly and stretched a little bit. ”I'm going to speak with Coach.”

”About playing?” Noah lit up.

”No. Just about the game in general.” Zeke looked back to the field where our team started another round of defense. ”You can never stop learning about the game. Maybe Coach has some insights he can share with me.”

”Shouldn't he share with everyone then?”