Mass Confusion

some context for those not as familiar with baseball, jess is the team's shortstop, which is a position well known for having very strong all around players. meaning, there's a really really good chance she's going to hit whatever comes at her. especially this late in the season. the other team knows this, especially because jo has no doubt told them, and jess knows that they know this, so she uses it to her advantage.

now if jess were to hit that ball then she puts herself, lupe and esti all at risk of being out. if she doesn't swing then she's not in the way of the catcher, who will then have a much easier time throwing the ball out to jo at third base to tag lupe out. so instead, jess swings. and in the time that the pitch was thrown the other team would've had to go from covering the areas closer to their bases to prevent a possible steal, to then covering their wider fielding areas in the likely event that jess would hit the ball that she is currently swinging for. and then when jess misses, the other team has to quickly rush back to again try and cover that double steal, while their catcher also has to get enough space around jess to make a clean throw to third once jo is there to catch it. and they of course were unsuccessful.