Bases Loaded (Scrappers, 5)

Gloria knows that she's one of the best players the Scrappers have, but she can't do it all -- and when the other kids blow it, she's the first one to let them know. The coach has warned her to quiet down, but how can she be the trouble when the rest of the team is pathetic? With Gloria setting the tone, the Scrappers are spending less and less time working as a team and more and more time fighting among themselves. When she opens her mouth one too many times and provokes a fight that costs the Scrappers an important game, Coach Carlton is so disgusted he quits the team. "I know baseball," he says, "and this isn't it." Are the Scrappers' hopes of pulling together for the championship over? Bases Loaded is the fifth book in Dean Hughes's new Scrappers series. Each book focuses on a different member of this unseasoned but determined baseball squad. In one summerlong season, each player learns something about him or herself and what it is that defines a team.