Sal Annie waved as their group dashed over to the two Hortons Hello Sal’s voice was booming even in the crowded confines of Mega-Sports Isn’t Mega-Sports kind of enemy territory Sal Logan said with a smile Sal chuckled Not at all I sell mostly used sports equipment he said Besides I couldn’t miss a chance to see Jasper Holt I went to high school with him Patrick explained He was a few years younger than me but we played ball together He was good pitching for the varsity team when he was in ninth grade Whoa Logan thought He couldn’t imagine pitching against high school seniors And I was fortunate enough to be his coach for a time Sal said It’s just 10
wonderful to see how well he’s doing Hard work and persistence pay off kids The line began to move again and Sal and Patrick took a few steps forward Logan and his friends said goodbye and then made their way out of Mega-Sports back into the mall and off to the food court for a bite to eat 11
CHAPTER 2 Logan rolled the baseball around in his fingers Not the Jasper Holt signed ball That was in a square plastic case on his shelf at home This was a brand new fresh-out-of-the-wrapper game ball and Logan was staring down the leadoff batter for the Montego Sharks It was the first game of the season and Logan was the starting pitcher for the East Grover Lake Grizzlies Logan took a deep 12
breath went into his windup and fired a rocket down to Gabe the Grizzlies catcher Thwack The ball smacked into Gabe’s glove Strike shouted the ump Logan had a wicked fastball He used all of his might on every pitch smoking the ball past batters before they ever saw it leave his hand The batter for the Sharks shook his head adjusted his blue helmet and stepped back into the batter’s box Come on Logan Ben said from his spot at third base He smacked his fist into his glove You got this guy Logan sent another rocket toward home The batter swung but he was too late and his bat caught nothing but air Strike two 13
