432 Game @ Golden West (2) (2/2)

I laughed with some of the guys while putting on my own helmet.

Noah was watching Alex's at-bat, but he was also sharing in the laughs. "Who knew Dave would be so useful when being injured? He's definitely keeping Garret in check."

I nodded. "He hasn't given up a hit yet."

"Shh." Noah told me, raising a finger to his lips. "Don't say that out loud. Just let him worry about catching up to Dave in strikeouts. It's working."

I nodded.

Alex struck out on three straight pitches.

"Brady hasn't given up a hit either." Noah mumbled. He rested his chin in his hands as he leaned forward. He glanced up at me. "Do your best."

I swallowed hard and made a move to the on deck circle.

Garret had already moved up to the batter's box, showing the same kind of energy he had on the mound. Since he was a lefty, I thought it'd be good to watch and see what kind of advantage he had against a right-handed submarine pitcher. So instead of taking practice swings, I took a knee and watched from the circle.

Garret didn't give me much to work with. He swung and connected on the first pitch, pulling it to right field. The ball soared up high and didn't come down in the field. It cleared the fence. A home run!

I jumped up in my excitement as I watched Garret jog around the bases. He picked up his own bat after tagging home plate, knowing that I wouldn't touch it. He held up his hand and I smacked it. 1-0!

The first thing I heard him say in the dugout was, "Are you prepared Dave? Today looks to be my day!"

I laughed to myself as I went to the batter's box. I stepped into the lefty's box like Garret did, but found some solid ground to stand on. Him and I weren't the only left-handed batters today so the box wasn't as clean as it used to be.

From the very first pitch, I noticed some differences in batting from the lefty box. I felt like I could see the pitch better, for one. For another, his motion wasn't too intimidating from this angle. With this I made him run up his pitch count a little easier. For him to pitch inside to me now, he had to throw it like he would for an outside pitch to a righty. I know Julian said to not pay attention to his movement, but fouling off the pitches weren't so hard now that I know what to look for.

After the tenth pitch, I started to look for something to hit. I wish I was like Garret or Zeke and just hit a homerun as I please. The pitch came and I swung all the way through, pulling it to the right like Garret had done before. But I'm not Garret. My hit wasn't high enough, nor did it have the power behind it.

The first baseman jumped straight up and snatched my line drive out of the air. He was tall. I felt like hitting myself on the head. The first baseman was tall...why didn't I try for a grounder or maybe hitting towards the opposite side?

I picked up my bat and dragged my feet back to the dugout.

"Good swing, Jake!"

"Way to battle it out!"

"That should have been a hit!"

"Next time, Bambi!"

My teammates tried cheering me up as I headed for my bag. I nodded my thanks and forced out a small smile.

"Don't dwell on it too much." Noah told me as I put my bat and helmet away. "Brady is one of the best pitchers in the county. It would be crazy if you could make him look bad the first time you played him." He nodded towards Garret who was sitting with Alex. "Garret has played him multiple times so he knows what to look for."

"I know what to look for too." I told him, sitting down. "I just...didn't factor in that the first baseman was tall. And he could jump really high." I sighed. "It's not the pitching that I struggle with." I could earn a walk every time if I wanted to. "It's the fielders. I don't know how good they are, how they move, what they can do; there's just too much to look out for."

Noah rolled his eyes and flicked me in the arm. "I don't want to hear complaints from one of the best batters in the whole league. Batting wise, you're almost on par with Zeke. Besides RBIs. At the least, your averages are close to being the same. You don't see him complaining, do ya?"

I shook my head. Zeke doesn't complain. He works it out. If he thinks he's doing poorly, he fixes it. Whether that be during the game, or after, or even during practice. Zeke was always working on improving himself.

Julian grounded out to shortstop to end our offense, leaving Zeke in the hole.