The crowd in the stands yelled "Lions. Lions. Lions," then went into a long yelling cheer. The cheerleaders in front of them jumped and shook pompoms, encouraging them to continue yelling to cheer on the team, then easing them down. One cheerleader was special, the mascot, wearing a lion kitten costume complete with painted black nose and glued on whiskers. The ears on top of her head stuck up several inches and were covered with brown fur. She could kick and jump with the best of them, keeping up with the older girls during every sequence, every cheer, every routine. Mandy was good at cheering. Her older sister, a junior on the cheer squad, smiled at her.

In front of the crowd, the six girls yelled and clapped as the crowd settled down. At home base, the first Lion batter stepped up and batted the dirt from his cleats. As the pitcher shook off a couple signed calls then nodded his head, the batter took his stance. He'd played all spring fro this chance at the State championship. So had the rest of the team. He wound up as the pitcher wound up, ready to meet anything thrown at him.

Mandy, the eleven year old mascot watched intently then yelled as the batter hit the ball, cringing as the grounder was fielded and thrown to first base, then cheered again when the runner was called safe.

"Ready girls? Hit that ball. One, two, three, go!" They all went into the chant as the next batter came up, screaming when he hit a double, runners now at second and third. The next batter hit the ball high to center field, everyone in the stands jumping to their feet. Two fielders ran toward the center of the field, yelling to each other as one caught the fly ball. Then the runner at third bolted for home, the crowd screaming, trying to give him more speed as the ball was thrown toward second. That baseman caught it, spun and threw it home, the runner going down to slide, catcher taking the ball and spinning, trying to tag the runner. But he was just a slit second late, the crowd yelling again as the umpire threw his arms to the sides. "SAFE!"

Cheerleaders yelled with the crowd, Mandy dancing and bouncing in time with the others, shaking her pompoms and joining the leg kicks in perfect rhythm. When the cheer died off she excitedly told the girl next to her, "That was my brother, Cindy! Mike is so gorgeous!" The older girl smiled down at her and she beamed at the attention.

"Robert's up next," Melissa told the girl next to her. "He's such a hunk."

"Mel, you know he's going with Stacy," she returned. "Guess there's no harm in wishing though." She grinned playfully at her partner.

"Home run. Ready? One, two, three, go." They all went into the cheer, the enthusiastic crowd more than happy to join in. Their team was ahead by one now, the top of the ninth, and it looked good for the boys' team.

As the batter stepped up to the plate, Melissa broke the chant, jumping and waving, Mandy, watching her older sister carefully, joining in as the audience cheered and clapped, settling down as the batter prepared himself. A strike and two balls, then a foul and he was two and two. Next pitch he swung hard but missed the curve, and the umpire called him out.

"That's okay on three. One, two, three," but the crowd was quiet, clapping as he walked off, none of it related to the cheer direction, then cheered as the next one stepped up. He got a hit and the runner sprinted from third and crossed the plate to the wild cheers of the students and parents. Melissa led them in another cheer as they were ahead by two now. When the batter stepped up, he hit the first pitch high to right, the fielder easily moving under it to catch the fly ball and winding up to throw. But the runner held his base.

......(cont)