I wish we weren’t facing the guys from Northwest,” Rodney said as he pulled on his jersey. It was Friday afternoon, and West was scheduled to play its first game in two hours. “I mean, we’re friends now because of Regionals and the trip here. It’s going to stink if we beat them, you know?”
“Not as much as if we lose to them,” Phillip interjected.
“Well, yeah, obviously,” Rodney said, rolling his eyes.
Liam said nothing. With the time before their game ticking down, his nerves were beginning to jangle. He knew he’d be fine once he hit the field, but the anticipation was driving him nuts!
Finally, Mr. Matthews came to fetch them. “You boys will be playing to a packed stadium today,” he informed them with a smile. “But don’t you worry about that. These are some of the best fans in the world. No matter how you play, they’ll cheer for you.”
“Big crowds don’t bother us, do they, guys?” Phillip said. He stretched his arms out to either side. The rest of the players imitated his pose. They waved their arms up and down with undulating movements and waggled their hips. “Loosey-goosey! Loosey-goosey!” they cried.
Phillip had introduced the crazy move during Regionals. Its silliness made them forget their nerves, at least temporarily.
Mr. Matthews laughed. “Reminds me of how I used to dance back in the old days. In all seriousness, boys, let me give you one suggestion. Use your warm-up time to work out any last jitters. Then block out the crowd and”—he grinned—“have a ball!”
Liam, for one, took the host’s advice to heart. By game time, he felt raring to play. Not that he’d be playing right away. Coach Driscoll had chosen to keep him, Phillip, Cole, and Carmen on the bench for the first few innings. Liam was a little disappointed not to start, but he trusted the coach’s judgment. After all, it had gotten them this far.
Northwest had won the coin toss and so was the home team. As the players ran onto the field, the West team and coaches huddled in a circle, arms over shoulders. They bounced on the balls of their feet and started murmuring.
“We believe. We believe. We believe that we can win.”
The chant started low but swelled until it echoed throughout the dugout. “We believe! We believe! We believe that we can win!”
As Liam looked around at his teammates’ excited and eager faces, he truly did believe it.
The first inning saw textbook baseball defense in action with both sides going three up, three down.
West’s bats talked louder the second inning, however. Rodney started things off with a smashing double that had fans roaring with approval. Christopher followed up with a powerful single to the outfield. Rodney hotfooted it to third and then raced home for the first run of the game. Christopher stayed put at first.
Next up was Mason. He took a big cut at the first pitch and missed. He fanned at the next two pitches as well for out number one.
Nate Solis, a quiet twelve-year-old with thick dark eyebrows, brown eyes, high cheekbones, and full lips, fared better: getting to first when the Northwest shortstop missed his hard-hit grounder. Christopher slid safely into second, just beating out the throw after the bobbled pickup.
Luis Cervantes approached the batter’s box with one out and runners on first and second.
Ping!
He drilled a line drive into the gap in shallow right field. He dropped his bat and dashed for first. Christopher and Nate took off, their legs blurring as they ran. Christopher scored and Nate landed safely at second. Luis was all smiles at first, clearly delighted to have clocked an RBI. “Keep it going, Elton!” he cried.
Unfortunately, Elton Sears ended their chances of adding a third run that inning by hitting into a double play.
“Rats!” Elton berated himself in the dugout.
“Shake it off,” Coach Driscoll advised, “and focus on the inning ahead.”
But Elton couldn’t seem to shake it off. He walked the first two batters. Luis called for time and hurried to the mound. He said a few words to Elton and trundled back to the plate. Whatever he said must have helped because Elton threw two strikes.
On the third pitch, though—pow! The Northwest batter connected for a high fly ball to shallow right field. Rodney tore up the turf trying to get to it.
Liam leaped off the bench. “Go, Rodney! Go!” he screamed. Then his heart sank.
He’s not going to get there in time.
The Northwest base coaches weren’t counting on Rodney to miss, however. They motioned for their runners to pause halfway down the paths. That way, if Rodney did make the catch, they could hustle back to their bases. But the lead runner must have missed the signal because he didn’t put on the brakes until he was close to third.
