Chapter 13 The Cages 3

That's right. I stepped into the lefty's box. I practiced both since the end of sixth grade when I heard the school coach say switch hitters are the most useful because it's like two batters in one. They can face any kind of pitcher.

It took me quite awhile to get the hang of it, but now I was pretty equal for both. I could do the exact same thing, sending all twelve pitches back to the machine, with my left.

I left the cage and got in line for the next speed, 60mph. Noah was right about the 50, it was pretty wimpy. It didn't even feel like a warm up for me, even though I took half a year off. This was the line I fit in with the most. All the kids in this line looked to be close to my age and to my stature.

It only took a few minutes to get to my turn. I put in my third token and got in the righty's box first once more. Twelve pitches turned into twelve perfect hits straight up the middle. The fourth token let me match my perfect right with a perfect lefty performance. Very even, very equal. The satisfaction was insurmountable.

I moved to the line for the 70mph cage just as Noah came out of the 75mph next to it. He smiled as he came over. "Moving on up, huh?" I nodded. "It's going well then?" I nodded again. "How many coins do you have left?"

I pulled out the six tokens to show him.

Hie rolled his eyes. "I can't believe you wasted four dollars on the slow stuff. That won't make you into a better player."

"Warm-up." I muttered.

He squinted at me. "You needed a warm-up? Twice in each cage?"

I nodded. I haven't even held a bat in six months, of course I need to shake off the rust.

He put a hand to his forehead and sighed in exasperation. "Unbelievable. What a waste. You better hit at least half of these 70's then. Like full on hit where you know it'll be a fair ball."

I shrugged. That's easy. 70mph isn't my limit. I went into the cage after it freed up. Put the token in. Then got set.

"Tighten up your stance!" Noah called out from behind.

I ignored him. Everyone hits differently and have different preferences. The way I taught myself leaves me satisfied so I see no reason to try something new. The first pitch came, I sent it right back to the middle.

"Lucky hit!" Noah called out. "Let's see if you can do it again."

Of course I did it again. And again. And again. For all twelve pitches. When I turned to face Noah, I had to laugh at his shocked expression.

He came back to reality at the sound of my laugh. "Unbelievable! You let me believe that you weren't even good."

I raised my eyebrows and went to put another token in.

"Again? Come on. Let me see you do the 75 instead!"

I shook my head no and slid the token in. Then went to the lefty's box. Noah was saying something but he stopped mid sentence as soon as I hit the ball back to the machine. Repeatedly. Perfectly. Twelve for twelve.

I felt good. If only I could do this everyday.

I stepped out of the cage and Noah tackled me, pushing me around playfully. "Jake!! Too amazing! My brothers can't even do that! Were you always able to do that? You're like a machine yourself!"