watch the kids in the ï¬eld and see what they were doing.
Big Bette went up to the plate, carrying a huge bat on her shoulder. The ï¬elders moved in close, thinking that if Big Bette did hit the ball it sure wouldnât go far.
The players from Kamloops started to yell things at Big Bette, saying she couldnât hit and looked too weak to even swing the bat.
âHey!â yelled Susan. âBe nice! Thatâs our friend up there and she canât help it if sheâs small!â
âSusan,â said Dad without turning his head.
âYeah?â
âWhat theyâre doing is part of the game. Theyâre trying to rattle the batter. They can do that. All teams do that. When theyâre batting, theyâll yell at our pitcher. Itâs part of baseball.â
âI memorized the rules,â said Susan, âand that is not in there at all.â
âTrust me, they can do it,â said Dad.
âSo we can make up insults and yell at their team?â asked Robbie. âWhy didnât you tell us?â
Robbie cupped his hands and yelled out toward the pitcher, âHey, you on the pitcherâs mound. How can you throw with all that snot hanging out your nose?â
The pitcher threw a ball over Betteâs head. Her bat stayed on her shoulder. He didnât throw the ball high because of what Robbie said. He threw it high because Big Betteâs head wasnât all that far from the ground. Bette stood in a slight crouch to make her strike zone even smaller.
âBall one!â yelled the umpire.
âCome on, pitcher! You couldnât tell the difference between a strike zone and a crossing zone!â
âRobbie,â said Dad softly.
âYeah?â asked Robbie.
âI know it is all right to shout insults. Still, I would try to be a little less provocative.â
âWhat does provocative mean?â
âIt means likely to make the other team angry.â
âWhy canât I be provocative?â
âBecause Bette will probably get on base but this Kamloops team is going to beat us very, very badly. Never show fear but never provoke a sleeping lion, either.â
âTake your base!â yelled the umpire.
Big Bette stood at home plate, the bat on her shoulder.
âHe walked you,â yelled Dad. âYou can go to ï¬rst base.â
Big Bette nodded and dropped her bat. She started jogging toward third base.
âYou know that ï¬rst base is over there,â yelled Dad, pointing.
âRight,â said Big Bette as casually as she could. She jogged across the inï¬eld to stand at ï¬rst base with her hands on her knees. We could see the Kamloops players look at each other, puzzled.
Nick came up to bat. He held his bat above his shoulder and glared at the pitcher. He swung at the ï¬rst three pitches and missed them all.
The next two batters struck out, too, and it was time for the Kamloops team to hit.
I ran out to the ï¬eld, pulling on my glove. I took my position, hands on my knees, focused and ready and praying that nobody hit a ball toward me. I ï¬gured that if I looked mean and acted like I knew what I was doing then maybe the batters would try to hit the ball somewhere else.
Nick pitched. Dad ï¬gured that Nick was our best athlete and that he would pitch the hardest and the fastest.
Maybe so, but the Kamloops Kangaroos seemed to like hard and fast pitches. Kamloops scored eight runs in the ï¬rst inning. We got somebody out when a runner should have stayed at ï¬rst but tried for a double. We got another out when Little Liam caught a ï¬y ball and the third on a strikeout. When Nick got his strikeout we all cheered and ran out to hug him like weâd won the World Series.
âHey, at least you got plenty of practice out there,â said Dad as we ran to the dugout. âAnd you all have a better idea of where to throw the ball when thereâs a hit.â
It was
Cameron Harvey
Honor James
Susan Wright
Marie Force
Sabrina Morgan
Briana Gaitan
Augusten Burroughs
Paul Torday
Mindy Klasky
Duffy Brown