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with its elfin features: almond eyes, small pink lips, and an upturned nose. Leah was as nice as she was pretty. Everyone wanted to be near her, no one more than Joey. He lost his breath when he saw her sitting there with a friend directly behind Zach’s and his parents, talking and smiling and looking even more delicate than normal so close to Joey’s Viking warrior of a mom.
    â€œBro, why is she here?” Joey asked the question without taking his eyes off her.
    â€œWhat are best friends for?” Zach put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “I told her how big this was for us—you know, if we win, we’re both a lock for the all-star team—and that if she came, I knew it would help me but especially you—”
    â€œYou said that?” Joey interrupted.
    â€œWell, it’s true, isn’t it?”
    Joey didn’t reply.
    â€œAnd so . . . here she is. I guess she cares, right?”
    Joey turned his attention to his best friend. “You think?”
    Zach wagged his eyebrows. “She’s here, isn’t she?”
    Joey looked again, as if he didn’t trust his eyes the first time. Leah made the exhaustion from last night slip from his shoulders like a satin cape. His heart seemed to grow two sizes in his chest, and an eager current ran through his limbs so that his hand trembled ever so slightly as he removed the ball from his glove.
    â€œBoys.”
    Joey was so distracted that Coach Barrett had snuck right up on them without even trying. Coach Barrett was a tall, thin man whose dark beard and mustache circled his mouth. His son, Butch, played second base. Butch wasn’t very good, even though he acted like he was. He was nearly as tall as Joey, but skinny like his dad, and he had a big head of long dark hair that he feathered back to the sides like a rock star from the 1980s.
    â€œHey,” Coach Barrett said, “Zach? Your mom said you had that field trip.”
    â€œThey canceled it, Coach.”
    â€œCanceled? Wow. You just made my day. What happened?”
    â€œMr. Kratz ran out of gas.” Joey laughed, unable to contain his delight at having succeeded.
    Coach Barrett gave Joey a funny look. “You weren’t going on that field trip, were you, Joey?”
    â€œNo, no,” Joey said. “I just . . .”
    Coach Barrett waited for him to finish, then looked over at the other team. “I didn’t know if we were gonna be able to take these guys without you, Zach. We’re gonna need your hitting, and Joey can’t pitch the whole game.”
    The Blue Jays didn’t have any real pitchers. Joey considered himself a first baseman—that’s where he planned to play in the pros—and Zach was the shortstop. But, because they had the two strongest arms on the team, they were also the top two pitchers.
    â€œThe Pirates?” Zach barely contained a laugh. “Coach, we beat them ten to three.”
    â€œYeah, three weeks ago, but Price is back.”
    â€œCole Price?” Joey looked over at the other team, warming up outside their dugout. Cole Price lived in the next town over and didn’t go to the same school as Joey and Zach, but Joey still knew who he was. “He broke his hand.”
    â€œHe got the cast off two weeks ago.” Coach Barrett nodded at the other team. “He’s back, so you guys get warmed up good.”
    Zach whispered to Joey on their way to their positions on the field. “Man, just think now how good it is that your plan last night worked.”
    Joey stayed on the pitching mound, where he would start the game, and Zach took his spot at shortstop. Coach Barrett peppered the ball around the infield while Coach Cooper warmed up the Blue Jays’ outfielders.
    From second base, Butch Barrett shouted encouragement to the rest of the team.
    â€œCome on, guys! We got to focus ! This is the championship game!”
    Joey looked at Zach and