"Three up, three down! Nobody gets around!" We took the field to the sound of cheering. That was Haley, cheering for us to strike out the first three batters and keep any runs from being scored. Vanessa joined her in repeating it three more times.

Yeah, right, I thought, still secretly worried that we didn't stand much of a chance against Kyle's team. So, as you can imagine, I was pleasantly surprised when the first three runners actually did amount to three outs for the Bashers! The first batter hit the ball straight to me, and I immediately fielded it and threw it to Buddy at first base for the out. The second batter struck out. The third hit a very high pop fly to Matt in left-center field. It hit his glove with a resounding smack, and he held it proudly in the air!

We traded sides and went up to bat. It was like watching what had just happened on repeat. The Bashers showed off their impressive fielding skills by getting outs on the first three Krushers batters – Matt, Gabbie, and me. My hard grounder to third base was fielded by Kyle. A less-experienced player might have missed the ball or fielded it but overthrown to first base. Not Kyle. After firing the ball to their first basewoman, he made eye contact with me and smirked.

At the end of the first inning, the score read 0-0. The second, 3-0, Krushers! The third, 3-4, Bashers. The fourth, 5-4. The game remained incredibly close with the Krushers playing like champions. And we were in the lead, again, but not by much. Still, I never expected to see a close game between our teams. I knew then that I had underestimated my Krushers. We now had an amazing team consisting of people who had played for years! Halfway through the game, Margo did some rearranging and even took herself out of the game, putting Myriah on second base instead. She made several other swaps – Andrew for Jamie, Claire for Patsy, Laurel for Suzi, Hannie for Karen – in order to give everyone on the team a chance to play. I was bursting with pride for my team as we went into the final inning with five minutes left on the clock, one point up on the Bashers, and the advantage of batting last.

"Keep up the good work!" she called to me, as I headed back to the pitchers' mound. I could feel myself getting tired, but my only option was to keep pitching, thanks to Nick and Mrs. Pike. I shook it off and sized up my batter. He looked like a close relative to Moon and Quad Pickney with broad shoulders and a thick torso. This was his first at-bat; Kyle had just put him in for another player. He took a few practice swings, and by the look of them, he was a seriously good hitter.

He sent my first pitch sailing past Laurel in left field, but it went past the line and was no longer in play – a foul ball.

"Get ready, Laurel, it's coming to you again!" her brother yelled.

Sure enough, the batter sent the next pitch sailing to left field. Although Laurel had been ready, this one went over her head, too. Matt tried to back her up, but was unable to get there in time. They both chased the ball to the fence.

This Pickney cousin ran the bases with unforeseen speed. As he zoomed towards third base, I knew he was not about to stop. Quickly, I ran from the mound to home plate where a defenseless Hannie looked scared out of her wits. Knowing that Matt could and would throw the ball from the fence to the plate, I covered home and put up my glove. Sure enough, Matt fired the ball straight to me. The ball hit my glove right as the two-hundred-and-something pound Basher charged towards me at full speed. I fell backwards with my right shoulder breaking my fall. The ball slipped out of my grip and bounced onto the ground. My shoulder throbbed with intense pain. And all this for nothing! The batter was…

"SAFE!"

"David Michael?" Hannie hovered over me as I rolled around on the ground, clutching my shoulder. "Are you okay? You totally just saved my life!"

"Dude, that was insane," exclaimed Buddy. "Whoa! Are you hurt?"

Karen appeared out of nowhere. She must have run in from the dugout. "Of course he's hurt! Give him some room! Out of my way, please, I have water."

I sat up, removed my glove, and took a gulp of water just so that I could breathe again. My shoulder throbbed with a horrible pain. I had no idea how badly I was injured, but this was my pitching arm. I looked up to see that Jake had left third base to gather around me, too. He gaped at me in horror, knowing what my injury would mean.

With difficulty, I got to my feet by allowing Buddy to pull me up by my left hand. I gave a small wave to the crowd before cradling my injured arm in my other arm. They all began cheering for me, with Kristy being the loudest one. I stooped to retrieve the ball and passed it to Jake.

