Chapter 21

I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did.

Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves.

The rematch had been set. If the kids had their way, it would have been done that weekend. But the parents wanted a chance to practice a little bit first. Beyond that, they needed to figure out what position would be best for everyone. And as the de facto coach, Zack wanted to cover their weaknesses as best as he could. He decided that since she had the least experience with the game, London would be the catcher. After that, he wanted his best glove at first base, and oddly, that turned out to be Woody. And he needed his best arm to play third base. After watching everyone else, he decided on Todd. Next, he needed a double play combination that could work well together, so he decided on Bailey at shortstop and Cody at second base. Rounding out the outfield would be Addison in right, Tapeworm in right center, Zack in left center and Cassie in left. Of course, that left Max to be the pitcher.

The game was finally decided to be held on labor day weekend. And this year, there were no worries about pregnant women. And to be charitable, the parents had agreed to let all twelve children play the field at the same time. So, this left them with a catcher (Nikki), a first basemen (Nathan – good hands must run in the family), a second baseman (Annie), someone who played right up the middle (Lizzie), a shortstop (Abby), a third baseman (Ben), a right fielder (Missy), a right center fielder (Charlie), a center fielder (Izzy), a left center fielder (Brady) and a left fielder (Patrick), and a pitcher (Denise). Again, there was going to be a cookout on Sunday afternoon, and the game would be played at the park right by their house before hand.

Before the game, Zack addressed his team. And part of his pregame speech was to warn his team to avoid all the common baseball tricks that the kids were likely to use against them. After that, the team captains, Brady and Zack met at home plate with the home plate umpire, Arwin and the first base umpire, Carey. A coin was flipped to see which team would be the home team, and the kids won.

Carey spoke up. "I want to see a good, clean game. This is supposed to be fun, remember?"

Brady smiled. "We know, Grandma. Have I mentioned how beautiful you look today?"

Zack frowned. "Hey!" He paused and turned to his Mom. "Your hair is looking spectacular."

Carey rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to show favoritism. On one side is my only two children, but on the other side is my eight precious grandchildren. So, I have ties to both sides. Now, shake hands, and let's play ball!"

Brady smirked as he shook his Dad's hand. "Going down, Dad."

Zack smirked right back. "That's what you said about football, and how did that work out for you?"

"Its a different day!"

"Different day, same result!"

"I don't think so!"

"Then..." Zack was stopped when Carey grabbed both of their ears. "Like I said, lets have a good game and LET'S PLAY BALL!"

She let go, and both made their back to their respective dugouts. Zack began pacing backing and forth. "Alright team, I know they're just kids, but I don't want you to show any mercy!"

Cody just stared at his brother. "Seriously? Its just a game, Zack."

Zack turned to stare at him. "Oh no! Its much more now. We have to let them know who the bosses are!"

Cassie just shook her head. "Zack, I think they know. I mean, we are the ones who tell them when to go to bed...and pretty much what else to do."

Zack sighed. "But...do you have any idea what would happen if we lost to them?"

Woody paused. "Go best two out of three?"

Zack turned towards Max. "You're up, Max. Go take your daughter deep!"

The first inning saw Max lead off with a double and moving to third on a single by Tapeworm. Cassie hit a sacrifice fly that scored Max. Zack was hitting cleanup, and he cleared the bases with an inside the park home run. It could have been a close play at the plate, but with Zack chugging down the third base line, Nikki got out of the way. Unfortunately for the parents, Addison, Woody and Bailey followed with three straight outs including Woody having the embarrassment of striking out on a foul tip.

Taking a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the first, the kids came back with two runs of their own to make it a one run game. The top of the second brought with it Cody getting hit by a wild pitch to score one out later on a double by Todd. Max got him to third on a single before the kids turned a line out into a double play.

Down 4-2 now, the kids actually took the lead in the bottom of the second on a three run inside the park home run by Ben. Up 5-4 then, the kids began talking smack.

Ben smiled at his Mom and Dad. "Did you see that home run I hit? Pretty good, huh?"

Bailey rolled her eyes. "Yes, you did good, Sweetie."

Ben smirked. "Well, it should have been a double play, but Dad botched fielding the ball."

Cody sighed. "The ball hit a rock and popped over my shoulder. Nothing I could do with it."

"Well, I've told everyone to start trying to hit the ball at you, Dad..."

Cody smiled. "You realize the game isn't over yet, and we can still ground you for a month with no TV right now, right?"

Ben frowned and walked back over to the kid's bench.

Cody turned to Bailey. "Okay, they're going down now!"

Bailey nodded. "Agreed."

