The Hitting Zone

Chapter 391 Golden West @ Servite 1

The crappy night of sleep put me in a bad mood Saturday morning when Noah forced me to wake up. Apparently I slept in and we had to hurry. I was sluggish in my movements as I changed and headed downstairs. Neither twin was in sight as I followed Noah out the door. Zeke was already waiting in the car.

"Trouble sleeping?" Zeke asked, glancing back at me as I sat in the back seat. Noah jumped in the front passenger seat leaving the whole row to myself.

I yawned. "It wasn't terrible."

"He's lying." Noah remarked. "He tossed and turned all night. That's why I was up so early."

"You don't have to go." Zeke expressed a little worry.

I must not look so good. I rubbed my cheeks, then my eyes. "No, I'm good. I want to go too."

Zeke waited an extra minute before deciding to believe me. Then we were off.

Noah had a backpack in his lap and apparently it was full of food. He handed me a banana and an apple. "Mom said to have some before Zeke buys us hotdogs."

"Thanks." I munched on the apple first.

The drive was only about an hour. Much closer than some other schools. I guess I won't have to worry about the road trip to Servite. It also wasn't in the mountains like Porterville was. It also made Porterville look like a poorly made and financed school.

"Wow." Noah's jaw dropped as we entered the parking lot and Zeke tried finding a space. "It looks so modern. It must have been remodeled recently."

"Last year." Zeke said, finding a spot in a sea of cars. "They have boosters to support their school and team."

"Boosters?" I questioned.

"It's like a financial donor." Noah explained. "Mom and Dad are on the booster club for our school's baseball team. Mom also helps out the cross country too if they're selling houses like crazy."

"Oh." I looked around at the magnificent, large, three story building. It was obviously their school building where the classrooms were.

"Servite is a private school too." Zeke added, getting out of the car. "That means each student has to pay for tuition unlike our school." We all got out of the car and he locked the doors. "Unless they get an exemption of some sort. The school brings in a lot of money so they can pay for better facilities."

Noah had the backpack on, and we followed Zeke obediently. "Does that mean they have a nice baseball field?"

"I suppose." Zeke said. He glanced back at us. "There looks to be a lot of people here today so stick close."

Noah sped up. "Yea, there are a lot of cars at a school on a Saturday. Do you think they all came for the baseball game?"

"Their program is well known. Pitching is phenomenal. They're also playing a good team." Zeke said.

The three of us started to run into other people heading in the same direction. I kept close to Noah and Zeke, scared of getting lost. The crowd all gathered towards the baseball field, the stadium lights turned off for the day game.

"$2 a person." An older man stated as each person tried to enter through the gates.

"We have to pay?" Noah made a face. "They already have enough money."

Zeke didn't agree or disagree. He just pulled out his wallet and then a couple of ones. "Three students." He countered.

"$3 total." The man held out his hand.

Zeke passed over the money and we were allowed in. He looked to the stands that were filling up. Then at us. "Let's get seats first. Then I'll go get the food from the snack bar." He didn't wait for our answer. He just started to walk to the bleacher that was in the center, behind home plate. It had a mixture of fans from both schools.

We climbed up and sat in the last row in the center.

"Not bad." Noah commented, setting the backpack down. "Zeke, hotdog with everything they have."

Zeke nodded before facing me. "What do you get on your hotdog?"

"Just ketchup." I said softly.

Zeke moved Noah's bag to save himself a seat. "If you don't protect this seat, I'm not handing over the hotdogs."

"Aye, aye captain." Noah saluted.

Zeke left to join the line for food, leaving me and Noah in a sea of strangers. I tried not to panic, reassuring myself that I can't be grabbed from behind, but I still felt trapped with all the people around us. There was a whole assortment of parents, grandparents, kids, students and so on.

"Hey, Hey! Look at that!" Noah pointed out to the field. I followed his finger to the outfield where two people were playing catch. Super-long catch. "Wow. He must be an outfielder like Zeke. He's a Servite player."

"He's actually the pitcher of today's game." A voice said in front of us. A man with a hat turned around and partly lifted the hat. "What a surprise to see you boys here."

...

"Who are you?" Noah asked, almost like he was reading my mind. I don't think I recognize this man at all.

"Hey, that's not nice. We met at Stanford, remember? During Zeke's tryout." The man pointed at the logo on his blue hat. "Hint, I work for the cubs as a scout..."

"Oh! Yea! I remember you." Noah tapped his chin. "Willie..?"

The man nodded. "Willie Ramsey. I saw you guys taking the last row so I jumped at the chance to sit near you boys."

"Still after Zeke?" Noah grinned.

"It's my job." Willie shrugged. "I heard he committed to Stanford after his SoCal trip. Good school. Good chance of going to the College World Series this year."

"It's just a backup plan if the draft doesn't go to plan." Noah commented. "I'm sure if he gets picked in the first or second round, he would go pro." Noah winked.

Willie laughed. "Good to hear. Sadly I don't get to make that decision. I just submit the info to my boss who submits his thoughts to the big boss."

"Too bad." Noah pouted for a second before looking back out to the field. "So that's the pitcher for Servite today? How much do you know?"

Willie grinned and lifted his notepad. "Quite a bit." He cleared his throat before reading. "Alex Sanchez. Pitches left-handed, bats right. Top speed recorded: 95mph. Has good motion on curve and slider. Six foot three inches." He looked back at us. "Almost the same size as Zeke. Also, pretty okay at the plate."

"Wow. He's like Garret, but an improved version." Noah told me. It sounded like it too. "I hope we don't have to play him specifically. Could you imagine someone like Zeke hurling fastballs at you?"

I gulped.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, please rise for the national anthem." Someone spoke using the speaker system. It got quiet as everyone stood and faced the flag in center field. Even the players had frozen on the field. They had a kid sing the anthem over the system, sounding almost like a real pro game. Wow.

I followed along, standing and facing the flag. Then we sat down as the announcer started to go over fan conduct and how to report unruly fans.

"This is crazy." Noah whispered. "I wonder if it'll be like this when we play here."

I gulped again, feeling butterflies in my stomach.