Rodney, meanwhile, dove forward, slid on his side with his glove outstretched, and caught the ball! A split second later, he was back on his feet and throwing to second. The Northwest runner tried to backtrack, but he was too late. The ball hit Christopher’s glove and stuck there.
“Out!” the umpire called.
“Way to go, Rodney!” Liam yelled. He high-fived Phillip.
But the scoring threat wasn’t over yet. The next batter singled, putting runners on first and second. Then the one after that struck out to end the inning.
West widened the gap in the third thanks to more solid hits. Dom got on with a single. James Thrasher hit Dom to second but was thrown out at first. Matt knocked in Dom with an RBI double. Rodney walked, but Christopher flied out. Mason hit an impressive line drive, which had both Matt and Rodney crossing home plate. Then Nate struck out to end West’s rally.
Northwest managed to put one run on the board in the bottom of the inning, but that was all.
West 5, Northwest 1.
Both teams made substitutions in the top of the fourth. Northwest put a new pitcher on the mound. Although he walked Cole, in for Luis, he struck out Carmen, who had taken Elton’s place on the mound.
Then Dom singled, sending Cole all the way to third. Phillip was up next, having come in for James. After six pitches, he drew a walk.
Bases loaded, one out.
Matt popped a foul ball behind home plate. The catcher leaped to his feet, tearing off his mask. He twisted around and made the catch. Even though Liam was disappointed for Matt, he had to admire the catcher’s heads-up play.
Bases loaded, two outs.
“Run on anything!” Coach Driscoll yelled, clapping as Rodney approached the batter’s box.
Rodney watched the first pitch go by for strike one. He swung at the second.
Ping! It was a long ball in the air, heading for deep left field!
“It’s a homer! It’s a homer!” Liam cried excitedly.
The runners barreled around the bases—only to slow to a stop when the Northwest outfielder made the catch.
WEST 5, NORTHWEST 1, the scoreboard read when Northwest came up to bat in the bottom of the fourth—and that’s how it stayed thanks to superb pitching from Carmen.
Liam, in for Christopher, congratulated the hurler in the dugout. Then he put on a batting helmet and selected a bat.
“You got this, Liam,” Dom shouted, a cry picked up by the other boys.
As Liam strode to the plate, he glanced at the pitcher, a pleasant boy he had enjoyed chatting with on the plane ride from California. He wasn’t thinking about that when he got into his stance, though. The only thing on his mind was getting a hit.
The first pitch came zipping in. Liam liked the looks of it. He swung.
Ping! His bat connected with the ball for a sizzling grounder toward third. Liam sped to first—and beat the throw!
Mason got a hit, too, but unfortunately, his wasn’t as strong. To make matters worse, he stumbled a little as he started toward first. The shortstop scooped up the ball and threw Liam out at second. The second baseman relayed to first, catching Mason a few steps shy of the bag. When Nate struck out, the inning was over.
“Rats!” Mason said in the dugout. “I can’t believe I tripped. That was totally embarrassing.”
“Hey, don’t sweat it, man,” Liam said. “We’ve all done it!”
“Yeah, but not in the World Series.” Mason hurried, head down, onto the field.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Liam caught up to him. “First of all, everyone makes outs. Second of all, stop thinking about this as the World Series! Think about it like it’s just another game. Okay?”
Mason looked up. He gave a small smile and then nodded. “Okay. Thanks, Liam.”
“You bet! Now let’s win this game!”
Northwest didn’t score in the bottom of the fifth. West didn’t add runs their last turn up, either. In the bottom of the sixth and with the game on the line, Northwest put a run over to make it West 5, Northwest 2. They came close to posting another with a high fly to the outfield. Matt called for it, raced the short distance to get under it, and—
“Yes!” Liam murmured under his breath when Matt slapped his hand over the ball in his glove for the final out. “We did it—and we’ll do it again! And we will go all the way!”