State Showdown (Little League, 3) - Hardcover

Christopher, Matt

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316220442 ISBN 13: 9780316220446

Verlag: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

It's an all star showdown...

The journey to the Little League Baseball® World Series continues! The Forest Park All-Star teammates are moving on to Sectionals competition. Carter Jones leads the charge with a devastating pitch that leaves batters blinking in confusion. Forest Park looks unstoppable--until a long-held grudge threatens to break apart the team and end its postseason journey.

Catcher Liam McGrath, Carter's cousin, knows all about grudges. But if he's going to succeed on his California All-Star team, he has to put them aside and work together with a rival-turned-teammate.

Do they have what it takes to make it to the Little League Baseball® World Series?

© 2013 Little League Baseball, Incorporated.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Matt Christopher is the best selling name behind more than 100 sports-themed books for young readers.

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State Showdown

By Matt Christopher

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Copyright © 2013 Matt Christopher
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-316-22044-6

CHAPTER 1

Whizz! Swish! Thud!

"Stee-rike two!" The home plate umpire made a fist in the air.

Liam McGrath, twelve-year-old catcher for the Ravenna All-Star team, plucked thebaseball from his mitt and threw it back to pitcher Phillip DiMaggio. He lickedhis lips, tasting the dust that coated them.

"Okay, DiMaggio," he said under his breath. "Let's finish this now."

It was the early evening, top of the fifth inning of the final Districttournament game, and the temperature was hovering in the mideighties. Liam wassweating buckets beneath his padded gear and mask. He wiped his damp palm on hispant leg before settling back into his crouch.

The Orchard City batter must have been feeling the heat, too. He mopped his facewith the sleeve of his Little League uniform and then resumed his stance in thebox.

Orchard City was up by one. It had two outs but also had runners on first andthird. One good hit could sweeten its lead.

Liam had no intention of letting that happen. Too much was on the line. Thewinners of today's game would advance to the Sectional tournament, putting themone step closer to the ultimate youth baseball competition: the Little LeagueBaseball World Series. The losing team would go home, its postseason run at anend. Liam had worked too hard, overcome too many challenges this season, to packaway his gear—and his World Series dreams—after this game.

At the top of his list of challenges was the boy standing on the mound. Liam andPhillip had a long-standing rivalry that dated back to the previous WorldSeries. They'd been on opposing sides then, and battling for the U.S.Championship. Phillip's team won when he struck out Liam inspectacular—and, for Liam, mortifying—fashion.

If anyone had told Liam that one day he'd be Phillip's catcher, he would havesaid pigs would fly first. And yet here he was, readying himself for DiMaggio'snext pitch.

But only because Owen got food poisoning, he reminded himself. TeammateOwen Berg had been slotted to catch. But before the second of a doubleheader, hegot violently sick to his stomach.

So the catcher's job fell to Liam. Before the game, he and Phillip agreed to puttheir past differences aside. They'd stuck to their agreement—sort of.

After Ravenna's first inning in the field, Phillip told Liam there was aproblem. "I can't see your signals. Your leg is hiding your fingers. Maybe youcould try widening your stance?"

Liam shook his head. "Any wider, and the first-base coach might see the signals,figure out what they mean, and tell the batter."

Phillip gave him a skeptical look. "Are you kidding me?"

"It could happen," Liam said defensively.

Phillip frowned. "Listen, if this"—he bounced a finger in the air betweenthem—"is going to work, you have to listen to me."

The two locked eyes. Tension crackled between them.

Liam looked away first. Few things, he knew, sent a team off course faster thanfriction between pitcher and catcher. He also knew that a big part of thecatcher's job was putting the pitcher at ease. If doing what Phillip askedhelped them win the game, then he'd do it.

As it turned out, widening his stance was just one adjustment Phillip asked himto make.

"Can you move your mitt into position sooner? It throws off my timing if I haveto wait for the target."

