Mitchell was practically feeding into the twins ego. They were put into an extra good mood, laughing merrily at Mitchell's expense.
Noah couldn't see whatever Mitchell saw in the twins, so he changed the topic, asking the twins about their camp. The twins had no problem telling us all about their trip, happy with how it went. Apparently scouts were present at the camp, and although they didn't speak to any, some of the staff said they could expect a call or email in the future.
"What kind of scouts?" Noah asked. "College scouts? Or MLB scouts?"
"MLB." Dave grinned. "Pitchers are always in high demand."
Noah rolled his eyes. "I bet you don't get a call."
"I'd be fine with an email." Kyle shrugged, unbothered. "The fact that they saw us workout and pitch simulated games really blows my mind." He glanced at Zeke. "Also makes me want to workout even harder in the mornings."
"Yea, because you weren't as good as me in the simulated game." Dave laughed.
Kyle frowned at him. "I only gave up one more run than you did."
"Booo!" Noah cheered. "You suck. You can't even beat Dave."
Dave looked at Noah. "Punk, don't think I won't tickle you until you pee your pants."
Noah scrunched up his nose. "Can't you grow up? Stop treating me like I'm five."
"Stop acting like you're five and then we'll talk." Dave joked.
With this lighthearted atmosphere, Mitchell got more comfortable at the table. He helped himself to seconds and even shared a few words about his catchers training that he was doing. Dave and Kyle were more interested in what he had to say, probably because they understood the terminology. Noah didn't care and I didn't have a clue what any of the drills were so it was rather boring for us.
After lunch, we cleaned up as the twins and Mitchell went to the back yard. By the time we finished doing the dishes and taking out the trash, Mitchell was deck out in his gear and the twins were arguing over who got to pitch first.
"Just flip a coin." Noah suggested, sitting on the step of the back porch, stretching his legs out to the grass. He looked over at me as I sat down. "You think they would stop fighting over such trivial things by now."
I grinned. "Like you would give up the chance to go first."
Noah revealed a crooked grin. "I'd still flip a coin. It might be a double-sided coin though."
I laughed. Noah didn't even like losing coin flips.
It was eventually decided that Kyle would go first, then Dave. Dave recruited Noah for some simple throwing go warmup so he could get more out of his time with Mitchell. Kyle frowned at him.
"Stop looking at me. You're wasting your time." Dave chuckled.
Noah had jumped up and ran inside, then back to us outside in record time. He wasn't one to lose and he wasn't one to pass up a chance to throw the baseball around.
I watched the four of them throw the ball around until Zeke came outside with his laptop and a textbook. He sat down at the old wooden table and got to work. Seeing him there and me alone on the step, I got up and sat at the table too.
Ha glanced at me.
I gave a small smile.
He nodded then went back to work on his laptop.
We sat peacefully together as the others played. After Noah helped Dave to warm up, they stood side-by-side and heckled Kyle as he started to get serious. Kyle was in the zone though, and didn't pay them any attention. He was completely focused on his movements and throwing perfectly to Mitchell's glove.
After fifty serious pitches, him and Dave switched. Kyle and Noah both came back to us, also sitting at the table.
"Those were some good pitches." Kyle complimented himself. "I feel like I could pitch complete games from here on out. The only thing that will be able to pull me from the mound is the rain."
Noah scoffed. "And Coach. And you know…the rules for pitching limits. You'll have to share time with Dave and Garret so don't get too attached to the mound."
"I know." Kyle said simply. "I'm just saying." He sighed as he watched Dave pitch. "I don't want to have any regrets my senior season. Not like this past month. Losing out on the chance to pitch in the finals."
"You have some pretty tough competition." Zeke said without looking up. "Never mind the fact that you guys might not make it to the finals next year. It's hard to do back-to-back repeats."
"We'll do it!" Noah declared, excited. "We still have the twins and Garret pitching."
"What about relief?" Zeke looked up. "James won't be there to close out the games. Plus, you'll lose some senior starters: me, Mahki, Kelvin, and Julian. There's going to be some fierce competition in the fall."
"I'm more worried about offense." Kyle sighed. "Without you, who will be our big hitter? Jake? He has only hit one official homerun. We need someone to bring the runners home."
"There's Garret." Noah said.
Kyle shook his head. "We can't keep relying on him for everything. He'll get burned out."
"It'll be up too you guys to lighten the load for him." Zeke told him. "Maybe you should take your batting more seriously."
Kyle twisted his lips. "Ehhh, I was thinking doing more on the mound."
Zeke didn't reply and focused on the work in front of him. Kyle and Noah continued to talk about good options to replace our teammates that had graduated. Noah was really adamant at getting Andy to be a top pick, talking about how proficient he was in baseball.
Kyle has seen Andy in action so he knew a little about what Noah was telling him. "I understand why you want him on the team with you, but it's really rare for freshmen to make the varsity team. You were the first one to do it in forever and that's because of your skill at fielding. Then Jake followed that up with superior batting. Being proficient isn't good enough. Look at Zeke. He was great his freshman year and couldn't cut it either."
Noah slumped in his seat. "True…"
"There's always a chance though." Zeke said. "Coach isn't shy about using younger players. He's just got to beat a hundred other players for the right to make it to the team."
The conversation went on until Dave's turn was up and the twins switched spots. We watched for a couple of hours until Mitchell got tired.
He massaged his knees while sitting on his butt, stretched out, looking like he just ran half a marathon. Tired, yet completely satisfied. "This was great! Maybe next time we can have a simulated game at the park? When's the next time you guys can play again?"
Kyle scratched his head. "Well…we leave again in two days so unless you can play tomorrow?"
"No! We have a pool party to go to tomorrow!" Noah interjected. He grinned at Mitchell. "You don't have to push yourself to catch for these two bozos. Look at how swollen your knees are. Between your own training and catching for the twins, you can't tell me that you aren't sore."
Mitchell laughed, feeling a little self-conscious. "Okay, I'll wait until they get back again."
"But-" Dave was hesitant.
"Give him a break." Noah told him.
