The Reluctant Pitcher by Matt Christopher

1
    W arm up, Wally,” said Coach Hutter. “I want you to pitch the next inning.”
    Wally Morris had been about to sit in the dugout. He looked at Coach Hutter, a tall, wiry man with gray hair and blue eyes.
     Sometimes those eyes could be dark blue, especially when things didn’t go right. Now they were mild blue. Wally knew that
     was because the Pacers were leading the Canaries by a fat margin, 8–1.
    “Okay, Coach,” he said.
    Coach Hutter asked Pete Jason, one ofthe substitutes, to pick up a catcher’s mitt and warm up Wally. Wally took his glove off the roof of the dugout, walked with
     Pete behind the dugout, and started throwing.
    He didn’t like to pitch. He got nervous and sweaty all over when he pitched. His control was poor, too. He’d rather play right
     field. He didn’t mind the other outfield positions, but he was getting used to right field. He liked it there. Why did the
     coach have to change him?
    He looked over toward the batter’s box and saw Ken Asher pinch-hitting for Steve Collins. It was the bottom of the fourth
     inning, and Wally figured that Coach Hutter was putting in substitutes.
    Ken smashed out a single, and Dick Lewis came up. Why didn’t the coach have Dick pitch? Dick was tall and skinny as a rail,
     but he had a good right arm. He had control. And he
liked
to pitch. He wore glasses because he was nearsighted, but that didn’t make any difference.
    Dick took a called strike, then drove a hard grounder down to short. The ball was slightly to the left of the shortstop. But
     he fielded it neatly and snapped it to second base. The second baseman stepped on the bag, then pegged the ball to first.
    A double play!
    Alan Pierce reported to the umpire, then stepped to the plate. He was batting for Terry Towns, the pitcher whose place Wally
     was taking.
    Alan fidgeted a lot at the plate before he got ready for the pitch. He pulled at his hat, rubbed his hands up and down on
     the bat, jerked his shoulders, and rubbed his sneakers back and forth in the dirt. Then he swung at the first pitch, popped
     it high into the air, and the second baseman caught it.
    Three outs.
    The infielders chattered loudly and happily as Wally walked out to the mound. A buzz started up among the Pacers’ fans. They
     were clearly surprised that Wally was going to pitch. This was the first game in which he had played any position other than
     the outfield.
    Wally stood tall on the mound. He knew what to do on the rubber. Coach Hutter had explained it all to him over and over again.
    He faced the catcher, Chris McCray, with his left foot on the rubber and his right slightly behind it. He got the signal from
     Chris — one finger sticking below the mitt, which meant a straight ball — then took his windup and delivered.
    “Ball!”
    He began to get nervous and sweaty. Chris threw the ball back to him and once more gave him the signal for a straight ball.
    “Ball two!” shouted the umpire.
    “Wait ’em out!” cried the Canaries’ fans. “He’ll walk you!”
    The next pitch hit the corner for a called strike. The next two pitches were balls, and the batter got a free ticket to first.
    “Stay with ’em, Wally!” yelled Coach Hutter from the dugout.
    Wally put the first pitch over the plate on the next hitter. The next two throws were wide. He put the fourth pitch over,
     and the batter blasted it out to center field. The hit was good and solid. But J.J. Adams got under it and caught it.
    The Canaries’ pitcher swaggered to the plate. He was a lefty. Wally wished he would hit into a double play and get this inning
     over with quickly. Wally wound up and threw.
    Crack!
A long fly to right field! AlanPierce, playing in Wally’s place, hustled back and caught it. A beautiful catch. The fans gave Alan a big hand.
    Two outs, thought Wally. One more to go.
    A little guy stepped to the plate. Wally wiped the sweat from his brow. This one should be an easy out, he thought.
    Wally stepped on the rubber,