Chapter 1 7 Strike I shook my head and tried to concentrate The pitcher I gripped the bat with clammy hands It was the bottom of the last inning and the pitcher for the Bulldogs had a nasty drop-curve ball that would home in on my shin like a cruise missile I was still limping from the last time I came up to bat against him It was a great motivator Either hit the ball or be crippled The pitcher pulled back his arm and released the ball I jumped back from home plate with both feet as the ball whistled past my knees was grinning I was sweating Come on Clay The next one has your name on it I know Scott meant to say that I was going to hit the ball and not be hit by it but part of me worried my best friend had just jinxed me It would feel so good to connect with the ball and send it screaming out into left field so hard it would wipe the smirks right off the Bulldogs faces We were down two to nothing and I was tired of our team being a joke in the league A filler You know a team to practice on
in between the important games Out of the corner of my eye I could see the Bulldogs all leaning on the fence in front of their dugout snickering Bring me home Clay Stewy was on third which was something of a miracle He was a great hitter but not a great runner He could really put his weight behind the bat and send the ball flying which would usually buy him enough time to make it to first But that was about it And when he did go he didn’t exactly run lumbering is more what you’d call the way he moved It was only because of some wild throws and the fact that no one could understand Coach Meyers’s signals that he now stood on third arms folded A big hit here and we could tie the game I planted my feet in the dirt and sucked in my breath as I waited for the next pitch What I wouldn’t give to end the Terriers losing streak to know how it felt to win It wasn’t a feeling I was familiar with or something any other team expected from us coming from the losing-est town in history The pitcher playfully tossed the ball up and down a few times Then he looked at me with a glint in his eye and went into his wind-up He threw the ball with a grunt I saw it coming straight at my head I dropped like a stone to avoid a concussion The catcher missed the ball and scrambled up from his squat to chase it 8
Coach Meyers yelled at Stewy to steal home Our whole bench froze Stewy was never called on to steal You know the lumbering and all that But Coach was screaming now and Stewy was nothing if not a team player So he started moving his legs pounding his arms pumping I stepped back from the plate and shook my head Mr Meyers was nice enough to volunteer time as the Terriers coach but he knew nothing nothing about baseball The catcher was in no hurry to get the ball at first but when he looked over his shoulder as he bent to pick it up he saw a locomotive chugging toward home Now that Stewy was moving everyone on our bench was up and yelling for him The catcher grabbed the ball and ran back to tag him There was only one second’s confusion on Stewy’s face before he threw his arms in front of him and went headfirst toward home plate Stewy lifted his dust-covered face and spit out a mouthful of dirt He was still ten inches away from the plate and the catcher was standing over him with a smug look on his face I didn’t even know the guy and I didn’t like him arms that that was the third out The game was over Out barked the umpire Then he signaled with his Dive Dive screamed Coach Meyers 9
