Prime Time Pitcher (2 page)

“C’mon, let’s eat!” Koby yelled in Tug’s ear from under the pileup. “If Scoop gets there before us,
there won’t be any left!” Scoop Jones, the team’s left fielder, was known for his hearty appetite.

“Are you kidding?” Tug yelled back. “They’re going to save a piece for the winning pitcher of the Watermelon Game. You’re
the hero, man!”

“Hey, I couldn’t have done it without you and the Hummer!”

“Ah, piece of cake. Or, should I say ‘slice of watermelon’?”

The Greenview players and coach dragged their garbage can of watermelons over to the Monticello dugout. “Come join us in the
feast,” Coach T. yelled to the Green Jackets. “There’s plenty for everybody!”

Scoop was the first player in line.

Monticello Middle School

April 29

by Sara Wilson

OK, Cardinals fans! I think I’ve died and gone to heaven — baseball heaven, that is. Watermelon never looked so good as it
did after the annual preseason Watermelon Game, and I don’t even
like
watermelon. Too many seeds, but I didn’t care if I swallowed them all, because victory sure tasted sweet!

The Cardinals came out on top thanks to Koby Caplin’s excellent pitching and the hard work of a team whose thirst for watermelon
was bigger than their opponents’. Koby went the distance and scattered
four hits with seven whiffs to a 1-0 victory. In the biggest K of the game, Jethro Hubbard did an impressive imitation of
a windmill.

While the pitching for the Cardinals was awesome, our offense sputtered a bit. Despite eight solid hits under its belt, our
team left several runners stranded on base — a no-no in Coach T.’s playbook.

Here’s my take on this year’s starting lineup:

1B: Tom Jefferson (a.k.a. “the Prez”): At nearly 5’10”, he is a great target for scrambling fielders throwing on the run.
The Prez picks balls out of the dirt with ease. Good bat!

2B: Sandy Siegel has the speed and agility to fill the hole between second and first. Can scratch out a clutch single.

SS: Papo Cruz covers short like a gazelle, with effortless grace. A velvet glove and solid bat.

3B: Billy Trentanelli can stand the heat at the hot corner. Sometimes throws wild when on the run. A potential RBI leader.

LF: Scoop Jones has a big appetite for any ball hit his way. Swings big—bat him fifth.

CF: Beechie Anderson has the speed to cover short and back up his teammates in right and left but needs to work on arm strength.
Leads off with a high on-base percentage. Base-stealing threat.

RF: Karim Omar Watkins (a.k.a. “K.O.”): Right field is the wrong place to hit with K.O. out there. He’ll catch anything smacked
his way. And you
want him at the plate when you’re down by a run!

C:   Tug McCue is a “catcher’s catcher,” and Koby is lucky to have him behind the plate. With the Hummer in hand, balls don’t
get past Tug. His rocket throws to second nab base stealers.

P:   Koby Caplin is going to be the main reason Monticello returns to the baseball map! Throws a heater that sizzles. Very dependable
bat. You’ll be hearing a lot about him this year. He’s a player that can bring fans into the seats.

P:   Miguel Sanchez: A solid pitcher in the rotation.

P:   Peter Chung: If you want to hold on to your lead in the final inning or two, bring in Pete, a dependable relief pitcher.

Want to see how my starting lineup scouting report pans out? Come to Friday’s Opening Day game against the Danville Middle
School Mudcats!

Koby finished reading the
Megaphone
on his way to social studies class. Mr. Tomashiro stood in the
doorway, ushering his students in. Koby had just walked past him when he heard hurried footsteps and a familiar voice.

“Coach T., have you seen Koby yet?” Sara said, sounding breathless.

Coach Tomashiro looked at her over the top of his half-rimmed glasses. “No running in the halls, Sara. But to answer your
question …” He stepped aside to reveal Koby, who was standing right behind him.

“Great article in the
Megaphone,
Sara!” Koby said enthusiastically. “Thanks for saying those nice things about me and the guys.”

“No prob, Kobe. Now I know at least one student reads my column.”

“Are you kidding? Everyone in the locker room talks about it!”

“You’re just saying that.”

“No, really!” he protested. “Maybe you can give us some advice on how to get people into the stands this season.”

