Windmill Windup by Matt Christopher

pitching, not windmill. Kelly tensed even harder, determined not
     to let the next pitch get by her.
    Laurie went into her windup and let fly. Kelly could see that the pitch was in the dirt, but she’d had to start her swing
     so early that now she couldn’t stop it in time. On a check swing, the umpire yelled, “Stee-rike three! Yer out!”
    Kelly slammed her bat on the ground and headed back to the bench, blinking back sudden tears. She glared at everyone who told
     her, “That’s okay, Kelly,” or “Next time, Kel.” She didn’t want to hear it. She’d been humiliated. That stupid Allie Warheit
     had hit a home run like it was nothing, and she, the great Kelly Conroy, had whiffed like a total loser.
    In the bottom of the first, things started to get really bad. Still thinking about her strikeout, Kelly got a late jump on
     a grounder, and it got through her for a base hit. It could even have been considered an error.
    Her miscue opened the door for a seven-run Devil Ray avalanche against the lame pitching of Marie del Toro, the Diamondbacks’
     starter. By the end of the inning, Marie had been replaced by Dorothy Barad, one of the sixth-graders, and the D’backs were
     in a hole that would only get deeper as the game went on.
    Kelly batted again in the third inning and oncemore in the fifth. Each time she whiffed badly, and the murmuring on both benches got louder. Now, when she tromped back to
     the bench, the other girls avoided her, seeing what an evil mood she was in. No one wanted to get her head bitten off by trying
     to console her.
    Kelly could feel the stares of her former teammates on the other bench.
They must be wondering what’s happened to me
, she realized. She was wondering the same thing herself.
    The final score was a humiliating 13–3, with the only other Diamondback run accounted for by another monster shot by Allie
     Warheit. The sixth-grader finished with two home runs and a double. The other Diamondbacks had amassed all of one hit between
     them, and that one was a dribbler by Dorien Day.
    After the game, Coach Beigelman gathered his battered troops for a pep talk. “We’ll get ’em next time,” he assured the downcast
     girls. “You all looked good out there. We just lost to a powerhouse team, that’s all.”
    Kelly doubted it. Sure, the Devil Rays were awesome. With Laurie Solomon throwing like a windmill whirlwind, none of the other
     teams in the league were likely to do much better against them.But the way the Diamondbacks had played, they weren’t likely to be a winning team, in this league or any other.
    Kelly trudged off the field, studiously avoiding her friends on the Devil Rays. She saw her mom’s station wagon parked on
     the street and made her way quickly toward it.
    “Hey! Kelly!” She turned around to see Allie trotting toward her. Kelly turned away again, but Allie kept coming.
    “Nice game,” Kelly managed to tell her.
    “Thanks!” Allie said, flashing a brilliant smile. “Um, you too….” Her voice faded, as she realized the hollowness of what
     she was saying.
    “Yeah, right,” Kelly said. “I stunk. Worse than anybody.”
    “Come on, anyone can have a bad game,” Allie said consolingly. “It must have been nerve-racking for you, facing your old team.
     I’d have played tight, too, if it was me.”
    Kelly looked up at her and managed a faint smile. “Thanks,” she said. “That’s nice of you to say.”
    “You’ll be your old self next game, you’ll see,” Allie assured her.
    “Yeah. Well, you keep up whatever you’re doing,okay?” Kelly told her. “You played awesome.” Clapping Allie on the arm, Kelly hoisted her bat and glove over her shoulder
     and made for her mom’s car.
    Ugh
. She could see already that Ken was there, too, sitting in the front passenger seat. Why did he have to be there now, of
     all times? Wasn’t it bad enough that she was a total flop, and embarrassed in front of all her old friends? Why did her mom