"You're pretty noisy behind that plate. How about a little less chatter after anout?"

"Owen held his throwing hand behind his knee, not his back. Maybe you should trythat."

Liam did everything Phillip suggested without complaint. But his temper wasrising.

Now they were one strike away from ending Orchard City's scoring threat. Liamflashed the signal for a changeup. Phillip nodded, wiped his face on his rightshoulder, and then wound up and unleashed the off-speed pitch. The batterstarted to swing but then stopped.

Thud!

To Liam's eye, the ball had just missed the strike zone. So when he made thecatch, he twitched his glove a fraction of an inch toward the center. He heldhis breath, hoping the umpire would think he had caught the ball in the zone.

The official hesitated. Then he made the call. "Ball!"

"Good eye, good eye!" the batter's teammates yelled.

On the mound, Phillip's mouth tightened. He nodded curtly when Liam signaled foranother changeup, gave his face another swipe on his shoulder, and then sent theball on its way. This time, its slow speed fooled the batter into swinging tooearly.

"Strike three!"

Fans for Ravenna and Orchard City applauded as the teams switched sides. In thedugout, Liam grabbed his water bottle and sighed with contentment as the coolwater soothed his parched throat.

Then Phillip dropped down next to him and his contentment fizzled. Nowwhat? he thought.

"You moved your glove too much on that catch," Phillip said.

Liam couldn't let that one go by. "Excuse me?"

"That first changeup? If you hadn't jerked your mitt when you caught it, the umpwould have called it a strike."

Liam bristled. "He would have called it a ball, because that's what it was."

"Oh, yeah? Well, I say it could have gone either way."

Liam was about to tell Phillip he was dead wrong when he noticed a few of theirteammates watching them. So he bit back his words and turned his attention tothe game.

Second baseman Matt Finch had singled. Now slugger Rodney Driscoll was up. Helet the first pitch go by but took a big cut at the second.

Crack!

The Ravenna players and fans leaped to their feet. The ball soared over theoutfield fence—a two-run homer! Ravenna had the lead!

The team looked good to add even more to its side of the scoreboard when Phillipand Liam singled one after the other.

Then Orchard City changed pitchers and the new hurler got the next three battersout in order. When Orchard City's own hitters tried to erase Ravenna's lead,however, Liam and his teammates denied them. Final score: Ravenna 3, OrchardCity 2.

The boys filed quickly through the "good game" hand-slap. Afterward, all theplayers received a special trading pin to commemorate their participation in theDistrict tournament. Then the Ravenna teammates gathered for a photo with theDistrict Champs banner. Finally, they headed to the dugout for a postgame teammeeting.

Up until that moment, the boys had held their happiness in check so as not toadd to Orchard City's disappointment. But now they broke out in cheers.

"We're going to Sectionals!" Rodney whooped loudest of all.

Just then, Rodney's brother, Sean, ran over with his father's cell phone. "Callfor you, Dad," he said breathlessly. "It's Owen's mom."

Dr. Driscoll was the team manager and Rodney and Sean's father. He took thephone from Sean and had a brief conversation. When he hung up, his expressionwas grim.

"Owen didn't have food poisoning. His appendix ruptured. He's had an operationand will be fine, but he's sidelined for the season."

Liam's heart started beating faster. If Owen's out, does that mean ... I'min? And if I'm in—his gaze flicked to Phillip—is that goodor bad?

CHAPTER 2

Carter Jones tossed a pink rubber ball from hand to hand.

"So, doofus, what's your big news, other than your team is going to Sectionals,too?"

Carter was in his bedroom, video-chatting with Liam. Cousins and best friends,they used to hang out together all the time. They used to...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2013
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0316220442
• ISBN 13: 9780316220446
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 192
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Terminal Video; n.pederzini@terminaldistribuzione.com; ; Via Bruno Buozzi, 24/26,; Granarolo dell'Emilia BO,; Italien