Is their love a home run, or merely a pop fly? Minor league umpire Alice Darling loves everything about baseball. That means hunky ball players are strictly off limits-dating one would be professional suicide. With a young daughter and a brother to care for, she can't afford to slip up. Truth is, as a young, stupid, nineteen-year-old townie, she did once date a player. That's how she wound up with her precious, nine-year-old daughter...and a determination to never make that mistake again. Alex Ross's arrival in Florida for spring training, though, shakes her resolve in a big way. Alex, a catcher for the Major League's San Francisco Felons, has never let much get in the way of his game. One look at Alice changes everything, and he finds himself pursuing her with a single-minded purpose that plays hell with his concentration. Booted back to the minors, he returns to Florida with his tail between his legs to work on his swing...and heat things up with Alice. But when rumors of their affair hit the sports blogosphere, Alice's career is put in jeopardy, and their love starts to look more like a strikeout than a home run.