"No, no, please," Jake begged, staring apprehensively at the ball. "What about Nick? Mrs. Pike – can he pitch?"

All eyes went to Nick's mother, who was seated on the stands near the triplets and looked for a moment like she was considering this request, given that it had come from someone other than another Pike. But she pressed her lips together tightly and shook her head. "A punishment is a punishment."

Matt had run in from the outfield. "You can do it," he said, speaking for the second time in our presence rather than signing. He patted Jake's shoulder and signed the rest of his encouragement. "Same as practice," Myriah translated, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, Jake, we've all seen you!" she added.

Jake traced the laces on the ball, looking anxious again. I thought he was about to back down. My mind raced as I tried to come up with another pitcher. Jackie? Too unpredictable. Matt? We needed him in outfield. Gabbie? It would be too dangerous to try her there. No one else had really pitched in practice.

"Ja-ake!" chanted Laurel. "Ja-ake!" Ja-ake!" We all joined her. Even Matt got the idea and joined the cheer, although it sounded a bit like this: "Jug… jug… jug!" We cheered him all the way to the mound. He grinned – looking a bit scared but thrilled to have our support – and started to warm up with Hannie.

My whole family waited for me beside the dugout as Karen walked me off the field, fussing over me the entire way. My face blinked like a stoplight. I sat down next to Margo who had lost all the color in hers and stared at me in horror.

"They play dirty," she asserted. "Kyle should take him out of the game."

"Kyle probably told him to do that to get me back," I answered.

"Get you back for what?" Kristy asked.

I exchanged looks with Margo. "It's a long story."

"Does Bart realize his brother is using these tactics?" Kristy wanted to know. She seemed to have located Bart Taylor in the stands now and was glaring at him as she spoke. "Of course not, oblivious as always."

"Forget about it, Kristy," I implored her. "We just need to beat them."

"Not going to be easy, is it?" Margo put in. Sighing deeply, she simply gestured to the game. The batter was taking her base because Jake had just thrown her four balls. I sighed as well. The next batter did the same. And then the next. Pretty soon, they scored a couple of runs this way. I could see Kyle instructing all of his hitters to simply stand there while Jake threw wild pitch after wild pitch. And then I caught sight of Laurel gesturing to Matt in left field. After a moment, Matt began signing wildly to Haley. She ran over to the dugout.

"Matt says that Laurel says she needs to be his catcher."

"How did Laurel say that to him?" Karen wanted to know.

"Gestures, of course," said Haley. "I think you should do what she says. Jake must be used to having Laurel catch for him. I guess it makes a difference somehow?"

"It makes no difference whatsoever," I shook my head. "This is not baseball. The catcher never, like, signals the pitcher or anything. They just stick a glove out."

"David Michael?" Margo interrupted. "Let's just switch Laurel and Hannie. What have we got to lose?"

Margo had a point. What could it hurt? We quickly called a time out and switched the girls. Hannie looked confused but still relieved as she took off the mask, shin guards, and chest protector. She must have been scared out of her wits when she nearly got tackled at home plate. I was glad that I was hurt instead of her.

"Jake and I have practiced a lot," Laurel explained, as she put on the catcher's gear. "I think having me behind the plate will make it feel more like practice."

I was somewhat skeptical, but as it turned out, Laurel's theory was one hundred percent correct. Jake threw his first strike. The Basher who had been instructed not to swing continued to follow those instructions and struck out. Our cheerleaders cheered louder than ever before.

Kyle was next. He took a few practice swings, obviously planning on going for a big hit. Margo yelled for the outfielders to take several steps backwards. Kyle sent the ball high into right-center field where Jackie was positioned. I gritted my teeth and held my breath. With Jackie, you never knew. I could see that he needed to back up faster or else it would go over his head.

"BACK!" I screamed.

Jackie had to leap into the air to catch it. As the ball hit his glove, he returned to the ground and rolled on the grass. The ball remained clutched tightly in his glove. Kyle was out! But as Jackie stood up, the Basher on third base tagged up and started towards home. He was about to score! Without missing a beat, Jackie threw the ball towards the plate.

