Sliding into Home (14 page)

“I hope you guys do a lot of fielding drills,” Brooke said to Joelle as she stretched out in a straddle position. “Everybody likes to bat, but fielding is important, too. If you can’t field, you’ll never get up to bat in the first place.”

Brooke wasn’t going to try and run everything, was she? Joelle gritted her teeth and kept stretching.

“Uh oh. Look over there.” Mandi pointed at some kids heading their way. They were carrying bats and balls.

Anyone could use the fields in Center Park. It was first-come, first-serve.

“Quick!” Joelle leaped to her feet. “Let’s get set up. That way they’ll see this field’s in use.”

“We can’t skip warm-ups!” Brooke protested.

“We’re not skipping them. We’re just moving them over to the field,” Joelle said.

Luckily, the newcomers got the message. They turned and headed for the playground equipment instead.

“Don’t you guys run laps?” Brooke asked.

“Of course we run laps.” Joelle rolled her eyes. “Some of us even run every day outside of practice.”

Brooke stretched her left quad muscle. “Good,” she said. “You know, we should probably—”

This was getting too annoying. “Listen, Brooke, you may be captain of the softball team, but you’re not captain here!” Joelle said. The other girls all stared at her.

Brooke paused. “Oh. Right. So are
you
the captain, then?” she asked.

“Well, no,” Joelle admitted.

“No one is,” Leah spoke up.

“Fine,” Brooke said, shrugging. “Then I guess anyone can make suggestions.”

Elizabeth touched Joelle’s arm. “Lighten up,” she whispered. “We’re a team, remember?”

Joelle sighed. “Yeah. I know.” And if Brooke was going to be part of that team, the two of them were going to have to find a way to get along.

Coach Shaw led them through some routine drills. Joelle had to admit, Brooke wasn’t bad. Like Elizabeth said, the girl could hit just about anything. Whatever Mandi threw, she hit.

Brooke was an aggressive fielder, too. She wasn’t afraid of the ball. Line drives or pop flies, her glove was always right there. And she didn’t hesitate to run when she had to, either.

There was one pop fly that Joelle was sure Brooke would miss. She ran hard, then leaped up, her arm outstretched. The ball dropped into her glove as she fell to the ground.

“Nice catch,” Joelle called.

Brooke scrambled to her feet and threw the ball to Nikki. “Gee, thanks,” she said coolly as she brushed the grass from her sweats.

“Hey, I’m trying here,” Joelle said. “If we’re going to be on the same team, you’ll have to try, too.”

Brooke shrugged and turned away. “Whatever,” she said.

S
o, let’s talk uniforms,” Brooke said when practice was over.

Joelle squirted some water into her mouth, then wiped the back of her arm across her face. Brooke had been a member of the Green Sox for less than two hours and already she was worried about what they would
wear?

“Good point,” Mandi said, nodding. “If we’re going to play the Kernels next week, we need uniforms.”

Well, that was true, Joelle had to admit.

“What do you have in mind?” Coach Shaw asked Brooke.

Brooke thought for a minute. “I don’t know. As long as it’s not orange, I don’t really care. Everyone looks awful in orange.”

Joelle rolled her eyes. “We’re the
Green
Sox,” she said. “Shouldn’t we just wear green?”

“How about gray sweatpants and green T-shirts?” Leah suggested.

“Yeah,” Nikki agreed. “We could probably all get those before next week.”

“Okay, that’s settled,” Brooke said. “What about publicity?
We’ll really need to get the word out about this game. Tell everyone we know. Put up posters. Send out press releases to the
Gazette,
the radio stations, and Channel 6. Maybe we could even have a big party after the game. And—”

“Whoa there, hold on a minute!” Coach Shaw chuckled and held up his hands to stop Brooke. “This is just an informal game. I don’t think we need to make too big a fuss about it. We certainly don’t need to issue press releases.”

“Why not?” Brooke pulled the purple scrunchi off her ponytail and ran her fingers through her hair. “If we make a huge deal about this game, it’ll show people we’re really serious.”

We?
Joelle raised her eyebrows. Brooke was sure throwing herself into things now.

“Plus, if other girls see us in the paper or on TV, it’ll make them want to play, too,” Brooke went on. “Isn’t that sort of the goal? To get more people to join?” She turned to Joelle. “What do you think?”

Everyone looked at Joelle.

Joelle cleared her throat. Nothing like being put on the spot. “I … uh … agree with Brooke,” she said. “I guess.” From the corner of her eye, Joelle saw Elizabeth smile.

At school on Monday, kids were already starting to talk about the Green Sox’s first game. One thing Joelle had to say for Brooke, she got things going.

Fast.

By Wednesday, there were Green Sox posters up in the
school lobby, the library, the gym, and all over the cafeteria. On Thursday night, Brooke and Elizabeth even got a few of their softball teammates to help them make a green and yellow felt Green Sox banner. The next morning it was hanging next to the trophy case beside the main office.

Ryan caught up with Joelle between classes on Friday. “So, you guys did it,” he said. “You’re playing your first game. Congrats.”

