9 boys, 9 girls, 1 sandlot

Game 2

The next day, the two teams met at the sandlot again. 

Since the boys batted first the day before, the girls started at bat. 

Of course, Red was leadoff. 

Kenny threw the first pitch, a slider. 

Red was unfocused as the ball whipped towards her, so she didn't even swing, much to the surprise of both teams. 

"Strike one!" Ham yelled. 

Benny shot her a look from center field, clearly asking, "Are you alright?" 

She nodded, as to not seem as though she was talking to Benny and readied herself for the second pitch. This time, she was ready. Well, more ready than she was the first time. She swung with all her might at Kenny's fastball. 

She hit it far out towards Squints in right field. He miscalculated where the ball would land, and it went a bit to his left. He chased after it as the redhead made it safely to second base. 

Annika stepped up to bat next. She struck out, but Red managed to steal third. 

Bubblegum popped a bubble in her gum before readying herself for Kenny's pitch. She bunted the ball on the third pitch, and Molly having a high baseball IQ, stayed put on third. 

Hot Head stepped up to her respective side of the plate, and swung at Kenny's slider. She missed. She swung again at his fastball and whacked it way out to Smalls at left. 

Molly easily made it home, but Lauren was tagged out. 

Bubblegum was safe on second. 

Speedy struck out. 1-0, girls. 

The boys put on a show of batting ability as every boy hit the ball and scored. 

The girls weren't themselves today. 

At the end of the first, it was 9-1. 

The roles had reversed from the day before, the boys were now dominating the game. 

The girls forfeited after the end of third, as it was 32-8. 

The boys all were cheering and shit (obviously), and the girls left the field, deflated, and went back to Red's to talk about what happened. 

"As your captain, it's my job to make sure that my team is prepared for a game. Apparently, I didn't prepare us well enough, so I need all of you to tell me what I did wrong, and what we need to work on, so we can get our asses OUTSIDE to fix it," Molly said, so pissed off that she and her team were embarrassed like that. 

"Well, we couldn't catch or hit it felt like. Honestly, they just outplayed us," MC said. 

A chorus of 'yeahs' came from the rest of the girls. 

"Grab your shit, we're going outside to fix it. We got embarrassed, and if we want that field, we can't let it happen again," Red commanded. 

Her team stood up and followed their captain outside. 

"First, everyone get a partner and start batting. Batter, swing like you normally would. Non-batter, call out pitches so batters can adjust their swings accordingly. Eventually, Hops will start pitching for us, changing her pitches in order for us to fix our shit. Non-batter, if you see a mistake, help your teammate improve it. I'll be walking around helping out as well. I know, I should be practicing too, but there are nine of us, and I want y'all to get practice first. I can always practice on my own since I live here," Molly instructed her team. 

They all did as she said after laughing at her ending statement. Maybe, this could fix her team. 

With the boys...
"Oh, how the tables have turned!" Bertram shouted excitedly. 

"We kicked their girlie asses!" Ham added loudly. 

They were all up in the treehouse, bathing in their victory. 

"Hey! We might have won that one, but Molly will be working her team tonight to get better, so we have to be ready. If we don't show up like we did today tomorrow, we'll be doing the same," Benny said to his team. 

The captains of the two teams both admired the other for their leadership. 

Collective groans were heard. 

"Just show up tomorrow, and you won't have anything to worry about," Benny said. 

They all sat like that for a few more minutes, just chatting and being boys before one by one, they each left. It was about 9 o'clock at night when the last boy left, which happened to be Benny. 

He never realized he lived a few houses away from Red until this feud started. He walked back to his house, alone, until he heard a sound. It sounded like it was coming from Molly's backyard. He peeked over her fence and saw her tossing the ball up and hitting it into a net covering a section of the fence. He hopped down from his hiding spot and knocked on the fence's gate. 

Benny heard the bat hit the ground as footsteps neared the gate. She opened it up, and Benny was happy to see the most beautiful girl in the Valley. 

"Need a pitcher?" He asked, surprisingly smooth for someone who 'never talked to girls'. 

"First of all, were you spying on me? Second of all, wow, Benny Rodriguez is only capable of being smooth with a girl when it comes to baseball," she teased him endlessly. 

"First of all," he mocked her. "I just heard a sound from your backyard, and I wanted to know what it was. Second of all, I was not trying to be smooth." 

"Hey, it worked," she teased again. 

He blushed as she grabbed his hand and dragged him into the backyard. 

"Give me your best," she commanded while she readied herself to hit. He pitched it to her, and she hit it into the net. 

"Wow," Benny muttered. 

The teasing never ended. "Benny 'the Jet' Rodriguez is now impressed with a girl? Wow I'm amazing." 

She continued to poke fun at him for the rest of the time they were together. 

They eventually got bored with playing baseball (somehow) and decided to chill on her lounge chairs by her pool. 

"We should hang out more," Benny said. 

"I'm good with that," Red replied quietly. 

The two laid there in silence until Benny got up to go. 

"I better head back," he sighed, not wanting to leave the girl he liked. Wait, what?! 

She got up to say goodbye. 

There was an awkward silence for a bit before Molly spoke up. "I guess I'll see you at the sandlot..." 

"Yeah," he replied quietly. He left soon after, and Red returned to her chair for a few more minutes before going inside to go to bed.

A/N this is by far the longest chapter so far, and will probably be the longest chapter in the book. The next chapter is normal length, about 500 words. This one is over 1000 without this note. I feel so accomplished lol. Anyway, next chapter is already typed and ready so I'll post it in a few days. Later!
-Mo