Scoring Position

For four years Theo Bravo and Jo Kwon have split Brenner State's infield and nothing else. Now it's senior season, and the new head coach has put them in a platoon neither of them asked for — same lineup, same shift, same bus, same hotel room. Theo has a chest-high fastball problem and a temper that gets him suspended in September. Jo has the best glove in the conference and a father in the majors who stopped watching her play when she was fourteen. Together, they're the best second-base tandem in the league. Apart, they're unbearable. They keep a running tally of each other's errors as a joke, then as a routine, then as the first thing they read every morning. When Theo charges the mound and sits out three games, Jo holds the infield alone for a month and hits better than she ever has. He comes back to a dogpile on the mound and a question he's been avoiding since freshman year. He says yes in the time it takes to throw home.