"Jake, cover home!" I yelped. But instead, Jake remained on the mound, having forgotten that covering the plate was part of his position as well. Miraculously, Laurel caught the ball, but she had to move away from the plate to field the throw. The Basher scored easily.

"You did fine, Laurel!" Margo yelled. "Nice catch, anyway!"

"Two outs! Any base!" cried Buddy to the Krushers.

"Run on anything!" countered Kyle to the Bashers.

But nothing happened in the field. Instead, Jake struck out the batter on his own. I beamed with pride for him. Still, we were now down by four runs. Now all the time had run out so the Bashers would not be batting again. Instead, it was down to us. Could we score five points?

"Who bats next?" Margo wanted to know as they came back.

"I do," Claire looked miserable. "Sorry, guys." Behind Claire was Jamie followed by Suzi. They were the last three players on the roster, but fortunately, we started up again with Matt Braddock at the top. If they could just manage not to make three outs before that, we would be okay. How successful had Jamie and Claire been with all their batting practice? We were about to find out.

Claire was first. She hit the ball straight to the shortstop who easily fielded it and threw her out at first base. I waited to see how Claire would react, bracing myself for the worst. She shrugged, however, and called out, "At least I hit it."

Next came Jamie. "Like we practiced!" Madeleine DeWitt urged from the stands. Jamie almost looked like he was playing tennis as he swung the bat. The ball sailed over the second baseman and landed in the grass. He was on first base!

Suzi got a hit and advanced Jamie to second. Matt was next. I was excited to have two runners on base for him, and sure enough, he sent them both home and stopped at third base himself. Gabbie then brought him home. Finally, Jake took it upon himself to get the biggest hit of the game and to bring in the final two runners.

"Ball game!" cried the umpire. The Krushers erupted into wild cheers. We won!

"Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate? Bashers! Bashers!"


"To the Krushers – for reuniting us with old friends and giving even the most humble benchwarmer a chance to shine!" I concluded my toast by raising a slice of pizza. Grinning, Margo "clinked" her slice with mine as the rest of the team followed suite. Kristy taught me the pizza toast ages ago. She used to do this with the other babysitters all the time. The employees at Pizza Express probably thought we were all crazy.

"After all this practice, maybe I can prove that I belong on the school team," Margo mused. Claire nodded enthusiastically, adding, "And David Michael, too."

"And Jackie," I said, addressing the other person in the booth with us. "No more statistician stuff for you."

"Hey, I like being the statistician," Jackie argued. "… But maybe I could do both."

"If not this year, then next year for sure," I said. "When we're seniors."

"Please don't talk about being a senior," called Kristy in the next booth. "I feel so old."

"Hey, Jackie, we should go sit with Kristy," said Claire, suddenly. "She would love to hear more about your great catch."

"But she saw it."

"Hey, Jackie, we should go sit with Kristy," Claire persisted.

As Jackie was being dragged away, I saw Claire say something to him. His eyes lit up with understanding and he went willingly. When I turned back to ask Margo about it, she was staring at her plate and picking at her pizza.

"I meant to tell Claire to forget about it," she muttered.

"Forget about what?" I asked.

"Well, I…" she trailed off, blushing a bit. "Well, okay, I was going to ask you about rock climbing next Saturday. See Hannie is asking Jackie, and Myriah is asking Matt, and I wanted to go but it seems like a… um… a…"

"Date?"

"Well, a friendly sort of date," she said. "Or at least… in our case… but your arm…"

"Oh," I said, understanding. Did Margo like me? It kind of sounded like she did. Or she might just like climbing. Either way, she could have asked another boy. Yet here she was… asking me. "Sorry about that."

"Oh, don't be!" she exclaimed. "It isn't your fault, of course!"

"Well, it would be my fault if I turned down a date with a cool girl," I replied, boldly. "A girl that seems to have a lot in common with me."

She smiled. "Hannie thinks so, too."

"She would," I said, glancing at Hannie in another booth. She was watching us without restraint. When I caught her in the act of staring, though, she pretended to be looking around the restaurant. I returned my attention to Margo. "So, how about a movie then?"

Dare I say, the smile that followed was downright beautiful.

End.