Easton Harvest Update

I just finished 40,000 words in writing book 2 in the Easton Series:  Easton Harvest.

Our angels have returned and Jason is enjoying a day with his aunt and cousins.  He is trying his hand in a batting cage.  I've actually tried batting in a batting cage and it was hard (for me).  Let me know if I have it right.  FYI Jason is 13, Jay is 10 and Gail 7.  Here is a snippet:

Jason, Jay and Gail hung on to the batting cage, their faces pressed into the chain link fence watching the batter in the cage swing at the ball as it was pitched. Every so often the batting cage attendant would chase them back behind the yellow line so they wouldn’t hang on to the batting cage. “One of the balls could hit you,” the attendant told them as he motioned them to wait behind the yellow line once again. Jay watched Jason and Jason watched Gail and Gail watched the attendant walk down the line of batting cages and turned the corner. As soon as he was out of sight Gail motioned he was gone and the three cousins rushed forward across the yellow line and once again grabbed onto the batting cage to wait their turn.

Soon bored with watching the batter in the cage, Jason, Jay and Gail returned behind the yellow line. “How do you hold the bat?” Gail asked the boys.

“Wrap your hands around the handle,” Jason started. “Are you right handed, Gail?”

“Yeah. Like this?” she asked looking up at Jason and holding the bat with her right hand on top and her left at the bottom of the handle.

“That’s how,” Jay answered for Jason.

Jason nodded his head and demonstrated to Jay and Gail by showing her how he held the bat. “That’s good. See, this is how I hold it.”

Jay positioned his hands on his own bat and the three of them stood side-by-side adjusting their grips on their bats.

Jason drew his bat back behind his right ear and watched as first Gail and then Jay copied his motions. The three of them were standing there as if posing for a photograph when the batting cage attendant walked by again in his rounds. He paused to look at the cousins, shook his head slightly and continued on his path. Jason grinned at Jay and Gail and they all started laughing at the look they had garnered from the attendant.

Spreading out a bit, they each practiced their swings. Placing their feet at their shoulders’ width apart, they practiced rolling from their back foot to the front and stepping towards the imaginary pitcher’s mound and then swinging the bat where the ball would be pitched.

On his next round, the batting cage attendant stopped and once more slowly shook his head at the cousins and requested they not swing the bats outside the batting cage. “You might hit someone,” he said.

The batter in the cage had finally finished and after a little arguing among the cousins, Jason went first since he had actually played softball in school. Jay and Gail crowded next to the batting cage to watch as Jason gave it a try. 

Jason adjusted his stance in what would be home plate in the batting cage: feet shoulders’ width apart, elbow back and raised, weight on back foot and shifting to his front foot when swinging the bat. He practiced swinging a couple of times pulling his weight from his back foot to his front foot and deciding he was as ready as he would be, he pushed the pitch button. There were three speeds, slow, medium and fast. Jason put it on slow not sure how fast the pitching machine would really pitch the balls.

Watching where the pitcher’s mound would be, the first pitch went right by Jason. He stood there surprised. Shaking his head he prepared himself for the next pitch. He watched the ball arc as it came towards him, shifting slightly and moving the bat further behind his ear, he shifted his weight from his back to his front foot and swung at the ball and missed. He had swung early. Adjusting himself all over again, Jason prepared himself for the next pitch.

It took four more pitches before Jason connected with the ball. He at first hit the ball up into the roof of the cage in pop flies. He just barely touched the next ball and it rebounded off of the cage and came close to hitting Jason in his head. He was now glad he was bearing the batting helmet. Jason hit the next four balls and any team would have been proud of the line drives he delivered. By now Jason was fully grinning and enjoying batting. After the sixteenth ball, the pitching machine powered off and Jason removed his helmet. Still grinning with the exhilaration of batting he exited the cage to watch first Jay and then Gail give batting a try.

Jay proved to be proficient at hitting the balls and took only three pitches before he regularly connected. The surprise was Gail. She had good eye and hand coordination and except for the first pitch, hit every ball. Jason and Jay eyed her with their mouths open as the little girl jumped up and down with joy at surpassing her brother and cousin. And like any true girl, could not stop talking about batting. Jay just shook his head at his sister, knowing he would never live down that she batted better than he.

Well, the angels are having fun and I'm having fun writing their antics.  Let me know what you think.

Today's photo are geese.