Chapter 1

"Come on Bo you can do it!"

A twelve year old Bo Dennis stood on the pitcher's mound forty feet from home plate wiping the sweat from her face as she stared down her final batter. Being the only child of two deceased parents she'd been raised by her grandfather who was better at talking sports than life lessons and "tough love" was definitely something she was used to. She could rattle off shooting percentages for the top college and pro basketball teams, random statistics for hockey and football players in almost any category, but her true passion, the one thing she was happy her grandfather passed on to her was for baseball.

A game of intelligence and foresight similar to chess, Bo loved the intricacies of the sport down to the minute details. She knew the best play for the infinite scenarios she could find herself in and could pick up the type of hitter she was facing by the way the ball connected with their bats. She had an uncanny ability to pick up on the smallest details even at such a young age and she was already leaps and bounds ahead of her teammates.

Growing up in the small Midwest town she had to turn her affinity for baseball into a love for softball which although similar had its slight variances and the more she played the more she fell in love with the game. And the more she fell in love with it the better she got until she hit her current position of the #1 player in the US in the twelve and under category.

The final batter took their position in the box and she smirked slightly as she stared down at the catcher waiting for the sign to be relayed from the coach. Once she had the go ahead she took a breath and calmed herself before starting her wind up and delivering a fastball low and outside.

"Strike!"

The batter stared back at her with slight disbelief as no other pitcher at that age had as much control as she did. Bo laughed to herself as the catcher threw the ball back to her and she kicked the dirt slightly waiting for the next sign. Another quick breath and Bo was into her wind up this time delivering a fastball high and inside.

"Strike!"

This time the batter swung and missed and Bo smirked again knowing she had the other girl totally off balance. She knew her catcher knew what was coming next. Without even waiting for the signal she took her ready stance and another deep breath. A big wind up and flurry of motion had the batter totally of guard so when her changeup went down the pipe for strike three the batter just stared at her without even flinching.

"Yeah Bo!"

Her teammates congratulated her and she thanked them graciously as she looked over at her grandfather who just shook his head. She bit her lip a bit knowing he was going to have a laundry list of things that were wrong with her performance today but at the moment she didn't care. They won the national championship on her final pitch and she was going to enjoy it.

Somewhere in small town Canada

"Come on Lauren, you're not even trying."
An eleven year old Tamsin glared at her ten year old sister who was standing in the batters box looking slightly annoyed. Lauren Lewis was some kind of child prodigy when it came to softball and all of Canada was excited to see what would become of her. A utility player by choice she ensured she was good at all the positions so that she could be useful wherever her team needed her but her favorite position was catcher. She loved the connection with the pitcher and being a braniac she was often able to outsmart the batters on her own accord knowing their tendencies and the pitchers strengths and weaknesses.

The only thing she liked more than being behind the plate was being in the box as she prided herself in being able to hit any pitcher in the country, and so far she has lived up to that statement. Her older sister was one of the premier pitchers in Canada and the two of them had been playing together ever since they could both catch a ball. Tamsin taught her younger sister about the love of the game and Lauren embraced it wholeheartedly. Their parents didn't really care that much about the sport but they allowed their daughters to play as long as they brought home good grades which they both did in spades. Being so much bigger than her sister Tamsin was very protective of Lauren and everyone knew not to mess with the Lewis sisters as the older one was known to "accidently" let a ball or two slip which usually resulted in a ball to the side of the head.

Currently Tamsin was working with Lauren on her slap hitting techniques and the younger sibling was quickly growing tired of it. She was more a placement hitter as she didn't have exceptional speed, something that was key for this type of play. Lauren grunted as Tamsin threw her another pitch and she focused on not popping the ball up but rather driving it down into the dirt.

"Tamsin, enough already."

The taller blonde just rolled her eyes as she nodded and took off her glove. She walked over to her sister and put an arm around her shoulders. "Okay enough for today. But you need to work on that kid. You gotta keep them off balance when you're batting."

Lauren just nodded and walked with her sister back into the house. She wanted to do her best for her sister and hopefully she'd figure it out and make her proud.

Eight Years Later

Lauren took a breath as she pushed open the door to the training facility. She had been at UCLA for a few weeks now and it was finally time to start spring practices with the team. Her sister had also been accepted into the program and due to a shoulder injury had red-shirted her freshman year meaning the Lewis sisters would have four years to play together.

