Chapter 24

"Nobody out, man on first!" I shouted, then tossed the baseball in the air and smacked it toward Elvis Carson, who was playing first. The freshman snagged it on one bounce, spun, and raced toward first, tagging it easily.

He looked at me, tossing the baseball up and down and grinning like he'd just been named Rookie of the Year in the American League.

"Great play," I yelled. Impossibly, his grin got bigger. "We now have a man in scoring position with only one out." His face fell. "I know Mr. Hollowell mentioned getting the lead runner at least once or twice last year." He'd better have. I taught him.

"Yeah, lard butt," yelled the freshman on the pitcher's mound, Danny something.

"Guess what, lard butt junior." Danny looked around until he realized I was yelling at him. "Guess who was supposed to be sprinting to cover first if Elvis had thrown to second like he was supposed to?"

Danny looked like he wanted to argue but thought better of it. "Take a lap," I yelled. I looked at my reserves over by the third base dugout. "Jason, take the mound."

"I'm not a pitcher," Jason said walking to the base line but not crossing.

"And if I ask you to pitch, you can remind me of that."

Jason ran to the mound.

"Freshmen," I muttered under my breath. "Let's try that play again." And again. And again. "Okay, time out," I said finally.

I looked over at the batting cage. "Coach, can I borrow Robbie, Ricky, and Jake for a minute?"

Coach Calloway nodded, though Robbie already had a batting helmet on and looked like she was next.

"Infield in," I yelled while the three trotted over. "You, too," I added when the reserves didn't move. "The problem is you're throwing the ball to where people are instead of where they're going to be." I explained when they were gathered around me. "Watch."

Ricky had taken position by first, and Jake was on the mound. Robbie, still wearing a batting helmet, was playing second. "Nobody out, man on first," I yelled and hit a hard one bouncer about fifteen feet to Ricky's right. Ricky charged forward, snagged the ball and without appearing to look, fired it to second. Robbie took the throw about a foot behind second, stepped forward onto the bag, and fired to Jake's waiting glove on first.

"And that, guys, would be a double play in any league." I nodded to my friends, and they jogged back to the batting cages. "If you want to play varsity," like that's going to happen with this crew, "you have to throw the ball where it needs to be and trust that the other player will know where he's supposed to be and take the catch."

I gave them a few seconds to let it sink in. "Now, anything wrong with the play they just ran?"

The boys in front of me looked around at each other. Finally Danny whatever raised his hand.

"Lard butt junior," I acknowledged.

Danny turned red. "Shouldn't the shortstop take the throw at second?"

I held my hand out to him. "Junior, there may be hope for you yet. Normally, the shortstop would take the throw from first unless he was playing deep or out of position for some reason. But you noticed that Robbie didn't hesitate. She knew there was no short, so she played it. Any questions?"

Most of them shook their heads, but one kid -- I couldn't remember his name -- raised his hand. I nodded.

"Have any of us got a chance?"

'No way in hell, ' I thought but smiled. "Everybody's got a chance. Coach Calloway makes everybody try out and then picks his squad. It doesn't matter if you're a senior or a freshman. If you already played three years of varsity or never picked up a glove before today. Ricky made it as a freshman. So did Robbie and me."

"You're not trying out," Jason said, then looked surprised that the words had come out of his mouth.

"I will. Since Coach Saxon, the JV coach, couldn't be here today, the coach will have some of last year's varsity helping out. He's over there at the batting cage, but you'd better believe he knows what's going on over here too. It's only Monday. We've got four more days after this. Okay, you and you, first and second..." I started moving my reserves onto the field.

"Sit! Stay! Quiet!" Tami pushed me into dad's chair while the others grinned.

"I'm glad to see you finally figured out how to handle him," Robbie said while Darlene and Allie giggled.

"I'm glad you think so," Tami said. "Sit! Stay! Quiet!" she commanded as she pushed Robbie back onto the sofa. Robbie looked stunned. Tami looked satisfied. The rest tried to keep their faces neutral while they figured out where the nearest fallout shelter was.

Tami ignored Robbie's look and checked out the room. "Where's Peter?"

"I told him we were getting together, but he wasn't interested," Mikee explained.

"Tony, fetch!"

"I thought I was supposed to sit."

When I saw the determined look in her eye, I jumped up and headed for the door.

I knocked, and Peter opened the door. "What... ?" From the look on his face, he wasn't happy to see me.

"We're having a meeting. It has something to do with the play. Tami asked me to get you."

"I don't think..."