Chapter 4

Every year, four gyms in the Richmond area participated, sponsoring two teams each to face off on a baseball field. Every year, the gym where Matt worked applied to compete, and every year, they were turned down. The reason was always the same—they didn’t have the membership numbers to support the event, which Matt thought sounded like corporate bullshit. A baseball team had nine members. They would have to provide two teams to the event, a total of eighteen people. Maybe their roster didn’t have the thousand-plus members that Gold’s Gym boasted, but they had a dedicated core of people who paid their dues and worked out regularly.

But now it seemed they were invited to play, after all. “What happened?” Matt wanted to know.

Roxie shrugged. “I think Victory bowed out. There’s the Y, Gold’s, and American Family, then us. If we want it. Part of me says we shouldn’t bother. I mean, why should webe the understudy, you know?”