Free Too Hot to Handle by Matt Christopher

1
    C RACK! The ball was hit hard. It sped down to third with long hops only inches from the close-cut grass. David didn’t move.
     The ball was coming right at him.
    In that second something came over David like a shower of ice-cold water. A ball had never been hit so hard to him before.
    He reached down for it. The ball brushed the heel of his glove and shot through his legs. He swung around and saw the white
     pill rolling fast out to left fielder Marty Cass.
    Marty picked it up and pegged it to second, holding the hitter on first.
    “Block those drives, Kroft!” yelled catcher Rex Drake angrily. “Fall in front of them if you have to!”
    David began to yell to drown out Rex’s words. That ball had really been hit. Any third baseman would have had a tough time
     trying to field it.
    The error helped the Gulls. Their next batter socked a clean single over second baseman Ken Lacey’s head that sent the runner
     on first all the way to third.
    Brad Lodge got the next two hitters out. The third smashed a line drive to David’s left side. David tried hard for it. He
     was sure he could stop it. It was a high-bouncing ball and wasn’t traveling as fast as the one that he had missed.
    But he missed it by almost a foot. Shortstop Bonesy Lane couldn’t reach it either. The ball bounced out to left field, and
     the runner on third scored.
    The Gulls picked up another run before the Flickers could get them out.
    The score was now 4 to 0 in the Gulls’ favor.
    David went directly to the bench and sat down without looking at anyone. Two grounders that he should have gotten, he thought.
     Two!
    Brad Lodge led off. He flied out on the two-two pitch. Then Ken Lacey put life back into the team as he blistered a pitch
     for two bases. Chugger Hines socked a single to right, and Ken scored.
    The Flickers’ bench was once again a beehive of excitement. This was the first game of the season. It was the bottom of the
     third. Up until now the Flickers’ wings had really been struggling. But the two straight hits put them back into the game.
     They were not out of it — not by a long shot.
    Jimmy Merrill knocked a sizzling grounder through the Gulls’ second baseman’s legs, and Chugger went to second. Rex Drake
     was up. Rex was the Flickers’ clean-up hitter.
    Chugger began to yell at second to rattle thepitcher. But his yelling didn’t do any good. Rex popped to the first baseman for an easy catch. Two away. He turned and hurled
     his bat disgustedly to the ground. It bounced a few feet and almost struck little Angie Burns, the mascot.
    “Watch that temper, Rex,” warned Coach Beach from the bench. “You don’t want to be taken out of the game, do you?”
    Rex didn’t answer. He went to the bench and sat down, squeezing in between David and Ken. Rex was like that. Very touchy.
    Marty Cass took a strike and two balls. Then he laced an inside pitch for a clean drive over the third baseman’s head, and
     Chugger came all the way in to home.
    Jimmy started for third. Legs Mulligan, the third-base coach, ordered him back to second.
    Bonesy was up next with David on deck. Bonesy inherited his nickname from his build. He was so thin his mother had to notch
     out a hole in his belt to keep his pants from falling.
    He took a called strike, then swung at a pitch far below his knees. He fouled the next pitch, then let three balls go by for
     a full count.
    “This is the one, Bonesy,” said Coach Beach. “Keep your eye on it.”
    The pitch came in, and Bonesy swung. A smashing drive to center field! The ball was hit hard. It was half a mile high, and
     the Gulls’ center fielder raced back. Then he stopped, lifted his glove hand, and Bonesy was out.
    Two runs, three hits and one error. David dropped his bat and ran out to third. The excited voices of the fans bothered him.
     The stands were so close to third base that he could hear almost everything the people said.
    He wished he could stay at shortstop. He liked it there. But