"The bases full and no one out!"
How many times has this cry shaken the nerves of the home rooter, as he
saw his favorite players apparently in a hole they could not get out of
without allowing one or more scores?
The friends of Bert Creighton and the other Kattskill Bay boys, while
confident that the boys from Winton possessed the ability to help Bert
win a victory, saw no loop-hole for shutting off the scores of the
Cleverdale team in the fifth inning.
Remembering the two plays of the previous inning, the Cleverdale runners
were hugging the bases, watching eagle-eyed for a throw from either Chot
or Tom. But the Winton battery proceeded to ignore the runners
apparently.
Never had Windle batted at such an array of curves, mixed with swift
balls and slow balls, as Chot Duncan served up to him during the next
two minutes. The best he succeeded in doing was a foul tip which counted
as a strike. With two strikes and no balls, he felt that he must hit the
next one, but he did not figure on the drop, and again Chot sent his man
along the strike-out route with his old reliable "fooler."
"Hit it out, Johnson!" cried Biddle. "A single will do."
"Johnson isn't making singles to-day," muttered Fleet. Then he grinned
in delight as Chot threw a swift in, and the Cleverdale pitcher struck
and missed. Another in the same place brought a second effort from
Johnson, this also unsuccessful. Then the drop again, and Johnson
retired as Mr. Creighton cried:
"Batter out!"
King was facing Chot now. He was reputed to be the best and quickest man
in getting to first of any of the Cleverdale players, and he had
resolved to show Chot that he could not strike him out again.
Chot cast his eye around the bases now. The runners were still hugging
close. Chot was tempted to let King hit it, and trust to the Creighton
fielders to get under the ball, but decided not to take a chance. Then,
suddenly, he resorted to a style of throwing that he had not used in a
long time--the underhand method. Chot had mastered this style long
since, and could throw ins and outs with equal facility, and with as
much speed as he ordinarily used for his other delivery.
King was disconcerted. He had never seen balls come whizzing over the
plate in just this fashion. One strike, two strikes, were called and
King began to be alive to the fact that he was apt to go the way the
other batters had. Then suddenly Chot swung his arm over his shoulder
and the reliable drop went shooting into Tom's mitt. King had hit at it
and missed. Chot had struck out three men with the bases full.
"Oh, there are different methods of doing it," said Fleet, as he
carelessly threw his mitt down near the base and walked in with the
other Creighton players.
Smeed tried to get a hit for his side in the last of the fifth, and
succeeded in sending a grounder to short. He was thrown out. Pod beat
out a bunt but Bert surprised his friends by striking out. Fleet lifted
a long fly into center, but Burton was playing deep and had little
trouble getting under it.
Cleverdale again looked dangerous in the sixth, but again Chot and Tom,
with Bert's assistance, cut off two runs when it seemed that the rival
side must score.
Tom led off for Winton. Getting a ball where he wanted it after a strike
and two balls had been called, he sent the sphere into deep right for
three bases.
Chot struck the first ball pitched, and it went sailing between left and
center, out into the tall grass, where it was recovered some minutes
later by the combined efforts of Burton and King! By the time the ball
was thrown into the diamond, Chot had made a complete circle of the
bases, sending Tom in ahead of him.
"Gee whiz! Eleven to nothing," said Fleet. "This game should have a
poem."
"Not if we know ourselves!" cried Pod. "Let well enough alone. Don't
bring down a hoodoo by turning loose any bad verse."
"Speaking of women," said Pod. "Did----"
"Who said anything about women?" Fleet demanded.
"Well, speaking of them, anyway, I know a school teacher who is so
industrious that she is knitting all the time while she is teaching."
"Get out!" cried Fleet. "How can a school teacher knit and teach at the
same time?"
"This teacher is knitting her eyebrows," said Pod, and dodged out of the
way as Fleet made a dash for him. The Kattskill Bay boys laughed
heartily at Pod's joke, which caused Fleet to remark:
"If you heard as many of them as we do, they wouldn't be funny."
"And if you heard as many bad verses as we do," said Pod, "you'd hate to
travel in the company we travel in."
Fleet glared at him but said nothing, and a moment later, when Jones
went out on a grounder to Corker, all interest became centered on the
game.
Day flied out to Burton and Lorrens went out on a grounder, Strange to
Windle.
Believing the seventh might be their lucky inning, the Cleverdale boys
tried their utmost to score. The cry with them grew to be not, "Can we
win?" but "Can we save ourselves from a shut-out?" Captain Biddle
thought they could. Chot Duncan had resolved they shouldn't.
