Crack! Johnny and his teammates leaped up in the dugout at the sound of the bat and cheered as the ball sailed over the fence for a home run. Johnny could never get enough of baseball, whether it was baseball cards, trivia, or the Toronto Blue Jays. But the one thing he loved the most about baseball, was that he got to play it. He loved the smell of the fresh-cut grass, the excitement in the air, the blinding Arizona sun, and the lights for night games, one time, he even got dirt in his mouth! It was revolting. His team, the Grand Canyon Middle School J-Hawks, was in the conference finals, 2 runs away from the championship game. A base hit here would put the tying run on base with Johnny up to bat. 

    “Johnny!” yelled Coach V. “You're on deck!” Johnny snatched his helmet and strode into the on-deck circle. He took a couple of warm-up swings, then glanced at the scoreboard. It read that it was the 9th inning, the J-Hawks with 5 and the Hurricanes with 6. 2 outs. The J-Hawks needed 1 run to tie, 2 to win.

    CRACK!  The noise brought Johnny back to reality. Spencer, his teamate, had hit the ball to deep left-center, and Johnny thought it looked like an easy grab. He was wrong. The left fielder scrambled under the ball at the same time as the center-fielder and BOOM! They collided with each other as the ball dropped to the ground, untouched. Spencer already had a double when the Hurricane center-fielder chucked the ball to second. Now with the tying run on base, Johnny stepped up to the plate.

    “No pressure,” he told himself. “Just me and the ball.” He got in his stance. The pitcher snarled at Johnny, so Johnny snarled right back.  The first pitch was straight down the middle. CRACK! The ball sailed just foul to left field. 0-1 count. The next pitch came down the middle again, and CRACK! Johnny hit the ball into the left-center gap, and it got away from the left fielder when it ricocheted off the wall. 

Johnny got to third base for a triple, and Spencer got home! The pitcher, obviously shaken up, threw the next pitch over the head of the catcher, and Johnny ran home, scoring the walk-off run!

    “Mom! Dad! I’m home!” Johnny shouted as he peeled off his cleats. He walked into the living room and found his parents waiting for him. “We won!”

    “That’s wonderful, honey,” Mrs. Barlowe said. “But we need to talk to you about something.”

    Johnny was irritated. “What is it, then?” He wanted to tell his parents about his triple and his walk-off steal.

    Mrs. Barlowe continued, “You might have to quit the baseball team.”

    “WHAT!?” Johnny yelped. “What are you talking about!” He was so confused, he forgot all about telling his parents the results of his game.

    Mr. Barlowe answered, “Your grades are falling into a pit. You know the school rules. If you have bad grades you can’t play.”

    “You have to get your grades better if you want to play.” Mrs. Barlowe said. “That

big test you have to take is coming up. If you can get 90% or higher, you will be cleared to play.”

    The next day at school was exhausting. Johnny was determined to get a good grade, even if it meant skipping most of lunch to study! Then on top of that, Bryan Daley, one of Johnny’s teammates, decided to start mocking him for his bad grades. Bryan had always been jealous of Johnny when he stole the spotlight from him. Bryan had started beaning him on purpose during batting practice, and stuff like that. Johnny hated it, but that couldn’t stop him from going to practice. 

    After school, Coach V’s whistle shrilled, signaling the start of practice. They always started with batting practice, and this time, Johnny was first. Since Bryan was their starting pitcher, he was pitching. As usual, he threw EVERY pitch inside, two od them hitting Johnny. Then he threw a perfect pitch, and Johnny walloped it straight back at Bryan. When the ball made contact with Bryan’s nose, you could hear his cry for miles around.

In school the next day, Johnny saw people staring and pointing at him. News traveled quickly at Grand Canyon Middle, so they were probably gossiping about what happened at practice last night. When Johnny walked into the stairwell before lunch, a group of kids crowded around. When Johnny turned around, he saw Bryan, nose bandage and all. 

    “Yer dead, predy boy,” he said, his voice messed up from his nose. Everybody started chanting fight fight fight! “You dink you are gedding away wid hiddng me?” Bryan charged at him like a bull, but Johnny stepped aside in the knick of time. Bryan smashed right into a locker, probably giving him a concussion.

    When Johnny walked into Mr. Jackson’s office, he was prepared to get scolded, kicked off the team, and suspended. But when he walked out of Mr. Jackson’s office, he held his head high. The reason was that a teacher had been nearby and saw that