College stories; Sports stories; Yale University -- Juvenile fiction
But he was mistaken. The next two batters, the strongest of the team,
fell before Frank's shoots, and the third put up a foul fly which
Turner captured close to the stand. This gave the Yale men a chance
to let loose some enthusiasm.
In Yale's half of the inning, a single and an error put two men on
bases with one out. But the necessary hits were not forthcoming, and
although the men reached third and second, the side was retired
before a runner crossed the plate.
Nip and tuck, the teams played for five innings with no runs scored
on either side. Armstrong was pitching brilliant ball. No one in
the stands and but few on the team itself, knew the price he was
paying. Slow and fast he mixed them up, with an occasional curve
which sent twinges of pain from finger tips to shoulder. In tight
places, he steadied his team and was always the Captain, inspiring
and resourceful.
Coach Quinton well knew what Frank was going through. "Can you stick
it out?" he said, when the game was more than half over.
"I don't know. I'm pitching and praying at the same time," was the
answer.
The break came in the sixth, and it was in Harvard's favor. With one
out, Kingston, the big Harvard first baseman, hit a liner to the
pitcher's box, which Frank partly blocked with his gloved hand. The
ball bounded to the left and fell dead twenty feet behind him, and
before the second baseman, who had come in with all possible speed,
could field it, Kingston had crossed first base. The next man up
singled over second. With two on, Captain Armstrong tightened up
and struck out the following batter, while the stands roared their
approval; but the next man hit a low liner to left field, which
scored Kingston. Frank was pitching now slowly and deliberately. His
arm was numb, but somehow he got over the third strike on the last
man and saved more runs.
Yale fought hard to win the run back and got a man to third, but a
stinging liner to short-stop was perfectly handled and the side was
out. Nothing happened in the eighth for either side, and Harvard
began the ninth, one run to the good, steady and confident.
Armstrong was pitching now on nerve alone. His arm, subjected to
a hard strain through the preceding eight innings, was what the
newspapers had called "glass," but the brain that directed it was
cool and calculating. Fortunately for him, the first man fouled out
to the third baseman on the second ball pitched, but the second
batter caught one of the Yale pitcher's slow lobs and made a safe
hit. The third bunted down the third base line and was also safe.
It was now or never, and gathering up his fast waning forces, Frank
struck out the next man, while the shooting pains in his arm brought
the cold sweat out on his forehead.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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