"Move newbie."

A girl with long dark hair was glaring at her a bit as she stood awkwardly in the doorway. The girl huffed and shoved the door further open with a roll of her eyes.

"You must be the other Lewis?"

The blonde gave her a small nod and a shy smile. "Lauren Lewis, nice to meet you."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Kenzi, and we'll see about that. Put your shit down and let's go we have five minutes."

The girl, Kenzi apparently, turned and walked out of the training room leaving a still confused Lauren standing there looking around. She didn't know where she was supposed to put her stuff nor where to go once she did. She wished Tamsin could have been there to help her but the older sibling had informed her she had a pitchers meeting with the coaching staff that morning and wouldn't be able to meet her.

"Need some help?"

Lauren turned around and a taller dark skinned girl was standing there giving her a warm smile. Lauren immediately returned the smile and nodded. "Yes please. I'm Lauren."

"Nadia. And your stuff goes over here."

She pointed to an empty locker and nodded for Lauren to set her stuff down. The blonde dropped her bag and took off her hoodie before grabbing her gloves and nodding to the other girl. Nadia smiled and pointed at one of the gloves in her hand. "You're the new catcher?"

Lauren shrugged. "I'm the new whatever Coach needs."

Nadia smiled and nodded before grabbing her own catcher's mitt and nodding. "Well hopefully we get to work together." She held up the glove and nodded before leading Lauren out of the room. The pair made their way to the field and for the first time Lauren felt a bit overwhelmed. The training facility was in pristine condition and even though Lauren had an outstanding reputation in Canada she knew she'd have to prove herself all over again.

"Alright ladies gather round."

The coach was a former player and one of the reasons Lauren had made the decision to join Tamsin at UCLA. She had been recruited by all the top collegiate programs but it was the passion and determination that she could see in Kelly Inouye-Perez that made Lauren decide to become a Bruin.

"Welcome to opening day. For the returners you know the drill. For the new girls, now's the time to see if you got what it takes."

The coach looked around at the group and trained her gaze on the faces both familiar and new. She gave them some basic direction about how the next week would go and some things they needed to know. Lauren looked around as the coach was talking and smiled when she saw her sister.

"Are you listening?"

Lauren froze when she realized all eyes were on her and she did her best to not hyperventilate as she nodded slowly to the coach. Coach smirked a bit and nodded a bit.

"So what was I saying?"

Lauren licked her lips. "Practices are between one and five with weight training in the morning."

Coach rolled her eyes a bit as she nodded. "What's your name?"

Lauren swallowed slowly. "Um, Lauren Lewis."

The coach looked to one of her assistants who pointed to a clipboard. The coach scanned the sheet for a second before looking up at her. "So you're the other Lewis sister huh? Okay, let's see if you hit better than your sister does."

She motioned for Lauren to take her place in the batter's box before turning back to the group. "DENNIS."

A taller brunette standing next to the girl that Lauren recognized as Kenzi looked up. "Yes Coach?"

The coach pointed to the mound and the brunette grinned. She was basically being asked to embarrass the freshman and Lauren huffed a bit as she reached for a bat. She knew all about Bo Dennis from her sister and what she'd heard she didn't like. So far. She couldn't help but admit to herself that the girl was just as beautiful as she was cocky and arrogant. Luckily Tamsin had given her a full profile of the All-American pitcher from last year and Lauren already knew her tendencies and her preferences on the mound. She walked slowly over to the batter's box and tried to focus on the task at hand instead of the girl 43 feet from her.

Nadia had slipped on her catchers mask and protective chest guard and after Lauren watched her throw a few warm up pitches she stepped up ready to face her. Nadia had been catching for Bo for the past 3 years and the pair had a solid connection. Nadia would call her own pitches and Bo trusted her to put her in the best position possible for each batter.

Lauren licked her lips as she always did when standing in the box and she waited for Bo to nod indicating she had the desired sign. She had a feeling this first pitch was going to be inside as a warning to her so she braced herself ready to step back if needed. Bo took a breath and went through her wind up and as expected delivered a hard fastball on the inside half of the plate and Lauren stepped back slightly not quite ready for the speed of the pitch.

"Come on freshman, don't be scared."

