Book 2 SAMPLE CONTENT: Chapter 1: It’s late morning and the sun is close to being directly overhead. It’s one of those hot, humid, heavy days that are common in June on Long Island and pretty much the rest of New York. The smell of hot dogs roasting in the snack shack wafts down to the softball field in Pine Hills Park. This makes most of the people hungry who are in attendance to see the Junior League Majors Division championship game. Coach Margo Porter and Coach Matt Porter, the head coach and manager of the Pine Hills Flames don’t notice the aroma. They don’t even notice the heat. They are laser focused on the championship game. It’s their Flames vs. Coach Devon’s Tigers. The game so far has been a clash in almost every way possible. The Tigers are wearing their green and yellow uniforms, while the Flames are wearing their red, white, and blue uniforms. Coach Margo and Coach Matt are quiet, confident, and supportive of their players, while Coach Devon is a “yeller.” He yells at his players and is at times relentless letting his players know when they’ve made a mistake. However, the two teams have at least one thing in common - neither team has scored yet. This is a pitcher’s duel. Penny Porter, Coach Margo’s and Coach Matt’s daughter has pitched six scoreless innings using a variety of her pitches. Penny has walked two batters in the sixth inning but managed to get out of the inning with no runs allowed. In the fifth inning, Coach Matt substituted in Deb Branford for Erica Muller, the Flames’ backup pitcher, on first base, so Erica can warm up her arm, in case she is needed to relieve Penny in the circle. The heat and humidity are starting to get to the players, as well as the pressure of the importance of this championship game. Not only does the winner become the Majors Division champion, but they will also represent the Pine Hills Junior League in the District 11 Summer Ball Tournament. They also have the possibility of going to the state championship in Niagara Falls, NY. The Tigers’ pitcher is a junk ball pitcher, where she is throwing seemingly bad pitches that somehow fool the batters into swinging even though they don’t have a chance of hitting them. However, the pitcher can also throw strikes, so it’s tough for the batters to know when to swing and when not to swing. The Flames just retired the Tigers in the bottom of the sixth inning and are heading back to the dugout. Alyssa Rogers, the team’s scrappy shortstop walks back to the dugout with Penny. “I didn’t realize the Tigers had a good pitcher… and by good, I don’t mean as good as you Penny… but she is doing a good job of striking us out. Where did she come from? I don’t think I’ve ever seen her at school.” Penny wipes the sweat dripping from her forehead and answers, “I think her name is Melinda or something like that. She has a totally different pitching style than I have. We’ve never had to play against anyone like her before. She is hardly giving us anything to hit.” “Is she a ringer or something? She doesn’t even go to our school.” “I’m pretty sure she’s homeschooled, but still eligible to play in our district.” “I guess she must be legit or she wouldn’t be playing here today.” The two girls and the rest of the Flames pile into the dugout and quickly drink some water and find their batting gloves and helmets. Penny takes some ice-cold water out of her cooler and drinks half of the 16-ounce bottle in one gulp. She takes the rest and pours it over her head to cool off. Taylor Meyers, the team’s starting catcher sees this and decides it’s a great idea. She opens her red Hydro Flask bottle with softball stickers all over it and pours most of what’s left over her own head while commenting, “Man, it’s hot out here.” Jenny Carson, the tall redhead who plays center field, shouts back trying to impersonate Coach Margo, “Be one with the heat, ladies. We have a game to win!” Everyone in the dugout laughs, including Coach Margo. It is just what they need – a break from all the tension. The Flames are the visiting team and are up at bat first in this seventh and final inning of the game. That is, providing one team scores. Up first is the number nine batter – Sue Stone, who plays second base. She is known as a power hitter and could just as easily hit in the cleanup position as the number four batter. However, having Sue at the bottom of the batting order has worked for the Flames all season and no one wants to change anything that works. Coach Margo runs out to coach third base and Coach Matt takes up his position as first base coach. Coach Matt, always trying to encourage the players yells out, “Here we go Sue. You got this kid!” In what seems like a second, Sue goes through four pitches and strikes out swinging. Disappointed she wasn’t able to help out the team, she returns to the dugout with a frown on her face. Determined to not let it get her down, she takes off her batting helmet and looks to cheer for the next batter. She positions herself up to the fence as Kayla Kim, the right fielder walks out to the batter’s box. Sue shouts out, “Top of the order! Top! Top of the order! Come on Kayla. Show ‘em what you got kiiiiiiid!” Kayla takes a check swing and steps into the batter’s box. Once again, four pitches later and Kayla is on her way back to the dugout after striking out while swinging. Taylor Meyers is up next and is in the on-deck circle taking some practice swings. She shows the other team her fast swing, with her swing plane up high – Taylor likes high pitches. As she heads to the batter’s box, Sue shouts out some encouragement, hoping to will Taylor to get on base, “Here we go Taylor. Put it over the fence like last game kid. All we need is one. You can do it!” Taylor looks over to Coach Margo and sees that she is being given the bunt sign. She enters the batter’s box toward the front. As soon as the pitcher goes into her windup, Taylor switches to a bunting stance. She lines the bat up by essentially peering over the top of the bat and lays down a beauty of a bunt along the third base foul line, but still in fair territory. Taylor immediately drops the bat, hoping her bat will be in the way and to make it slightly more difficult for the catcher to field the bunt. She sprints off to first base. The girl playing third base on the Tigers was already moving up when she saw Taylor square up for the bunt. She grabs the ball with her barehand and throws the ball almost sidearm to first base. It misses the first baseman by about 5 feet and goes out of bounds. This is the Tigers’ first error of the game. The umpire raises his hand and calls out, “Dead ball. Runner gets second base.” By the time the ball reaches near first base, Taylor is already rounding the base and continues on at a jog toward second base. The entire Flames team is up on the fence, screaming with excitement and encouraging Taylor for getting on base. While jumping up and down, Sue shouts, “Way to go Taylor! That’s it. Now you’re in scoring position. We can do this!” With two outs and one runner on at second base, Erica Muller the backup pitcher and starting first baseman enters the batter’s box. However, about 90 seconds later, Erica is retired as the third out on four pitches. Tears run down Erica’s cheeks as she believes she let her team down. They were all counting on her to bring Taylor home. Coach Margo is still standing in the coach’s box at third base as the Tigers leave the field. She is staring off into the distance as though she’s in a trance. Suddenly, a smile comes across her face. She realizes she is on the field alone, composes herself and jogs towards the Flames’ dugout. Coach Matt rushes over to Erica to comfort her. “C’mon Erica, give yourself a break. Taylor was our first hit of the game. No one else has been able to touch this pitcher. You did your best. At least you didn’t go down watching the ball go by. You swung and we had a chance. Now we just need to hold them. I need you to be ready if I need to put you in the circle. So, take a moment and get yourself together.” Erica nods her head, understanding that she may need to go in. As Coach Margo enters the dugout, she calls everyone over for a quick conference. “I know how we can beat this pitcher! There’s a pattern to what she throws. If we can get through the bottom half of this inning, we can do this! I need everyone to play their best right now. We need to hold them and then it’s our turn to take this game. Everyone hands in. Erica take us out!” Erica, who wiped away her tears and is re- energized by Coach Margo’s speech, shouts, “Hold them on three. Ready. One-two-three!” The whole team shouts, “Hold them!” The Tigers are up. Fortunately, it’s the bottom of their batting order. Penny makes quick work out of the 7-8-9 batters and retires the side to end the regular innings in this championship game. The umpire steps out from behind the plate and announces to both dugouts, “We need a winner today, so this game will go into extra innings. Tigers take the field!”