The third inning brought with it an outburst from the parents. With a seven run inning, they retook the lead 11-5. In the bottom of the inning, the kids though they were about to get a few of them back when Cody snagged a bases loaded live drive of the bat of his youngest son before flipping the ball to Bailey who threw it on to Woody for a triple play.

Cody smiled at his son. "Thanks for trying to hit the ball at me, Ben. That triple play was a thing of beauty, wasn't it?"

Ben rolled his eyes and headed back to the bench to get his glove. Once there, he pulled Brady aside.

"We have to do something now! If we get any further behind, it will be impossible to come back from!"

Brady sighed and nodded. "I know." He paused. "You willing to do anything to win this game?"

Ben nodded affirmatively. "Absolutely!"

"Switch places with Denise then and take the mound." He looked around and slipped something inside of Ben's glove. "Use this and spit to doctor the ball. Hopefully it will buy us time to come back in this game."

Ben nodded again, and the kids took their places in the field again. And it worked. The top of the fourth inning was a 1-2-3 inning and the kids all high-fived each other as they came off the field. In the bottom of the fourth, the kids scored three runs to make it 11-8. And the parents could feel the momentum swinging from their side.

Zack turned to his brother. "I didn't know you kid could pitch like that..."

Cody shrugged. "Me either..."

During the top of the fifth, the parents again went 1-2-3, and they were beginning to get worried. And they should have been. The kids exploded for a seven run fifth inning to take a 15-11 lead. The parents knew they were quickly running out of time in the game. They needed to make a comeback now. Cody was set to lead off, and the first two pitches he missed horribly. He turned to look at his son when something caught his eye.

"Time out!"

Cody stepped back to where Arwin was the home plate umpire.

"What's up, Cody?"

"Arwin, would you go check the pitcher and make sure he isn't using any foreign objects?"

Arwin was surprised. "Really?"

Cody nodded, and Arwin shrugged. He walked out to the mound and asked Ben to open his glove. Ben looked nervous and looked over at Brady. And Brady just stood there not saying anything. Ben sighed and opened his glove. By this time, Carey had joined them at the mound. And Carey looked into the glove and saw it – a small tube of Vaseline.

Carey sighed. "Really, Ben? You've been doctoring up the ball?"

Ben looked down. "Just a few times..."

Carey shook her head and called both team captains over. Zack immediately came out while Brady took his time making his way over. Cody joined them at the mound. Carey held up the tube.

"Well, its obvious that the kids have been cheating. I'm of a mind to call this game right now and disqualify the kids..."

Brady sighed. "Don't do that. This was my idea. I'm the one who gave Ben the Vaseline. We needed a way to come back..."

Carey sighed. "I'm very disappointed in you both. You both should know better than to cheat!"

Brady hung his head. "If you want to throw us out, fine, but don't blame everyone else. They had no part of this. It wouldn't be fair to them."

Carey paused to think. "Alright, here is what I'm going to do. Brady and Ben, you two are ejected from the game. I'm declaring it a 15-15 game, and we'll decide it in the last two innings..."

Zack interjected. "But Mom!"

Carey glared at him. "Don't give me that! I'm sure you did similar things when you were younger."

Zack grumbled but didn't say anything else.

Carey smiled. "Let's play ball again..."

Ben and Brady were about to walk off when Cody stopped his youngest.

"Ben? Consider yourself placed on the one month disabled list..."

Zack nodded. "You too, Brady. And don't let us ever catch you two doing anything like this ever again!"

The top of the sixth inning saw the parents take a two run lead. And in the bottom of the inning, the kids stormed back with three runs of their own. It all came down to the seventh and final inning. The parents had to score at least one run for the game to continue.

Tapeworm lead off with a fly out to to Charlie. Cassie followed with a single and went to third on a double by Zack. Addison was next, and she popped the ball up to Denise who had returned to the mound. Up next was Woody who fell victim to Denise's wild streak and was hit by the pitch. This left everything up to Bailey.

And she felt two hands slowly rubbing her shoulders.

"You can do this. I know you can..."

Bailey nodded. "Yeah, I can."

Cody smiled at her. "You don't need a grand slam though. If you get a base hit, I guarantee Zack will try to score from second. Your best bet is to try to go to left field since Brady is no longer out there."

"Good call."

"Good luck, Sweetie."

Bailey took her place in the batter's box and began staring down Denise. She kept waiting for the pitch, but it never came. Instead, her attention was diverted when she saw Nathan begin jumping up and down and celebrating. The she noticed Carey calling Woody out. The kids had finally tricked them in a legal manner. Woody was a victim of the old hidden ball trick.

The kids all ran together to celebrate while all the parents glared at Woody. Sheepishly, all he could say was. "Best two out of three?"

To be Continued...