10 Zeke, a Winner

Ten Zeek a winner FOR EACH OF THE NEXT FEW DAYS, Harris and Zeke practiced for hours. Zeke was now throwing more strikes. And when hitting, Zeke learned to be patient and time his swings.

Harris threw a pitch, and Zeke swung and missed. On the very next pitch however, he hit the ball hard. It flew over Harris's head. "You're getting better!" Harris said. "Practice, practice, practice!" Zeke said, smiling.

The day of the big game against the Ramblers finally came. Zeke pitched well. But without using his powers, he gave up three runs. At the plate, he struck out his first time up, but he did manage to hit a few hard foul balls that just missed landing in the field. In the bottom of the final inning, the Chargers started to rally back. With two outs and a runner on second, Roxy came to bat. She smacked the ball to right field, which scored the Chargers' first run.

"Nice hit, Roxy!" Zeke shouted from the bench. Harris came up next. He also put the ball in play, scoring Roxy. The Chargers were now trailing 3–2. With Harris on second, they were just one hit away from tying the game. Zeke came up to bat. "Come on, Zeke! You got this!" Roxy shouted from the bench. "Remember what we practiced!" Harris yelled from second base.

Zeke nodded, then stepped in to face the pitcher. Zeke swung and missed at the first pitch. When the next one came, he drew back the bat, but swung and missed again. The Chargers were now one strike away from losing. Zeke looked out at Harris, who gave him a thumbs-up sign. Then he turned to face the pitcher.

Zeke swung at the next pitch. BOOM! He hit the ball hard and Harris started running as fast as he could. But the centerfielder tracked down the ball and caught it, so Zeke was out. The ball game was over and the Chargers had lost. Everyone on the team was disappointed— everyone except Zeke, who trotted back to the bench with a huge smile on his face.