So the next three chapters and chapter 4 are all going up today because I got them done and couldn't wait to post them!! So I hope you like them all. Disclamer: I don't own anything except the DVDS.

CHAPTER 5 The Game

"Play ball!" Ham shouted, pulling his catcher's helmet down. "All right, it's going to be a quick game. Strike one!"

Sure enough, the boy who was up to bat had been distracted by Ham's chattering and got strike one. In just nine pitches, the sandlot kids were up at bat.

"Casey, you bat first." Benny said, throwing a bat at her.

Casey nodded and walked up to the plate. The pitch was thrown and she hit it into the outfield. Two outfielders fumbled with the ball before getting it to the pitcher, but by then Casey was at second base.

"Come on guys!" Phillips yelled from second. "She's a girl! How could you let a girl get the better of you?"

"I saw it go right by you Phillips." Casey said.

He turned and glared at her before getting ready. Smalls was up. Like Casey, he hit it into the outfield, but this time they were ready and got it to the pitcher when they had each only gotten one base.

"Hi Matthew." She said quietly.

"Hi Casey." Matthew replied as he walked back to his position. "Meet me at the library tomorrow at one."

Casey nodded slightly.

The game went like that. The Giants scored a few points, but only because Smalls tripped over his own feet and Casey's throw was slightly off. The sandlot gang won by a landside.

"Get out of here, Phillips." Benny ordered at the end of the game.

Phillips and his team glared at them before leaving the field on their bikes. The sandlot gang turned and started cheering. Casey looked at the exit and saw Matthew sitting on his bike. He smiled and she smiled back.

"Casey." Smalls said when he noticed that she wasn't joining in. "What is it?"

"Huh?" she turned to him. "Oh, nothing. One of those losers didn't leave, but he saw me looking and he left."

Smalls didn't look like he believed her, but he let it drop.

"Let's go get some ice cream to celebrate." Ham suggested.

That sounded great to everyone and they all ran to Vincent's Drugstore.

"Nine vanilla ice cream cones please." Benny said. Casey punched him lightly in the arm. He corrected himself. "I mean eight. One strawberry."
"Thank you." Casey grinned.

They all got their ice creams and walked back to the sandlot. It was only 4:30 and they still had awhile.

"So Casey," Smalls said nonchalantly as they sat in the dugout eating. "How's it been at the library? Must be a pretty good book to have you their every day."

"Oh I wasn't their for a book." Casey told him. "I had to do a research paper on a Civil War battle."

"That should have been easy for you." Benny teased, "You know everything about that war. You should see her room. It's covered in a mixture of Civil War things, baseball things, and clothes."

"Clothes?" Kenny asked raising his eyebrow. "I thought girls were supposed to be neat freaks."

"Please." Benny grinned at his sister. "My room is cleaner then hers."
"Hey I cleaned it!" Casey objected. Benny looked at her. "All right, I made a path. But hey, I never have time to clean my room with baseball and school."

"And the library." Smalls added.

Casey looked at Smalls. He just looked back at her. He knew something was up, Casey realized.

"All right guys." Benny said as they all finished up their ice cream. "Let's play some more ball!"

"Yeah!" they all agreed.

They jumped up and got ready to play for two more hours before heading on home. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.