Last night Phillip had seemed surprised to learn that he and Carter were in touch regularly. Could that possibly be what was bugging him? And if so, why?
Try as he might, he couldn’t figure that out. But one thing was for sure: He had to get to the bottom of it, and soon. If not, he could kiss any kind of synchronicity with Phillip good-bye. And if they weren’t in sync…
It’ll be good-bye, postseason; hello, sidelines.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO
Whoa. Look at this place.”
Carter and Ash gazed openmouthed at the huge indoor water park spread out before them. Excited screams rang out from each of the six two-story tube slides. An enormous bucket high above a “sprayground” tipped over and sent a cascade of water onto the delighted people standing below. Low-hanging basketball nets ringed one wading pool. A climbing wall rose above another. Signs pointed the way to hot tubs, a wave pool, and something called a FlowRider.
“Like it?” Mr. Jones said from behind them.
“Like it? It’s unbelievable!” Carter crowed.
“What do you think, Ashley?” Mrs. LaBrie asked.
“Ash, Mom. Ash,” her son replied before adding, “Best. Hotel. Ever!”
“Let’s go check out our rooms now,” Mrs. Jones suggested.
Carter turned away reluctantly. He still couldn’t quite believe where he was.
Six hours earlier, when he and Ash had walked in the Joneses’ door, Carter nearly stumbled over a suitcase. Other bags, including one with his laptop, were lined up next to it.
He and Ash hurried into the kitchen. “What’s with the luggage?” Carter asked.
That’s when they learned about the water park hotel. “We’re leaving within the hour,” Mrs. Jones told him.
“Separate cars, but same hotel,” Mrs. LaBrie added. “We’re loaded up and ready to go.”
Lucky Boy gave a worried bark. “Don’t worry, fella,” Mr. Jones said. “You’ll be staying with Mrs. Flynn next door.”
Now Carter turned and said to Ash, “You can’t stop me from swimming right away this time, not with three days to spare before the tournament begins!”
“Stop you?” Ash echoed. “Dude, I’ll have gone down every slide before you even put on your swimsuit!”
The boys and their parents explored the water park for the next few hours, stopping only long enough to eat a quick dinner at the park’s fast-food restaurant. They returned to their rooms after the park closed, promising to meet up for breakfast the next morning before heading back for more fun.
Carter flopped down on his bed, tired but happy.
Liam would love this place.
The thought jumped unbidden into his brain. He realized he hadn’t told Liam where he was going.
Or where you were earlier today, and with who, a little voice inside mocked.
Well, I’ll tell him now, he answered the voice defiantly.
He sat up, pulled his laptop from its case, and turned it on. He logged in only to see that Liam was offline. So he decided to send him an e-mail instead. When he opened his account, he saw that he had a message from mmcgrath, Melanie’s e-mail.
Hey cuz, it read, thought you’d find this interesting! Enjoy—and good luck at States!
PS: Don’t worry, Liam knows I sent it.
A video file was attached to the e-mail. Curious, he clicked it and then sat back while it downloaded. He wasn’t sure what he expected to see, but it sure wasn’t what appeared.
Phillip DiMaggio stared out at him from the screen, his black eyes intense even in the photograph. After a moment, the video began.
Carter watched in fascination as one clip of Phillip after another played. There were dozens of segments of his pitching—waiting for the signal, going through his windup, delivering a pitch. And then, there was one showing his bumping fists three times with Liam.
Carter felt a shock run through his system. He quickly closed the file, shut down the laptop, and got into bed. He refused to think about the fist-bump. Instead, he turned his racing mind to other questions.
Why did Melanie send me that video? What was in it that she thought I’d find interesting?
Despite being exhausted from hours in the water park, it took Carter a long time to get to sleep that night. He woke the next morning groggy and out-of-sorts.
“Goodness, you look terrible,” his mother said when she saw him. “Are you feeling all right?”
“The boy just needs a good breakfast,” Mr. Jones interceded. “Come on. The hotel has some decent choices. Ash and his mom are already there.”
Carter did feel a little better once he had something to eat. But he was still thinking about the video. Maybe if I watch it again, he thought as he chewed on a bite of waffle, I’ll figure out why she sent it.
“Hello, earth to Jones! Are you in there, Jones?” Ash waved a hand in front of Carter’s face.
Carter blinked. “Huh?”
“I asked if you wanted to look through my binder while I go make a waffle.” Ash held out his notebook.
“Yeah, sure.” As Carter took the binder, something occurred to him. Ash had a knack for noticing details about players. He was especially tuned in to pitchers. If he watched the video, maybe he’d see whatever Carter had missed.
Ash was silent while the video played, his eyes intently studying Phillip’s every move. When the clip was through, he watched it again and then started it for a third time. Midway through that viewing, he gave a sharp cry and paused the film.
“There!” He pointed at Phillip’s head. “You see that? He’s wiping his face on his arm.”
Carter didn’t understand why Ash was excited. “So? He does that a lot.”
“Exactly! He does it a lot but”—Ash turned to Carter with shining eyes—“only when he’s about to throw a changeup. Watch.”