Kenzi snickered with a few of their teammates as everyone but Tamsin chuckled at Lauren's reaction. Even Bo was laughing slightly on the mound and Nadia just shook her head hoping that Lauren was stronger than she appeared at the moment. Lauren just shook it off and took her stance again in the same spot as she mentally thought about what Tamsin had taught her about Bo. She expected a drop ball on the outside corner next and she knew she wouldn't be able to make solid contact with that so even if it was a strike she was going to let it go.

Bo took a breath and nodded as she started her windup. She wanted to see what this girl was made of so she was going to test out one of her newer pitches. Most right handed pitchers threw their curve ball towards the off hand but Bo was learning to throw it to the dominant meaning her curve would actually turn in like a lefty's curve instead of a right handed pitcher. It wasn't quite a screwball but rather a slow curve and if she perfected this she would be the only one who threw it. She went through her wind up and let it fly but since she was still fine tuning it she wasn't quite as controlled as she'd like and the ball barely missed Lauren's head as it sailed up and in.

"HEY!"

Tamsin was about to charge the mound but Lauren quickly jumped up and shook it off motioning for her sister to calm down. Lauren was tougher than most people gave her credit for and she figured it was just Bo trying to piss her off. On the mound however the Junior pitcher actually felt bad for that as she hadn't intended on hurting her. Nadia gave her a look and Bo just shook her head as if to say, it was an accident, but she noticed the fact that Nadia threw the ball back to her a bit harder than necessary indicating she wasn't happy. The downside of being so in sync with her catcher is now Bo felt bad knowing Nadia thought she was being an asshole and she just shook her head trying to clear her thoughts.

"Come on Bo Bo. Finish her off already."

Kenzi cheered her on earning a glare from Tamsin who was mentally trying to send Lauren thoughts about what to expect from the brunette pitcher. Lauren wiped her hands on her pants before griping the bat again and she took a deep breath before standing in the batters box and licking her lips readying herself for whatever the brunette would deliver.

Bo stared her down as she took in the sign from Nadia and smiled at it. When done right no one ever hit her changeup mostly because she hardly threw it so when she did it was a huge surprise. She was known as a power pitcher and most people expected heat from her on the mound. She took a deep breath of her own before starting her wind up and cleared her thoughts. Lauren noticed the extra movement in her wind up and her lip curled up as she knew what was coming. She'd heard about Bo's changeup and her tendency was to be cocky and throw it right down the middle.

CRACK

Lauren had waited on the pitch knowing she'd get a good look at it and the whole team was in amazement as she took it well beyond the breakaway fence that was 210 feet from where she was standing. She gave Bo a slight smirk as the All-American stood there a bit wide eyed. No one had ever taken her the distance on that pitch let alone a freshman and she was now thoroughly confused at how she'd done that.

"Well, okay then."

Coach walked over with a smirk of her own and gave Lauren a nod before turning to Bo. "Seems like you may need a little work there Dennis."
The entire team snickered and Tamsin beamed with pride that her sister had done so well. It was unheard of for a newbie to hit Bo let alone a homerun off of her so this set the team buzzing. The rest of practice Lauren had avoided Bo and Kenzi as much as possible knowing they'd probably have some choice words for her if given the chance.

When it was over the girls all headed back to the training room to shower and change except for the pitchers who had to stay behind with the pitching coach and work on a few things. As Lauren walked into the training room again she was met with an annoyed Kenzi.

"Lucky swing there newbie."

Nadia laughed and pushed Kenzi further into the room. "Leave her alone Kenz. Good job freshman."
Nadia smiled at Lauren before nodding slightly and going to shower. Kenzi gave her a slight glare before turning and following suit leaving Lauren standing there to get changed. A few minutes later Tamsin appeared with a smile and a hug for her baby sister.

"Great job."

Lauren smiled and nodded. "Thanks."

"Lewis."

Both sisters turned to Bo who was standing in the doorway looking at them. Tamsin raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Bo shook her head. "Not you, the other Lewis. Get lost Tamsin."

The older Lewis shook her head and got up to leave them alone. Bo walked in and took a seat next to Lauren. "So, how exactly did you do that today?"

Lauren just shrugged. "Got lucky I guess."

She stood up with her clothes and headed to the shower. Right before she left the room she turned back to Bo. "Dennis?"

Bo looked up with a confused and slightly annoyed face. "What?"

Lauren smiled. "Nice pitching today and better luck next time."

She laughed as she walked into the showers and Bo scowled. This freshman was a bit too cocky for her own good and she'd put her in her place soon enough.