“Hey, champ!” Derek’s dad called. “Waiting on you!”
“Sorry, Dad.” Derek got back into position to field another grounder.
Soon other kids from both teams started to filter in. Having dropped Derek and his dad off forty minutes ago, Derek’s mom returned in the station wagon with Sharlee and Vijay, whose parents had to work this Saturday at the hospital.
The big black sedan showed up with Dave and Chase. Dave had been a really good player for their team the previous year. Chase had been Mr. Jeter’s assistant coach—and those Tigers had won it all.
Derek looked around for Avery and her mom but didn’t see them. Maybe it’s just too much for her, he thought. Still, he knew that if it were him, he’d have shown up—for his team’s sake, if nothing else.
Both teams got their warm-ups in and took batting practice. Once or twice Derek looked over at the man in the Tigers’ stands and saw him taking notes. He wondered what that was all about.
The teams went to their benches. “Okay, everyone, let’s gather around,” Coach K said, waving his arms to beckon them. “First of all, I just wanted to say that we’re going to be without Mullins today.”
A moan went up from some of the players. “Her mom called to say she’s sick. We all know how much she would want to be here.”
That’s when Derek saw Avery running toward them, mitt in hand, with her mom jogging behind her, trying to keep up.
“She’s here!” Derek said. “Look!”
As the Yankees spotted her, they broke into cheers. Avery reached the circle and joined in the group hug. “Let’s go!” she yelled.
The Yankees did their team cheer and broke the circle. Before Coach started reading out the lineup and positions, Derek found Avery and tugged on her shirt.
“Hey! I thought you weren’t playing.”
“Yeah, well…”
“Your mom said the doctor didn’t want you playing anymore.”
“I know what she said,” Avery told him, a steely look in her eye. “I know what they all said. I told them I was playing today, no matter what happens after.”
Derek was taken aback. “You sure you’re going to be okay?”
“Don’t worry about it,” she snapped. “Not your problem, right?”
“I’m really glad you’re playing, but I don’t want to see you make yourself even sicker.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything. Derek knew why—for Avery this game was all about her brother. She would start thinking about herself again when the game was over.
“Well, all right!” Derek said. “Let’s go out there and have a blast, huh?”
“Go, Yanks!” she replied.
“GO, YANKS!” they both yelled together.
Chapter Fifteen REACHING FOR GLORY
The coaches and umpires met on the mound and shook hands. This is it, thought Derek. The big game.
He’d played mostly great all season, but if he messed up in this game, everything he’d done till now would go right up in smoke!
Derek shook off the negative thoughts. Time to quiet that little voice inside his head. Time to focus so sharply on the moment that there would be no room for the little voice—no room for doubt and fear.
He watched the Tigers take the field. Spotting Dave was easy, because of how tall he was. He wore number 17 and was playing third base.
Derek caught Dave’s attention and tipped his cap in a gesture of respect. Dave returned the gesture, smiling briefly before settling into fielding position.
“Come on, Mase!” Derek yelled as the Yankees’ leadoff hitter stepped into the box.
“Play ball!” shouted the ump.
The Tigers’ starter was the kid he’d seen in the stands before the game—with the man scribbling all the notes.
The pitcher went into his windup—and Derek saw the fastest pitch he’d seen all season. It sailed right by Mason, who swung way too late. Two pitches later Mason walked back to the bench, an easy strikeout victim.
Derek swallowed hard. He’d heard about this kid from Dave earlier in the season. If there was one reason the Tigers were now 7–2, Derek was now looking at him.
Derek let the first pitch go by, just to get a feel. It missed, low. But Derek knew he’d have to start his swing early if he wanted to catch up to the next one.
He fouled it off, and winced, mad at himself. Almost! On the next pitch he was ready even earlier—but the pitcher was smart as well as talented. He threw Derek a slow changeup. It made Derek look silly, finishing his swing before the ball hit the catcher’s mitt. Again, Derek adjusted his thinking—but now he had no idea what would be coming.
It was a fastball, and Derek swung wildly, hitting nothing but air.
Two outs.
Pete, at least, managed to hit a fair ball—even if it was only a grounder to second. And that was their first inning, going down one, two, three.
“Yeah!” Dave shouted, pounding his mitt. “Great job, Brad!”
The pitcher raised a hand in acknowledgment as he strutted back to the bench. Derek knew Brad was going to be a tough challenge for them all. But he promised himself he’d do better the next time he came up.
After grabbing his glove, he ran out to short and threw a couple of practice grounders to Avery at second, just to get loose. Harry threw his warm-up pitches, and the hitter came up to the plate.
Derek knew Harry liked to keep hitters guessing. Harry had a pretty good fastball. Nothing like Brad’s, but above average. But his real skill was deception. He had a tricky changeup, along with a hesitation in his windup that threw batters’ timing off.
When the leadoff man went down swinging on a full count, Derek let out a whoop. “Way to go, Harry!” he shouted.
Maybe Harry could match Brad, zeros for zeros. Maybe—if he was really at the top of his game…
But the next batter walked, and up came Brad. He worked the count even to 2–2, then laced a single to left center, sending the runner to