Strange was up for Cleverdale, and he knocked a single into right. No
man had yet tried to steal a base on Tom, so Strange resolved to be the
one to humiliate Bert Creighton's catcher. He was a swift runner, and
felt that with a good lead he could make it. With the first ball Chot
threw, he was off for second. Burton, knowing that Strange was going to
attempt a steal, struck wildly at the ball to bother Tom.
But Tom was always at his best in situations of this kind, and with
apparently no effort he shot the ball down to Bert, who put it on
Strange when he was ten feet from the bag, Tom having anticipated the
runner and thrown that far to the right, where Bert stood just a foot or
so back of the base line.
A cheer went up from the Creighton rooters. This was the sort of playing
they liked best to see.
Burton knocked a little fly back of second which Pod caught easily.
Windle hit the ball hard, but it was a liner straight to Bert, and the
second baseman smothered it in his glove, retiring the side.
The seventh was over and still Cleverdale had not made a score.
"Why don't you give them just one?" cried someone, as Bert and his
players came in for their turn at bat.
"Give 'em one and they'll want a dozen," replied Bert, smiling. "A coat
of whitewash will look good on Cleverdale."
The Creightons then proceeded to add another run to their already large
list. Smeed secured a base on balls. Pod struck out, but Bert advanced
his center fielder to second with a sacrifice, and Smeed came home a
moment later on Fleet's long hit between first and second. Tom flied out
to King, and the side was out.
Johnson struck out as usual, Chot giving him no opportunity to hit the
ball. He seemed afraid to stand up to the plate, and a batter who is
timid is easy prey for the opposing pitcher.
King pounded out a two-bagger, Smeed getting the ball in center in time
to hold him on the second bag.
Cotton bunted safely, King taking third, and Gregg advanced to the
plate. Gregg was the Cleverdale slugger. He did not always hit the ball,
but when he did it usually went somewhere. He stood in his favorite
position to wait for a suitable ball, knowing that one of his long hits
now would score both King and Cotton.
A moment later he was walking slowly down to first. Chot had
deliberately given him his base on balls.
"I don't like that," he said, glaring at Chot.
"Sorry," responded the latter and made ready to throw to Captain Biddle,
who, with the bases full and no one out, was confident that he could
save his side from a whitewash, at least.
He struck viciously at the first ball thrown, but missed. He tried
again, but Chot was using all the speed he had, resolved that the
Cleverdale team should be whitewashed until the end. Two strikes were
called on Biddle. Then came one just where he wanted it--or, so it
seemed to him. He struck with all his might, and succeeded in tipping
the ball. Not enough to deflect it from its course however, and it
landed in Tom's mitt and Biddle was out.
Corker knocked a long fly into left, but Lorrens had no difficulty in
getting under it, and the first of the eighth was over.
Winton went out in one, two, three order, in the last half of the
inning, and the ninth opened with Strange at the bat. Cleverdale was
resolved to have another try at scoring.
Strange succeeded in bunting safely, Tom getting the ball, but fumbling
it until it was too late to throw to Fleet.
Burton waited and got his base on balls. Chot had sent over a couple of
teasers and the umpire had ruled them balls, and Chot realized when too
late that he had made a mistake.
Two men on bases and no one out.
Windle was up, a look of determination on his face.
Then Chot commenced to burn them over. Such dazzling speed had never
been seen in the Creighton pasture before. Mr. Creighton nearly forgot
that he was umpiring in his amazement at the way Chot sent the balls
whizzing over the plate.
A strike was called, then Windle struck at two more; but he might as
well have tried to hit a bullet from a gun. He was called out on
strikes.
Johnson surprised everyone by hitting the ball, but it went straight
into Pod's hands, forcing Strange at third.
Everyone was on tip-toe with excitement as King drove the sphere into
deep right for what seemed to be an extra-base hit. Burton, who was on
second, raced for home with all his speed. Then Jones, who had been
running back to get under the ball, saw that it was going over his head,
and with a supreme effort shot into the air and caught the sphere with
one hand. It was a sensational catch and received a round of cheers.
The game was over and the score stood: Creightons 12, Cleverdale 0.
The little animosities of the game were soon forgotten when it was
learned that Mrs. Creighton had prepared a fine supper on the lawn back
of the farm-house, and the boys hurriedly gathered up their
paraphernalia and went in that direction, while the crowd began to
disperse.
The supper was an enjoyable one in every sense of the word, and songs
and jokes were heard on all sides. Pod was allowed to turn loose a few
of his latest, and he kept the table in a roar for the better part of
the time.
Finally the Cleverdale boys took their leave, after shaking hands warmly
with the boys from Winton, and inviting them to the Lake George country
again the following summer.
"When," said Captain Biddle, smiling, "we'll try and make things more
interesting for you."