CHAPTER 6
BENCHED!

The Lions had a quick turnaround after the glove fiasco. They had another game the next day against the Rams. Malcolm wasn’t very excited about seeing his teammates so soon. He thought they’d still be mad at him.

One of the first people he saw at the field was Sanjay.

“Hey, how’s it going?” Sanjay asked as he jogged over.

“I don’t know,” Malcolm said. “Are you still mad at me?”

“Mad?” Sanjay said, with a puzzled look on his face. “I’m not mad. I said you shouldn’t do it, but I had a feeling you would.”

“What about the rest of the team?” Malcolm asked.

“You apologized, so it’s all good,” Sanjay replied. “I think most of the team has already let it go.”

Malcolm felt relieved. At least the whole team didn’t hate him. He knew Matt would still be mad, though.

As the rest of the players filtered in and sat down, Coach Fitz stood in the dugout opening. “Okay, squad, big game today,” he said. “First, we need to clean up some things from yesterday’s game. Malcolm, you’re benched for today. I already talked with your parents about it. A team must trust each other. And even though you didn’t mean any harm, going behind our backs with your glove oil was the wrong move.”

Malcolm felt tears come to his eyes. He thought he might have heard Matt clap at the end of the bench, but he ignored it.

“Okay, Coach,” Malcolm said, nodding his head. “I understand.”

As several teammates tapped him with their gloves on their way out to the field, Malcolm decided he wasn’t going to pout about the benching. He would use the opportunity to chart every pitch and play during the game. This would help him use statistics to figure out his teammates’ tendencies at the plate and on the field.

As the innings rolled by, Malcolm had so much fun charting the game that he forgot he was being punished. He felt like an assistant coach. He cheered the Lions on during at bats. He talked with Sanjay about pitch selection between innings. He used his smartwatch to help Walter and Anthony be in the proper outfield positions based on the wind.

By the bottom of the ninth inning, the game was tied and the Lions had a runner on first base. As Sanjay stepped up to the plate, Malcolm had an idea!

“Coach, I think we should try doing a hit-and-run here,” he said. “Sanjay has hit the ball to second base twice today. If we send the runner, that opens up a hole at second.”

“Good thinking, Malcolm,” Coach said with a smile. “Maybe you should take my job.”

Coach gave the signal for the hit-and-run. As Walter took off for second on the steal, Sanjay ripped a line drive right where the second baseman had been standing. Then the ball scooted under the right fielder’s glove. Walter came all the way home to score the winning run!

“Awesome victory, Lions!” Coach said. “And hey, let’s give some credit to Malcolm. He called that hit-and-run.”

The Lions all jumped around Malcolm in celebration. He felt like everyone had forgiven him. Well, almost everyone…

Malcolm looked around. Matt was nowhere to be seen.