Free Curveball by Rich Wallace

PUFFIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi-110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
    Registered Offices: Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
    First published in the United States of America by Viking,
a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2007
Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2008
    Copyright © Rich Wallace, 2007
All rights reserved
    THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE VIKING EDITION AS FOLLOWS :
Wallace, Rich.
Curveball / Rich Wallace.
p. cm.—( Winning season; #9 )
Summary: Seventh-grade baseball player Eddie Ventura listens to the sports announcer’s voice in his head and gets into trouble when he writes a series of articles for the school paper.

ISBN: 978-1-1012-0059-9(hc)
[1. Baseball—Fiction. 2. Journalism—Fiction.] I. Title. PZ7. W15877 Cur 2007
[Fic] 2006016882
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FOR JACOB

CURVEBALL

1
Two Runs Down
    E ddie Ventura scanned the infield, then dug his toe into the dirt near first base. His right hand was sweating inside his glove despite the cool afternoon breeze.
    Everyone in the dugout and the bleachers was standing, waiting for Ramiro Velez to deliver the crucial pitch.
    Eddie took a deep breath and went into a crouch, ready to dart toward any ball that was hit or thrown his way. The Hudson City Hornets had to get this next hitter out.
    â€œLet’s go, Ramiro!” Eddie called. “No batter!”
    Ramiro turned his head slightly toward Eddie, and a faint smile crossed his lips. Eddie hardly ever said anything.
    Hoboken had runners at second and third with two outs in the top of the final inning. Hudson City would get one more at-bat, but the Hornets were already two runs behind.
    Ramiro leaned back, kicked up his leg, and hurled the ball toward the plate. The batter swung hard, but the ball smacked into catcher Jared Owen’s mitt for strike three.
    Ramiro shook his fist.
    â€œYes!” said Eddie as they raced off the field.
    â€œBig rally now,” Spencer Lewis said to Eddie as they grabbed their bats from the rack. “We need some base runners.”
    Spencer was the team’s best hitter and biggest talker, but the Hornets needed to get at least two men on base or Spencer wouldn’t even bat.
    And things didn’t look good as Willie Shaw popped the first pitch lazily toward second base. Eddie groaned with the rest of the Hornets as the fielder easily caught the ball.
    Lamont Wilkins struck out, and just like that the Hornets were down to their last out.
    Jared stepped up to the plate. Eddie shut his eyes quickly, then moved to the on-deck circle.
    Relax, Eddie told himself. Time to do something