Joelle felt herself blush. “Well, we could still use a few more players,” she said. “And we’re just playing at Center Park. But it’s a start. Are you going to come watch our game?” The words slipped out before Joelle could stop them. She hoped she didn’t sound too eager.

But she’d gone to the guys’ games, right?

To her relief, Ryan nodded. “Yeah, a bunch of us will probably go,” he replied. “We’ll cheer you on.”

“Great! Thanks.” Joelle couldn’t keep the excitement out of her voice. The more people who showed up to offer support, the better. And knowing that Ryan would be there made her sort of happy, too.

On Saturday morning, Joelle could hardly believe her eyes when she and her parents pulled up in front of Center Park. Cars lined both sides of the street. Groups of people crowded the sidewalks. Some carried folding chairs. Others waved homemade signs that said Go Green Sox! or Go Kernels! It was a total mob scene.

“We’d better let you out here,” Joelle’s dad said. “I don’t know how far away we’ll have to park.”

“Okay,” Joelle said. She adjusted the visor of her new green cap. “I bet there are more people here than were at our playoff game in Minneapolis last year.”

Mom smiled. “Maybe,” she said.

“Well, that’s good,” Dad said. “It shows folks are really interested in girls’ baseball.”

“I sure hope so.” Joelle grabbed her glove and got out of the car. “See you later,” she called to her parents over her shoulder.

“Can you believe this crowd?” Mandi asked as she and Leah ran toward Joelle. “It’s making me kind of nervous.”

“It’s incredible,” Joelle said, looking around. She spotted a huge group of Hoover kids in the middle of the crowd. Ms. Fenner and her mother sat in folding chairs right behind the field. And back by the trees, she saw Ryan Carlyle and several guys from the Hawks team.

“Wow. There are even TV people here!” Mandi pointed at two cameramen setting up over by the playing field. They were wearing Channel 6 jackets.

“We’re going to be stars!” Leah said, pulling off her cap and pretending to adjust her hair.

Joelle was thrilled the TV people had shown up. But at the same time, she wondered how Brooke was able to get them to come. Joelle hadn’t even been able to get one lousy newspaper person to show up at their organizational meeting.

Two girls came up to Joelle, Mandi, and Leah. One wore her hair in a long red braid. The other had short brown hair. Both
were dressed in matching yellow T-shirts and black sweatpants and each carried a bat and a glove.

Kernels,
Joelle told herself.

“Excuse me, is one of you Joelle Cunningham?” the red-haired girl asked.

“I am,” Joelle answered. “And these are my friends Mandi and Leah.”

“Hi, I’m Lauren,” said the girl with the braid. She pointed to the other girl. “This is Sami. We’re the enemy,” she added with a grin.

“We just wanted to tell you how glad we are that you started this whole league,” Sami said. She smiled and a dimple appeared in her left cheek.

“We also figured we should warn you that you’re about to get creamed,” Lauren put in.

Joelle and Mandi glanced at each other.

“Really?” Mandi said with a straight face. “But aren’t we playing you guys?” She scrunched her eyebrows together, pretending to be confused.

“Very funny,” Lauren said. She stuck out her hand. “May the best team win.”

Joelle shook Lauren’s hand. “We intend to,” she said.

“Excuse me.” A man in khaki pants and a Greendale Parks and Rec T-shirt made his way through the crowd. “Who is in charge here?”

The girls all looked at each other.

“Um, that’s our coach, Mr. Shaw, over there.” Joelle pointed at Elizabeth’s dad, who was talking with some men over by
home plate. Elizabeth was with them. “He’s in charge of the Green Sox, anyway.”

“And Coach Kennedy is in charge of the Kernels. She’s over there.” Lauren pointed across the field.

“Thanks.” The man nodded and headed over to Coach Shaw.

“Who’s he?” Sami asked.

“I don’t know.” Joelle bit her lip. For some reason, she had a bad feeling about this.

The girls watched as the man said something to Elizabeth’s dad. Coach Shaw’s smile disappeared. He called to Coach Kennedy and motioned for her to join them.

The Parks and Rec guy talked to both coaches for a few minutes. Joelle could see Coach Kennedy’s frown from way back where she stood. Then both coaches started arguing with the man, but he just sort of shrugged and held up his hands. Elizabeth stood behind her dad, biting her lip.

“What’s going on over there?” Lauren asked.

Joelle shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said, but her heart was pounding. Elizabeth’s dad looked really annoyed now. Whatever it was, it obviously wasn’t good.

Finally the Parks and Rec guy cupped his hands around his mouth and called to the crowd, “Listen up, everyone! I know you’re all here to see the baseball game, but it will not be played here today!”

“What?” Joelle, Mandi, Lauren and Sami all cried at the same time.

There was a collective gasp from the crowd. Everyone looked confused.

“I repeat, this game is not going to be played here today. Please exit the park in an orderly fashion.”

That was when Joelle noticed the police officers standing behind the fence.

What was the problem? Had they done something wrong? It had to be some kind of mistake.

The TV people quickly hoisted cameras on their shoulders. One of the reporters stuck a microphone in the Parks and Rec guy’s face as he walked off the field. “No comment,” he said. He pushed the microphone away and headed quickly out of the park.