“Win some games, maybe?” Sara said with a smirk.

“If that’s what it takes, I’m all for it. But I was
thinking more along the lines of continuous sports coverage in the
Megaphone.
Then maybe we’ll double the crowd that shows up.”

“Yeah, to
ten!”

They laughed so hard that Mr. T. looked up from his desk, where he had been organizing some papers. “Ahem. Don’t you two belong
in class somewhere? Like here, maybe?”

“Sorry,” Sara and Koby said together.

“So how about it?” asked Koby as they hurried to their seats. “Why don’t you come cover practice today?”

“I can’t. If I don’t get my homework and chores done right after school today, my journalism career will be cut short by my
parental units. Maybe some other time. Have fun at practice, though.”

“Not hardly! It’s going to be a tough one!” Koby said. Then they both turned their attention to Mr. Tomashiro, and class began.

Koby was right — Coach Tomashiro was not going to let his players rest on their laurels after the Watermelon Game. He always
held tough practices,
but the next two days of practice were tougher than usual.

“C’mon, Coach!” Scoop said in a fake whining voice as the team did their warm-up exercises on Thursday. “I’m using muscles
that I didn’t even know I had!”

Tweeeet!

Coach Tomashiro blew his whistle. “If you practice hard, you play hard!” he answered back. “Everyone works hard. There are
no ‘prized bears’ on this team.”

Even though Koby was feeling the same way as Scoop, he had to smile. “Prized bear” was Coach T.’s made-up phrase. It meant
that no one was so important to the team that he deserved special treatment or recognition.

Nobody’s feeling like a prized bear today, Koby thought. Sweat poured from his forehead as he did his running-in-place drill.
But if it takes this kind of hard work for the team to be a winner, he thought, I’ll do it.

The team went through its fundamentals drills. Koby threw some easy pitches and a few pitch-outs. Tug torpedoed the ball to
Sandy, covering second.
Then everyone took a turn at batting practice. An hour later, the practice ended with five laps around the perimeter of the
field.

“OK, Cardinals, get yourselves some rest tonight,” Coach T. ordered. “Tomorrow is our first official game, and I don’t want
to see anyone yawning out there!”

When Koby got home after practice, he went right upstairs to take a shower. On the way, he passed his brother Chuck’s room.
He peeked in.

Chuck was a freshman at State College now, but six years ago he had played baseball for the Cardinals when he was at Monticello.
Sitting on Chuck’s top shelf was a trophy he had received from the team, which read:

Chuck Caplin

TEAM SPIRIT AWARD

Monticello Middle School

For the player who,

by his example on and off the field,

demonstrates the value

of team spirit and good sportsmanship

Koby picked up the trophy and stared at it. As always, he found himself missing his brother. Even though there was six years’
difference in their ages, Koby and Chuck had always been close. In fact, Koby’s love of baseball had come from watching his
brother pitch for Monticello. Chuck’s team hadn’t been very good — Chuck himself had made his share of errors — but as the
trophy declared, Chuck’s enthusiasm had never flagged.

Team spirit is important, Koby thought. But I want to win some games and make people respect the Cardinals again. Those empty
bleachers are going to be filled if it’s the last thing I do!

He put the trophy back and closed the door behind him.

O
pening Day for the Monticello Cardinals was not well attended despite the Watermelon Game victory. The crowd at Cain Park
Field had doubled in size, but the stands were still virtually empty.

Since he had been chosen the starting pitcher for Opening Day, Koby was a little disappointed with the turnout.

“Where is everybody?” he said to Tug after warm-ups.

“Well, at least you have one die-hard fan,” a new voice cut in. Koby and Tug looked up to see Sara Wilson sitting in the stands
directly above the dugout.

“Hey, Sara,” Koby greeted her. “Put in some good stuff about us again, OK?”

“Only if you promise to win — deal?”

“Deal!” said Koby with a laugh. Then he picked up his glove and headed out to the mound.

The Danville Middle School Mudcats had been strong contenders for the past few years in the Meadowbrook Conference. Behind
their ace pitcher, ninth grader Malcolm Lawrence, the Mudcats were tough opponents.

In fact, Malcolm had out-pitched Koby in a summer league game. Koby was looking to settle that score today.

