At the charity baseball game, Sista Bessie arrives in a blue Thunderbird with Jerome, Red, and Mr. Estevez, drawing cheers from the crowd. Fire Chief Darby Dingley and Lieutenant Lewis Warwick greet Betty Brady, have her flip a coin for home-field choice, and show her to a makeshift dressing room. Betty insists on entering and leaving with minimal ceremony, while Jerome notices that Red seems uneasy even though Red claims he feels fine.

At 6:45, Holly reaches the locked doors of Holman Rink with her gun drawn. Through the door, Holly hears what first sounds like a man and a child, then realizes Donald Gibson is switching between voices and arguing with himself in a father-child routine. Because shooting the lock might only warn Gibson and get Kate McKay and the other hostages killed, Holly chooses to wait at the side of the entrance, hoping Gibson will eventually open the door.

At nearly the same time, Betty is finally alone in her dressing room. She takes pills for her racing heart, kneels in prayer, and asks Jesus to help her save Barbara and forgive her if she has to shoot Gibson with Red’s revolver. When Warwick calls her out, Betty joins hands with Red and Jerome, walks to the pitcher’s mound, and delivers a powerful performance: Red plays Taps, then accompanies Betty as she sings the national anthem. The crowd is overwhelmed, but after the applause Betty returns to the dressing room, changes clothes, and waits anxiously for Gibson’s call.

While Holly stays outside the rink, she hears the distant music from the ballfield. Inside, Gibson pauses to listen, and Corrie, Barbara, and Kate listen as well, fully aware that death seems likely. Kate reflects that she had imagined death as political martyrdom, not murder by a random madman. Elsewhere, the baseball game formally begins, but Kate’s absence throws the Mingo Auditorium into confusion: Maisie Rogan cannot find her, repeated calls go to voicemail, and the audience grows restless.

At 7:04, Gibson finally calls Betty. He gives her directions from the ballfield to the old rink and orders her to arrive and knock at 7:40, threatening to shoot all three captives if she fails. After hanging up, Gibson points his gun at Kate, Barbara, and Corrie, pours lighter fluid onto the pile of old beams and posters, and boasts that the fire will be a “Viking funeral” visible from the game. He then returns to the foyer and resumes kicking Christopher Stewart’s body. By 7:10, the tension spreads beyond the rink: the game is underway, and at the Mingo a pro-life chant against Kate escalates into a fight.