Jack Winters' Baseball Team; Or, The Rivals of the DiamondOverton, Mark
General
Jack Winters' Baseball Team; Or, The Rivals of the Diamond
Overton, Mark
Baseball -- Juvenile fiction
Again things began to look dark for Chester. Harmony had "found" Donohue
at last, it seemed, and there could be no telling when the salvo of hits
could stop. Perhaps the game would be "sewed up" right there, in case
Harmony scored, and Hendrix shut his opponents out when their turn at
bat came.
Now it was Bailey up.
The little shortstop was primed for anything. He struck at the first
ball, and knocked a foul which dropped safe. Then he missed the next
ball so that he was "two in the hole." Of course it was expected that
Donohue would now try to deceive him by tempting him with a curve that
would be wide of the plate; but Jack had signaled for a third one
straight, and it came with swiftness.
Bailey was ready, however, and knew he had to strike, for it would count
against him at any rate. He got a fluke hit that started toward first.
By jumping in Jack managed to pick up the ball, and then having touched
the bag, he hurled it toward second in hopes of making a double play.
Oldsmith, however, had made a fine slide, and was clutching the corner
of the second sack when Jones took the ball; while Clifford had won
third.
There were now two down, with men on second and third.
Everything depended on the next batter, and when it was seen to be that
formidable slugger O'Leary, the home-run maker, how those Harmony
rooters did scream. Some of the more irresponsible took to dancing like
idiots, clasped in each other's arms. In fact, every known device for
"rattling" a pitcher was resorted to, of course legitimately, in order
to further their waning cause.
Eagerly did many of the local fans watch to see whether Donohue gave any
evidence of going to pieces. He seemed as cool as ever, and smiled as he
handled the ball; while O'Leary was knocking his big bat on the ground
to test its reliability, as though he meant to put it to some good
service then and there. He was seen to turn his head and grin toward
some of his ardent admirers in the bleachers back of him. By this means
he doubtless informed them that he had been only playing with the
tenderfoot pitcher hitherto, and would now proceed to show what strength
lay in those muscular arms of his.
Jack waved the fielders back. He anticipated that O'Leary was due for
one of his famous lengthy drives, and it was necessary that those
guarding the outer gardens should be in position to make a great run,
once the ball left the bat. Still, he continued to feel fairly confident
that Donohue would recover from his temporary set-back, and possibly
deceive O'Leary, as he had done twice before.
He realized that the crisis he had feared was now upon them. If O'Leary
sent a scorcher toward Fred, how would the third baseman handle it?
Clifford knew what was expected of him, and already part way home on the
movement of the pitcher winding up to throw, he would shoot along at the
crack of the bat, taking his chances, since there were already two down.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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