I looked at Noah for help . Noah was already on it though . "How are we supposed to know that about your imaginary runners if you don't say so beforehand?"
"You'll have to observe the situation beforehand . "
"What does that even mean?" Noah rolled his eyes . "The runners aren't real . We can't see them . Can't judge them . Can't see if they're leading off or not . I vote that Jake doesn't have to run the lap . " My savior!
Zeke glanced at Garret . He shrugged . "Just a bit unfair . I'd let it slide until coach puts him in a game, but then double the punishment then . " He sent me a thousand megawatt smile, yet it felt anything but friendly .
"He must be bitter about losing to you last Monday . " Noah mumbled to me . I nodded in agreement . Garret didn't seem like an evil guy but looks can be really deceiving .
Advertisement"Okay . In this upcoming tournament, when you play, for every error you commit, you'll have to run a mile the following practice . " And sometimes you get what exactly is advertised . Zeke looked mean and scary, and his words definitely confirmed initial impressions .
"Isn't that too much?" Noah pouted . "Sounds like you're abusing your power . "
Zeke smiled at Noah . Making us both shiver . "If that's what you think, then as his 'mentor' you'll help him run his laps . Half a mile for each of you for each error . "
I don't know about Noah, but I felt better about it .
"We can discuss more with Coach during practice . " Zeke added . "Let's get back to fielding now . Any more disagreements and you'll be running home . " Noah and I got back into our spots, without argument . "Next play . Runner on first and second . No outs . " He smacked a hard grounder to Noah's right side . He dove, using his glove on the backside, then use that momentum to keep turning right, throwing me the ball . I caught it while touching second and quickly threw to first .
I smiled at Noah and gave him a thumbs up, even thinking about saying something about how well he fielded that .
Only, Zeke spoke first . "Fail . "
We looked at him, confused on what we missed now .
He looked at me, "You're going to get wiped if you play like that . "
I looked at Noah for translation, finding him looking at me already . He nodded . "You can't hang on the bag like that Jake . The runner will come in hard, spikes aiming at your ankles to ruin your throw to first . Not only does your throw have to be quick, your feet has to move as well . "
I sighed, but nodded . I could understand that .
"Hit one out here already! I'm getting boreddd . " Kyle complained from afar as Noah was busy teaching me and Zeke was busy scolding us .
Zeke grabbed a new ball and got ready . "Runner on second . The score is tied at zero, bottom of the seventh . It's a single to left field . Jake, you're the cutoff man . Where do you throw?"
I pointed at home . We have to defend against the run . High school baseball only has seven innings so if the opposite team scores in the bottom of the seventh, we lose .
He nodded . Then he sent a line drive single between me and Garret, to Kyle . Kyle caught it off the bounce and threw a bullet to me, like it could have been him pitching . I caught it, then threw to Dave .
Dave caught it off a bounce . He looked at me on the edge of the infield . "Yo . You may be a batting genius, but you have really weak arms . "
I turned red with embarrassment .
"He's only a freshman . He can't be good at everything . " Noah defended . "Jake hasn't even practiced fielding so I think he's doing great . "
"No . " Zeke stayed firmly . "Dave has a point . Jake can't throw very far . We'll have to convert Julian into the cutoff man for this side . " He thought for a minute . "Julian will go to the grass as the cutoff guy, Jake, you'll have to immediately go cover first base just in case . "
I nodded, actually liking this plan .
"This is just a temporary solution . " Zeke started me down . "We don't want someone useless on the field that we have to constantly accommodate . "
"Hey! Too far! Jake will make it up for it with his bat!" Noah glared at Zeke .
Zeke quirked an eyebrow . "We'll see . "
Chapter end
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