BASEBALL HARDWORK
Hello everyone in the audience today we have a good game the DODGERS vs. the DIAMONDBACKS. The starting pitcher is Zachariah Miller. A new pitcher just came up from the minors. The first ambidextrous pitcher is the major leagues. Let us see which way he starts pitching today.
The umpire yells"PLAY BALL".
Zach on the mound is thinking to himself wow how time flies I'm already a pro.
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Going back an unknown number of years in a small town you see a kid about 4 or 5 year old outside of a sports center bouncing a rubber ball off the wall. He is wearing a CUBS hat and blonde hair is peaking out of the back of the hat. The kid is of course Zachariah miller. A seaming small and unassuming kid is just bouncing the ball and catching it completely focused on the ball doesn't notice someone sitting in a car watching him catching and throwing the ball over and over.
*ding* completed 1000 throws
*ding * completed 1000 catches
Zach wipes off his sweat and starts walking inside and stops, he looks back and notices that someone was watching him. He waves at the car and starts running inside. In the sports store he walked up to a beautiful young woman about 5'9" blonde hair and blue eyes about 22 years old . He calls out "mom" . The young lady turns around and shows a sweet smile and bends down as she says "look at how sweaty you are, don't work yourself too hard at a young age" as she takes off his hat and wipes the seat off his face. "Mom, I'm 5 now how can i go pro if I don't work very hard now" looking embarrassed he states. The young lady sighed and shook her head when she heard the bell of the door opening. "Hello and welcome, is there anything I can help you with?"
At the door a middle aged man looking with brown hair sunglasses and a jersey of the high school baseball team was walking in. " I'm just here to pick up the order for the high school." he stated " oh ok Mr. Jackson let me just go to the back and grab it." the young lady said. "Mom i'll get it for you" as Zach said he is running off the back of the store. The middle aged man looking at the woman he stated "Please don't call me Mr. Jackson, that's my dad, I'm not even 30 yet so please don't. Just call me Ethan." hearing the back door open you see Zach coming out with a man looking to be in his mid 50's. Ethan notices the man and says "hey Thomas how's work going." Thomas, the owner of the sports equipment store, has a broad smile on his face and says "it's not all the bad since i found this little guy" as he pats zach on the head. Zach tries to dodge the old man but carrying the box is already hard for him so it is impossible for him. The adults notice his face and all just start laughing.
Zach carries over the box to his mother and hands it to her. She takes the box and puts it on the counter. "Ethan this is what you wanted right?" she asked. Looking at the box he says "as long as these are the uniforms for the high school that is what i need." Thomas says "these are them. Are you paying now or do I need to invoice the school this time?" Ethan reaches over and opens the box and starts looking at the uniforms and states " good work as always and these aren't for the school i bought them so the kids can have something nice to play in" he goes in to his back pocket and pull out his wallet and pulls out a credit card and hands it to Thomas. Ethan looks down to Zach and says "how is the ball looking? I saw you out there playing against the bumpy wall." Zack looks up to his mom with eyes of pleading. She doesn't say anything, only looking at Ethan. Giving Ethan an eye saying " that's his third ball since he turned 5 there is no need for a new one yet." Zack looks down and doesn't say anything, putting his hand in his pockets. Ethan sees this and says "I didn't say if he needed one Priscilla I just asked how it looked." putting his hands in the air. Thomas, looking at the young people, steps in and says " Zach go and get a rubber ball on the house gotta invest early to get the best returns." Priscilla looking at Zach shakes her head and says " Thomas you can't do this you're already paying me more than you should and now you're giving him free things if you keep doing this im going to have to quit." Thomas laughing says "i don't doubt you will quit but with as much as zach helps its nothing to give him a rubber ball once in a while. I can't pay him legally so this is my way of paying him. It's cheap if you ask me." Priscilla sighed and said "ok but one once every 3 month max or I'm gonna pay for them myself. Zach take out your ball let me see it."
Zach takes out a ball that's worn out and rough enough to cut the skin. Showing the ball to his mother she sighed and told him to go get a new one. She can't believe that this is the 3rd one he has gotten since he turned 5, 6 months ago. Thomas and Ethan look at the ball and look excited and both exclaim at the same time " holy shit this ball is in bad shape" Thomas takes the ball and drops it and it doesn't bounce. Ethan starts breathing heavily remembering Zach outside throwing the ball against the wall and it bouncing back to him. Ethan bends down to pick up the ball and then throws it hard against the ground it bounces waist high. Priscilla and Thomas look at him with questioning eyes as saying what are you doing. Ethan sees them looking and explains what he saw outside. Zach comes back with a bright smile and a new ball. All the adults are looking at him with the old ball on the ground. Seeing the ball on the ground he knows that he was caught scratching the back of his head he looks to his mother and smiles saying " I put sand in it to make it heavier and so it doesn't bounce as far when i throw it at the wall" he walks over and pick up the ball on the ground. Ethan is stunned seeing a 5 year old using weighted balls makes him a little worried and tells him "Zach you should use weighted balls at your age. Weighted balls are used to build muscle and at your age you should only be focused on technique not power."