He started the video from the beginning. Now that he knew what to look for in those clips, Carter saw it plain as day. First the face-wipe. Then the changeup. Not just once or twice. Every time.
“You ever see old movies about the Wild West?” Ash asked. “There’s always a scene where a bunch of guys are playing cards. One of them always loses because he has a ‘tell,’ something like a twitch or a sound that gives away when he’s got a good hand. The guy doesn’t know he’s doing it, but the other players do.” He tapped the screen. “We’ve just discovered Phillip’s tell. Now the question is, what do we do with that information?”
“I’ll tell you what we do,” Carter said. He reached for his cell phone and thumbed to Liam’s number. “We warn Liam so he can help Phillip correct it.”
Ash snatched the phone from his hands. “You can’t be serious!”
“Hey! Give that back!” Carter cried.
Ash held on to the phone. “Look. Before you make the call, just listen to me, will you? First of all, he’s probably still asleep.”
Carter glanced at the clock and realized Ash was right. It was eight thirty in Pennsylvania, but only five thirty in California. When he nodded, Ash handed back his phone.
“And second,” Ash continued, “suppose Forest Park wins States and Regionals and makes it to the World Series. Suppose Ravenna does, too. Odds are we’d face each other at some point there, right? And maybe Phillip will be on the mound when we do.”
Carter understood then what Ash was trying to say. “He’s only got two pitches,” he said slowly. “The fastball and the changeup. Because of his tell, we’d know which he was going to throw.”
Ash nodded. “Imagine what our batters could do if they knew what pitch was coming their way.” He leaned in closer. “Maybe that’s why Liam let his sister send this. Maybe he’s setting a trap for Phillip. Maybe he hopes Phillip will be lit up like a Christmas tree. During the World Series. On national television—and forever on the Internet.”
Carter looked at the screen, chewing his bottom lip and considering what Ash suggested. He could see how that would make sense. But was Liam capable of such deviousne
ss?
He didn’t think so. But there was only one way to know for sure.
“I’m going to call him. Not now. But before the day is over.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
IceBerg! You made it!”
The Ravenna players surrounded Owen Berg as if he were a long-lost hero returning from battle. Liam joined in only to have his enthusiastic greeting returned with a cool stare. Phillip gave him the same look before turning to Owen with a huge smile.
Liam retreated and sat down on the bench. He scuffed the sandy dirt beneath his cleats.
There’s only one thing I can do, he thought. If Phillip and I are going to get back in sync, I have to go talk to him and right now. I have to tell him what I’ve decided.
But he couldn’t seem to make his feet move.
The decision he’d made had come during a phone call with Carter two days before. He replayed that phone call in his mind now.
His cell phone chirped during breakfast, Carter’s number appearing on the screen. He answered after three rings. “Hey, dork, you beat me to it,” he said, forcing a jovial tone into his voice. “I was planning to call you later.”
“Hey, Liam, listen. I’m calling about the video Melanie sent me.”
Carter sounded breathless—from laughing, Liam supposed. “Glad you thought those bloopers of me were so funny,” he responded drily.
Silence met his statement. Then he heard whispers and realized someone else was in on the conversation. “Am I on speakerphone?”
“No,” Carter replied. “That’s just Ash. See, he saw the video, too, and—”
“You know what?” Liam cut in brusquely. He knew he was being rude, but the thought of Ash’s watching him behave like an idiot made him flush with embarrassment. “I don’t really care what Ash has to say about it. Let’s just drop the whole subject of that video, okay?”
“But—”
“Jeez, Carter, I said drop it already!”
Liam heard Carter suck in his breath and immediately regretted his angry outburst. “Listen, I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. I—you don’t want to talk about the video, we won’t talk about it.” There was a pause, and then Carter asked how things were going in California. “Sean sent a photo of you and Phillip from your last game. Looked like you two were really in sync.”
Carter’s voice had an edge to it. Liam was going to ask what was wrong but then thought better of it. Carter was a private person who didn’t share his troubles easily, not even with Liam. He didn’t want to put him on the spot with Ash standing right there.
Ash’s presence also kept him from telling Carter why he’d been planning to call him. Liam had arrived at a troubling conclusion. He suspected that his connection with Carter was the reason Phillip was giving him the cold shoulder. The idea had seemed far-fetched until he remembered Phillip’s angry reaction to his casual conversations with Sam Witherspoon and the other Malden players. He realized Phillip looked on those players as the enemy. Therefore, he took Liam’s friendliness as disloyalty to Ravenna.
If he felt that way about the Malden players, Liam suspected his reaction to his relationship with Carter was one hundred times worse. But what could he do to convince Phillip that Ravenna had his complete allegiance?
There’s one solution, he thought. I could stop talking to Carter for the rest of the season.
No way was Liam going to suggest that. And yet after his phone call with Carter ended, the idea continued to resurface. Now, in the dugout before the first Sub-Divisional game, he wondered if it wasn’t just one solution, but the only solution.
