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dad is going to tell off Mr. Jenkins.”
    “Seriously?” Karen asked, her eyes growing wide.
    “Is he gonna threaten to beat him up?” Sue wondered.
    “Probably.” Kelly shrugged. “I don’t know. He told me not to worry about it, that he’d take care of it.”
    Kelly noticed a quick exchange of doubtful glances between Sue and Karen. She knew they were remembering all the times Kelly’d
     said her dad was coming to see them play, only to have him not show up.
    But this time was going to be different, Kelly told herself. She was sure her dad had heard the pain in her voice. He knew
     how important this was to her. This time, he wouldn’t let her down.
    “Maybe I’ll cut out of my team’s practice and come over to work out with you guys,” Kelly suddenly said.
    “Cool!” Sue said.
    “Awesome!” Karen added.
    “I mean, I’m going to be back with the Devil Rays after tomorrow, so why not, right?”
    “Um, right!” both girls said in hesitant unison.
    “Cool,” Kelly said, nodding with finality. “See youguys then.” Closing her locker, she headed down the hall toward her first class.
    Murphysville Park had four softball fields, placed in the four corners of the park so that their outfields merged into one
     if you went back far enough. This made for a lot of home runs, since hard-hit balls kept rolling and rolling till they wound
     up in the infield of another diamond, in the middle of somebody else’s game!
    In the week before the opening of softball season, four teams could practice at once from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. From 5:00 to 6:00,
     teams played each other in pickup games, to give the players the feeling of real game action. Since there were now ten teams
     in the league, this meant that each team could practice only every third day. So every practice was important, and Kelly meant
     to get the most out of every minute.
    That was why, instead of heading over to field number three, where the Diamondbacks were gathering, she strode right over
     to field number one, where her beloved Devil Rays were already taking serious fielding practice.
    Kelly had stuffed her old Devil Rays jersey intoher backpack that morning. Now she slipped it on, changed into her spikes, flexed her mitt, and stuck her hand into it, ready
     to begin another great season. “Yo, guys!” she called out, trotting over to exchange hugs and high-fives with her homegirls.
    “Conroy!” Coach Masur cried happily, waving the bat at her. “What happened with you?” He put down the bat and walked over
     to first base, where Kelly was now surrounded by her teammates. “I fought and fought to get you, but the commissioner said
     no way. You in trouble with him or something?”
    “His daughter hates me,” Kelly said, not caring who heard her say it. “He did it just for spite. Isn’t that demented?”
    “Well, now, wait a minute,” Coach Masur said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure that’s not why. You know, they did
     add two new teams, and we all lost good players in the draft. I was just kiddin’ about you being in trouble with him.”
    “It’s okay,” Kelly told him. “My dad’s going to get me back on the team.”
    “Is that a fact?” Coach said, raising his eyebrows in surprise. “Well, let’s hope so, huh?”
    “Yeah. So I thought I’d practice with you guys today.”
    “Ahem …well, that wouldn’t be a good idea,” Coach Masur said, clearing his throat and staring at the ground.
    Kelly shrank back, stunned. “W-why not?” she asked.
    “Well, your other coach will be counting on you to be there, Kelly,” Coach Masur explained. “That team needs you.”
    “And you guys don’t? Is that what you’re saying?”
    “You know that’s not what I mean,” Coach Masur said. “We’ve got the cleanup spot reserved for you, along with first base —
if
you get switched back to us. But until then, I’ve only got three practices to prepare my team for the first game. I’ve gotta
     find a new