Zach scratching the back of his head nervously says he only did it so the ball won't bounce as far when he throws it. Ethan notices that the kid is nervous and asks him " how far does the ball bounce if it's not weighted." Zack says " into the street and I can't go into the street yet so I can't get the ball back." Priscilla thought of something "Zachariah is that how you lost the first ball." Zach notices his mother's worry and nods and says " yes it went into the street but i didn't go after it you taught me better than to go into the street without you there." Priscilla nods and smiles sweetly thinking she is doing a good job raising her child. Zach mentialy wipes his seat thinking it's always good to use sweet words on women to coax them.
Ethan looks at Zach and asks "Zach, do you think we can play catch?" Zach puts on a bright smile and almost screams "yes!" then he looks gloomy and states "wait i'm sorry i don't have a glove i can use to play catch with yet." Thomas looks at Zach and says "go and grab one off the shelf for your use just for today." Zach glances at Priscilla to make sure she will allow it. Priscilla nods her head and says "only for today."
Zach runs off to grab a glove and when he returns the adults look at his glove and start laughing. Priscilla trying to hold in her laughter says " son that's a catcher's mitt i don't know much about baseball but i know that." Zach starts shaking his head and replies " I know this is a catcher's mitt that the position i want to play it controls the whole game." Ethan glances at Zach and nods his head then takes a look and sees that it's left-handed and says " boy go get the right handed version." Zach shakes his head again and states emphatically " Im ambidextrous and the best time to train would be when im young so i'm going to practice more left handed in the future there are too many benefits to be able to throw with both hands than only one. It opens up many positions and pitching styles to be ignored!" putting on the glove and hitting it a couple of times showing that he is ready to start.
Ethan starts walking outside without a glove and Zach asks "are you getting a glove or are you not?" Ethan states " against a kid if i need a glove i shouldn't be a coach, lets go kid" Zach puts on a smirk and thinks to himself well i'm not really a kid but i hope i don't break your hand on the first throw. Zach starts walking outside with the rubber ball when he get outside Ethan is standing there about 5 feet away from the door and tells Zach to throw the ball to him from there.Zach gives him a questions look and says" this close without a glove you will get hurt are you sure you want me to do it from here?" Ethan laughing and shaking his head says '' kid i've dealt with people who throw faster than you can think just do it." Zach shakes his head, rears back to throw and unleashes a powerful laser beam straight at Ethan's chest not giving him any time to react. Ethan gets hit in the chest shart coughing hard and is having a hard time breathing. Well coughing Ethan looks at Zack and thinks that he is way too young to throw that hard.
Zack walks up and grabs the ball before it has a chance to roll into the street and give Noah a pitiful look. Ethan, seeing the look Zach gave him, just turns around and walks to his car. Zach sighs in his heart thinking he messed up and the only person that wanted to play catch with him started to leave. Zach puts his head down and is about to walk back inside when Noah who was in his car called out saying " where are you going kid i just had to get my glove."
Ethan now standing about 20 feet away tells Zach " ok kid this time i'm ready let's start" Zach with the brightest smile we have seen ever rears back and unleashes a cannon to the same spot as last time Noah was taken aback but read this time and a *pop* was heard. Ethan was surprised and had a smirk thinking if he didn't have a glove his hand would be hurting if he didn't have a glove if not broken. Smiling at Zach he says " I should have listened to you when you told me to get the glove" he throws the ball back underhanded. Zach watches as the ball almost bounces in front of him as he catches it and looks at Ethan dissatisfied. Zach looks at Ethan and throws the ball to the same spot again but this time even harder than the first two times. Ethan catches the ball and is looking at Zack knowing what he wants throws the ball back to him. This time not underhanded but overhanded and relatively fast. Zack was happy as he caught the ball, smiling as he was throwing the ball back he heard a ping in his head.
"First time playing catch 1 point shop has been opened." Zach catching the ball again has a happy smile not sure if its from the system in his head or by playing catch.
20 to 30 minutes later Priscilla comes outside and tells Zach it's almost time to go home so he needs to put the glove back and say goodbye to Thomas.