The Hitting Zone

Chapter 380 An Injury to a Star

After the win at Redwood High School, we had two days of practice before our Saturday game with Porterville. Coach worked us into the ground, not letting us take it easy even though we had mercy-ruled this team before. He was a firm believer in not taking things for granted.

Friday night, after a grueling practice, warm shower, and a tasty dinner, everyone seemed to split up. Dave wanted to go on a walk to 'work off the dinner calories' so Mr. Atkins joined him. Zeke went upstairs to work on his homework in peace. Kyle and Noah both went to the living room to catch the end of the Oakland A's game. Mrs. Atkins said she would bake some cookies for us to have tonight and throughout the weekend.

As for me, I settled at the kitchen table to work on a history project. The dreaded family tree. I feel like this project happens every year in every grade. It's disappointing to see it again.

"What are you frowning over?" Mrs. Atkins came out of the kitchen to see me staring over the instructions paper. I showed her the paper. "Oh. Is this for history?"

I nodded.

Her eyes narrowed. "That means Noah should be doing it too." She raised her voice and called for him. "Noah James! Get in here!"

A loud thump was heard and then the sound of him running. He paused in the doorway. "Yes, Mom?"

She picked up my instructions sheet. "Where's yours? Why aren't you working on it as well?"

Noah made a face of disgust at the paper. "It's the weekend. I'll just do it Sunday." He turned away, intending to go back to the living room. "If that's all, then I'm going back."

"Freeze." Mrs. Atkins commanded. Noah stopped. "Turn around." Noah slowly turned. "You shouldn't procrastinate. Look at Jake...he's getting homework done so he can enjoy the weekend. Isn't Zeke doing the same? Do you really want to spend your Sunday on homework and projects?"

Noah sighed and his shoulders dropped. "It's just a family tree. I have dozens I can copy. I'm sure I can find the one I used last year."

I stood up. "Yea, let's just do it Sunday."

"Jake?" Mrs. Atkins looked at me.

I shrugged. "I don't know what to write anyways."

Mrs. Atkins sighed. "I'll see if I can come up with an idea for you by Sunday then."

"Does this mean I can go back to watching the game now?" Noah inched backwards to the doorway.

Mrs. Atkins rolled her eyes. "Go." She shot me a glance, but I was eager to escape as well.

I followed Noah out, leaving the project on the table. I might just take a zero on it. It wasn't a core part of the grade and...it'd be embarrassing to just turn a piece of paper that only had my name and my mom's. I knew nothing else. Dad? Brother? I didn't know their names. I barely had a picture in mind. Maybe I wouldn't be able to pick them out of a crowd.

"NOOO!" Kyle's yell made me jump.

"What happened?! Did they blow it?!" Noah sprinted into the living room.

Hearing him say that, I realized that Kyle was probably just yelling at the tv. I let out a sigh of relief.

"He's done for!" Kyle hollered loudly. I walked to the living room to see him on his knees before the tv. He looked heartbroken like someone had died.

I looked at the tv and one of the players from the A's was being carted off, a leg brace already on. Before getting a look at the face, the broadcasters switched to a replay of what happened.

Noah took a seat on the couch. "Shut up! Let me watch!" He threw a couch pillow at Kyle.

Kyle got hit and just fell to the carpet. He laid down and stayed down.

I watched the tv to see what had happened. The Oakland A's player was the baserunner heading to home plate after a hit to the outfield. The relay throw came in a timely manner, but they had a violent collision at the plate. His knee and the catchers knee had knocked against one another and the one with knee guards obviously won.

"God damn it!" Noah yelled at the tv. "What was he doing?? He should have just stayed at third if he can't slide! Oh geez. Just look at his knee."

I rather not. The tv played the collision again and again. In slow motion. From different angles. It wasn't pretty. The A's player looked to be in a lot of pain.

"What's all the racket about in here?" Mrs. Atkins came in with a plate of cookies.

"Mom! Maberry just got hurt! He's definitely going to miss some time!" Noah explained. The game had resumed on tv but they were still showing a clip of the collision in a small box in the corner. "Look!"

Mrs. Atkins made a face. "Well, that's not good." She passed me the plate of cookies. "Hopefully it's not as bad as it looks. I'll be in the office if you boys need me." She turned and left.

I sat down with the plate of cookies on my lap.

Noah attacked first, grabbing two in one go. "She just doesn't get it." He groaned. "Maberry is the core of our offense. The season has just begun...what are we going to do now?"

Kyle crawled to the couch to snatch a few cookies too. "I don't know. It's not good. That's for sure. Did you see the way his knee looked when they put the brace on? It got crushed." He sighed. "And we finally got good pitching during the offseason."

"Hopefully, he's only out for a month or two." Noah munched on his cookie. "That's still doable. Other players like Jojo and Olz will have to pick up the slack. They looked good during preseason."

As we ate the cookies and watched the rest of the game, Dave and Mr. Atkins showed up. Kyle was quick to jump up and give them a rundown of what happened. Mr. Atkins just nodded in understanding, but wasn't nearly as upset as the twins. The twins were wailing like their playoff chances had vanished.

"Is it really that big of a deal?" I whispered to Noah, trying not to attract the twins attention. I wouldn't want to listen to them scold me as they sounded near hysterical. "He's only one player."

"He's the star." Noah told me. "Think Zeke. If we lost Zeke for the whole season or even half, we would have to play a lot more closer games. We might even lose more than we liked to admit. Maberry is a gold-glove outfielder, all-star, and batting champion. The only player we can rely on." Noah made a sad face. "Best case scenario, he won't need surgery. As long as he comes back by all-star break, we'll still have a chance for the A's to win their division."

"They can still win without him." Zeke's voice came from the hall. He had walked into the room. "A team isn't made around one player. As long as they don't lose morale, they can win. Maybe he'll come back to a team in first with a sizable lead."

"Did you see what happened? Did you see the collision?" Kyle jumped up and started to pester Zeke.

Zeke nodded once. "I saw. Online. I just finished my essay so I wanted to check the score."

"Just too...ugh. Nasty." Kyle shivered.

We spent the rest of the night watching the end of the game and talking about the hurt player. And...eating cookies. Only Zeke could control himself and stop at two. Kyle and Noah were the worst, nearly eating the rest by themselves.