Free Windmill Windup by Matt Christopher

Allie had gone and stolen her thunder again! Kelly knew that unless she hit a home run right there and then, she
     was going to look bad by comparison. She stepped into the batter’s box determined to smack a four-bagger, even if there wasn’t
     anyone on base for her to drive in.
    “Stee-rike one!” yelled the umpire, after Kelly whiffed at the first pitch, a heater way over her head. A murmur went up from
     the fans and her teammates as they watched her flail fruitlessly at the empty air. “Stee-rike two!” came the call as the second
     pitch hit the catcher’s mitt before she’d even gotten around on it.
    Kelly braced herself. There was no way she was going to let this third pitch get by her!
    Wumhph!!
She heard the buzzing sound of theball coming her way, but she never saw the pitch that struck her out. She swung because she didn’t want to go down with the
     bat on her shoulder, but there was no way she could ever have hit it. She was way too tense and wound up. “Stee-rike three.
     Yer out!” the umpire called.
    Kelly trudged back to the bench, her cheeks on fire, not daring to look up in the direction of the stands. Why had she let
     Ryan come see her play? Last week’s home runs had been an aberration — they came off a non-windmill pitcher! How had she let
     herself forget that?
    The Phillies soon came back to take the lead, and it was all Kelly’s fault. A grounder, a ball she normally would have scarfed
     up with no problem, dribbled right through her legs.
    Then things got even worse. She came off the bag to field a ball that should have been the second baseman’s, and the batter
     was safe, making it two on, nobody out. A three-run homer followed, and before the D’backs knew it, they were down, 6–3. Their
     fans had fallen silent, Ryan Randall among them.
    Kelly whiffed two more times, stranding Allie Warheit both times at second, where she’d woundup as a result of two scorching doubles. Kelly didn’t think she could feel any lower, until Coach Beigelman came up to her
     in the bottom of the fifth and told her he was putting in a sub for her.
    “What?” Kelly gasped. “But —”
    “I think you need to cool down a little, Kelly,” he told her, patting her on the shoulder. “We’ll get you back in there next
     game.”
    “Next game!” Kelly cried, and then she fell speechless. She’d never been subbed for in her entire life! It was the final humiliation.
     If Ryan hadn’t been sitting there, she would have stormed off and walked home, right in the middle of the game, rather than
     sit on the bench with everyone looking at her. But with him there, she had no choice but to act like a team player.
    When the game mercifully ended, the score was 7–4, Phillies. Kelly gathered up her stuff and got ready to accept condolences
     from Ryan, her mom, and Ken. This was going to be the worst moment of the whole miserable day.
    Looking up, Kelly saw a sight that made her freeze in her tracks. There was Ryan, talking with Allie Warheit! Even from this
     distance, Kelly couldsee that Allie was flirting with him. She remembered now how Allie had talked about liking him.
    At the time, Kelly had been amused by Allie’s crush, thinking how stupid and hopeless it was. Now, with a budding crush of
     her own, it seemed threatening, not cute. She wanted to go over there and pull Allie away by that sleek, black hair of hers.
    Ryan was smiling, obviously enjoying the attention. She heard him say, “You were awesome!” to Allie, obviously impressed by
     her performance. What would he say to Kelly? “Good game”? No possible way, unless he was the world’s biggest liar.
    “Hi, baby.” Kelly heard her mom’s voice behind her. She turned to see her mom and Ken standing there with sympathetic looks
     on their faces. “Rough game, huh?”
    “I hate this team!” Kelly said, kicking the dirt with her cleats.
    “Hey, you know what?” Ken said. “If you like, I could work with you a little on that