The police officers stepped forward and began to direct people out of the area.

Then people started yelling. “What’s going on? What happened? Why is the game being canceled? When will it be rescheduled?”

But no one had any answers.

Joelle and Mandi made their way over to Coach Shaw and the other Green Sox and their parents.

“What happened?” Joelle demanded. “Why can’t we play?”

Elizabeth’s dad sighed. “It seems that the Greendale Parks and Recreation Department feels that Center Park isn’t a suitable place to hold a baseball game for a group this size.”

“Oh, come on!” an older boy scoffed. “That’s stupid.”

“Why not?” a woman asked.

“There’s a baseball diamond here, isn’t there?” one of the Kernels said. “And this is a public park. How can they say we can’t use it?”

“The Rec department pointed out that this is a small park in a residential area,” Coach Shaw explained, scratching the back of his neck. “Apparently the baseball diamond is for neighborhood use only. It’s not intended for large groups. It can’t be reserved.”

“So the Parks and Rec people are concerned about safety issues and liability,” Joelle’s dad said.

“There are too many people here today, I’m afraid,” Coach Shaw added. “There isn’t any fencing around the diamond itself. And ultimately, the city owns the park, so they get to make the rules.”

“But that’s not fair!” Joelle cried.
They were so close to having a real league!

“I’m sorry,” Coach Shaw said. “It never occurred to me that we’d have to get permission. I just assumed that Central Park was for community use.”

“And there’s no other place we can play,” Mandi said glumly. “We can’t play at any of the schools because we’re not a school activity.”

“Maybe we could become a Parks and Rec activity,” Joelle suggested hopefully.

“I already spoke to them about that last week,” Mandi’s dad said. “Unfortunately, they don’t have enough fields for the baseball and softball programs they already offer.”

“Okay, so where
can
we play?” Tara wanted to know.

“A few kids play ball at this big empty lot in my neighborhood,” Brooke said. “Maybe we could play there.”

Coach Shaw looked doubtful. “Empty or not, somebody
still owns that property. We can’t just start playing there without permission from the owners.”

“So let’s find out who owns the property and see if we can get their permission,” Brooke said.

Joelle glanced at Brooke from under the visor of her cap. She had to give her credit for trying to find solutions.

“Well, I suppose it would be easy enough to find out who owns the property,” Coach Shaw said. “But I have a feeling they’ll have the same concerns as the Parks and Rec department. They won’t want the liability.”

Joelle kicked at a pebble on the ground. This league just wasn’t going to happen. She might as well face facts.

It was over.

“You know, there’s nothing to stop you girls from getting together and playing informally,” Coach Shaw said, trying to sound cheerful.

“You mean just give up on the league?” Brooke cried.

Joelle looked up in surprise. It sounded like Brooke cared about this league almost as much Joelle did.

Coach Shaw shrugged. “I’m afraid we don’t have much choice.”

“We should at least find out who owns that lot and go talk to them,” Brooke said firmly.

“How would we do that?” Mandy asked.

“Well,” Coach Shaw said doubtfully, “the courthouse has property records, but—”

“Fine,” Brooke interrupted. “We’ll go to the courthouse. Who’s coming with me?”

None of the Green Sox answered right away. Joelle looked around.

Elizabeth was biting her lip again. Tara was scowling. Everyone looked completely discouraged.

But if Brooke wasn’t tossing in the towel, neither was Joelle. “I’ll come with you,” she spoke up.

Brooke looked at Joelle and nodded. If she was disappointed that Joelle was the only one who volunteered to go with her, she didn’t show it. “Okay,” Brooke said. “We’ll go to the courthouse on Monday.”

“Don’t you have softball on Monday?” Joelle asked. “The courthouse will be closed by the time practice is over.”

“I can miss practice just this once,” Brooke said.

Whoa!
Joelle decided not to comment on that. “Well, okay then. We’ll go on Monday.”

Later that afternoon, Joelle lay across her bed on her back, tossing Jason’s tournament ball up in the air and catching it. Up, down. Up, down. Monday seemed like a long way away. What if Coach Shaw was right? What if they found the owner of the lot, but the person refused to give them permission to play ball on their property? What then? Where else could they go?

The phone rang. “Honey?” Joelle’s mom called up the stairs. “It’s for you!”

Joelle rolled off the bed and took the call across the hall in the den. “Hello?”

“Joelle? It’s Mandi. Are you watching Channel 6?”

“No. Why?”

“Turn it on,” Mandi demanded. “Now!”

Joelle looked around for the remote. She couldn’t find it, so she hurried across the room and turned on the TV by hand.

“Do you have it yet?” Mandi asked impatiently.

Joelle pressed the channel-down button on the TV until she got to Channel 6.

“Okay. I’ve got it. Oh, my gosh!” Joelle drew in her breath. Coach Shaw was on TV! And Coach Kennedy. And the man from Greendale Parks and Rec.

“I repeat, this game is not going to be played here today. Please exit the park in an orderly fashion,” the Parks and Rec guy was saying.

Joelle cringed. It was bad enough having lived through that once. She didn’t need to see it again. But she couldn’t
not
watch, either.