He looked out at Phillip, who was chatting animatedly with Owen. He bit his lip, thinking hard. Then he put his hands on his thighs, pushed up off the bench, and strode over to the pitcher. He planted himself in front of him, hands on hips.
“Phillip, can I talk to you about something?”
Phillip peered up at him. The brim of his cap cast his face in shadow, making it hard for Liam to read his expression.
“This ought to be good,” Owen muttered, crossing his arms over his chest and smiling lazily.
Liam ignored him and waited for Phillip’s reply.
Phillip stood up. He was taller than Liam, forcing Liam to tilt his head up to maintain eye contact. “What’s this about?” he asked, his tone as flinty as his stare.
Liam didn’t flinch.
“It’s about what happened in the past.” He touched his chest, then his nose, and then pointed at Phillip. “And about what’s going to happen in the future. In other words: It’s about Carter.”
Liam and Phillip stared at each other for an endless moment. Then Phillip smiled. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”
And with that, Liam started talking.
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WHAT IS LITTLE LEAGUE®?
With nearly 165,000 teams in all 50 states and over 80 other countries across the globe, Little League Baseball® is the world’s largest organized youth sports program! Many of today’s Major League players started their baseball careers in Little League Baseball, including Derek Jeter, David Wright, Justin Verlander, and Adrian Gonzalez.
Little League® is a nonprofit organization that works to teach the principles of sportsmanship, fair play, and teamwork. Concentrating on discipline, character, and courage, Little League is focused on more than just developing athletes: It helps to create upstanding citizens.
Carl Stotz established Little League in 1939 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The first league only had three teams and played six innings, but by 1946, there were already twelve leagues throughout the state of Pennsylvania. The following year, 1947, was the first year that the Little League Baseball® World Series was played, and it has continued to be played every August since then.
In 1951, Little League Baseball expanded internationally, and the first permanent leagues to form outside of the United States were on either end of the Panama Canal. Little League Baseball later moved to nearby South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and a second stadium, the Little League Volunteer Stadium, was opened in 2001.
Some key moments in Little League history:
1957 The Monterrey, Mexico, team became the first international team to win the World Series.
1964 Little League was granted a federal charter.
1974 The federal charter was amended to allow girls to join Little League.
1982 The Peter J. McGovern Little League Museum opened.
1989 Little League introduced the Challenger Division.
2001 The World Series expanded from eight to sixteen teams to provide a greater opportunity for children to participate in the World Series.
2014 Little League will celebrate its 75th anniversary.
HOW DOES A LITTLE LEAGUE® TEAM GET TO THE WORLD SERIES?
In order to play in the Little League Baseball® World Series, a player must first be a part of a regular-season Little League, and then be selected as part of their league’s All-Star team, consisting of players ages 11 to 13 from any of the teams. The All-Star teams compete in district, sectional, and state tournaments to become their state champions. The state champions then compete to represent one of eight different geographic regions of the United States (New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Great Lakes, Midwest, Northwest, Southwest, and West). All eight of the Regional Tournament winners play in the Little League Baseball World Series.
The eight International Tournament winners (representing Asia-Pacific, Australia, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa, Mexico, Japan, and Latin America) also come to the Little League Baseball World Series.
The eight U.S. Regional Tournament winners compete in the United States Bracket of the Little League Baseball World Series, and the International Tournament winners compete in the International Bracket.
Over eleven days, the Little League Baseball World Series pr
oceeds until a winning U.S. Championship team and International Championship team are determined. The final World Series Championship Game is played between the U.S. Champions and the International Champions.
WANT TO LEARN MORE?
Visit the newly renovated World of Little League, Peter J. McGovern Museum, and Official Store in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania! When you visit, you’ll find pictures, interactive displays, films, and exhibits showing the history and innovations of Little League.
TEST YOUR LITTLE LEAGUE® KNOWLEDGE!
1. True or false? The first Little League field, known as Original Little League Field, included an outfield fence.
2. Pennsylvania was the first state to field Little League teams. What was the second?
a. New York b. Connecticut
c. Virginia d. New Jersey
3. Which Baseball Hall of Famer has NOT been a broadcaster at the Little League Baseball® World Series?
a. Jackie Robinson b. Brooks Robinson
c. Gary Carter d. Mickey Mantle
4. How long was the shortest game ever played in Little League Baseball® World Series?
a. two hours b. one hour
c. thirty minutes d. one hour and thirty minutes
5. True or false? Dr. Creighton J. Hale, director of research for Little League in the 1950s and later president of Little League, created the face mask worn by catchers today.
6. In which year did the Little League pitch count rule go into effect?
a. 1977 b. 1987
c. 1997 d. 2007
7. True or false? Volunteer Stadium has been in use as long as the Howard J. Lamade Stadium.
8. Where was the first-ever Little League® game played?
a. Howard J. Lamade Memorial Field b. Park Point
c. Bowman Field d. Carl Stotz’s backyard
9. True or false? When Bill Clinton was president of the United States, he hosted a series of Little League Tee Ball games, which were played on the South Lawn of the White House.
State Showdown Page 9