“Hope you pitch better in the spring than you do in the summer!” Malcolm yelled. “I need the competition!”

Without letting his game face down, Koby toed the pitcher’s rubber. A smattering of cheers sounded from the Cardinals faithful.

“Play ball!” yelled the ump as he stood up from dusting home plate.

With a look that could scare the feathers off a chicken, Koby glared at Danville’s leadoff hitter, Rock Stampson. Tug signaled
for a low fastball.

Koby kicked his left leg high and unleashed a pitch with the velocity of a runaway train.

Thock!

Rock swung hard but only punched a little dribbler down the first base line. Leaving a puff of dust behind him, he dashed
toward first.

Prez Jefferson rushed in to scoop up the ball as Koby raced to cover for him. Prez connected with Koby just as Koby stepped
on the bag. They beat Rock by half a pace.

“Out!” screamed the ump.

The Cardinals fans applauded and started a “wave” — a very small wave.

“Good hustle!” yelled Coach Tomashiro. “Good heads-up ball!”

Koby got the next batter to ground out to Papo at short and fanned the third to retire the side.

“You’re on it, man,” Tug said to Koby on the bench.

“Thanks,” Koby said with a quick grin. He looked over his shoulder. “You catching all this, Sara?”

Sara saluted with her pencil in reply.

Beechie led off for the Cardinals.

Malcolm looked him over like a bull sizing up a matador in the center of a ring. Beechie had never faced Malcolm, but like
everyone else, he knew that Malcolm often threw high brush-back pitches near the Adam’s apple.

Beechie stepped into the batter’s box.

“OK, Beechie, Beechie, start something up!”

“You got that pitcher’s number, Beechie!” The Cardinals chatted it up on the bench.

A fastball crossed Beechie at the numbers.

“Strike one!” called the ump.

Beechie fouled off the next two pitches and was in the hole with an 0-2 count.

“Wait for your pitch!” yelled Coach T.

On the next pitch, Beechie pulled his bat way back but came up with nothing but air.

Malcolm registered his first K.

Next up was Koby, who had been moved up to the number two spot by Coach Tomashiro after the Watermelon Game.

As Malcolm unleashed his first pitch, Koby decided to let it go by. He wanted to see what kind of stuff Malcolm was throwing
this game.

“Ball!” yelled the ump.

Suppressing a grin, Koby braced himself for the next pitch. It was high and inside. He met the speeding ball with the meat
of the bat and smacked a line drive to short. The Danville shortstop lunged for it but missed. Koby was on base with a solid
single.

Malcolm looked a little rattled as he faced K.O. As soon as he began his windup, Koby took two giant steps off the bag. He
was thinking
steal.

Malcolm reached over his head, then quickly switched his feet to attempt the pickoff at first. Koby dove into the bag underneath
the first baseman’s sweeping tag. He was safe.

“Smooth as silk!” Tug yelled from the bench. “Good reflexes, Kobe!”

The first baseman tossed the ball back to Malcolm, who glared at Koby.

You can’t beat me on the mound
or
on the base paths, Malcolm, Koby thought with satisfaction. Summer league was then; this is now!

Malcolm stepped to the top of the pitcher’s mound. As soon as he committed his motion to pitch to K.O., Koby took off.

K.O. was an eager batter but let the pitch go by. Danville’s catcher, Vishnu Chatterjee, took the ball and leaped up to make
the throw to second.

Koby beat it with a textbook slide.

That charged up the Cardinals’ bench. “Ooeeee! He pitches, he bats, he steals! It’s Super-Kobe!” yelled Scoop.

From his second base vantage point, Koby could see Sara Wilson scribbling furiously in her notebook.

Looks like I could see my name in print tomorrow, he thought. Along with a recap of our victory, I hope!

With one out and Koby at second, K.O. reached for Malcolm’s next pitch, fouling it off the backstop. He stepped out of the
box to tap the dirt out of his spikes.

He stepped back in, and Malcolm threw a heater down the middle. K.O. walloped the ball into right field for a base hit. Koby
raced to third, overrunning it a few steps toward home.

“Hold up at third, Koby!” yelled Coach T. “Good hit, K.O.!”