ANOTHER DEFEAT
For a moment there was some embarrassment, as Sam was not in the habit
of mingling with this crowd of boys. He had his own friends, not very
many, to tell the truth, but he was usually with them. The lads did not
know exactly how to take his request, but Joe came to the rescue.
"Sure you can come in," he said heartily. "We're just seeing who can put
the most balls in the basket."
"What good do you think that does?" asked Sam.
"Well, doesn't it help a fellow to get a straight aim?" asked Tom, half
defiantly.
"Oh, I don't know," was the rather sneering answer. "It might, if you
kept at it long enough."
"Let's see you try it," suggested Rodney Burke, who did not hold Sam in
much awe.
Carelessly the Silver Star pitcher accepted a ball that Joe obligingly
held out. He threw quickly and the ball landed squarely in the basket.
Then he did the trick again, and there was a little murmur of applause,
for only a few of the boys had "two straight" to their credit.
"Joe did three straight a while ago," said Tom proudly. "He and I are
playing off a tie."
Sam did not answer but threw again, and the ball went wide of the basket
by two feet at least. Rodney laughed.
"You're not such a much, even if you are the pitcher," he declared.
"Who asked you anything about it?" demanded Sam savagely.
He darted a look of anger at the lad, but as Rodney was well built and
had a reputation for "scrappiness" Sam concluded not to tackle him just
then.
"I'll show you how to throw!" he exclaimed the next moment, and two
balls went squarely in the basket. "Now, let's see you and Matson play
it off," commanded Sam to Tom as though he was in the habit of having
his wishes complied with.
Whether it was nervousness or not, or whether he wanted to see his chum
do well when Sam was present, was not made manifest, but Tom did not
come up to his previous record, and Joe easily won. In fact Joe made a
much better score than Sam, and there were several curious glances
directed at the pitcher.
"Don't you want to try it some more?" asked Rodney Burke, and there was
mockery in his voice.
"No!" half-growled Sam. "I've got to save my arm for the next game.
We're going to win that sure. So long," and with that he turned and
strode away.
"As cheerful as a bear with a sore nose," remarked Rodney.
Ordinarily but little importance would have been attached to the coming
game with the Denville Whizzers, but on account of two previous defeats,
Darrell Blackney and George Rankin had several conferences concerning
it. The captain and manager were plainly worried.
"Do you wish you had some one else to put in the box?" asked Rankin.
"Well, not exactly," was the answer. "I haven't lost faith in Sam, but I
do wish we could depend more on him. He'll pitch fine for several
innings and then go to pieces. He tries to use too much speed and too
many varieties of curves, I think."
"By the way, what do you think of young Matson?" asked the captain.
"I think a good deal of him. He doesn't amount to much as yet, but he's
in earnest and he's got grit. In time I think he'll make a player."
"He wants to pitch."
"I know he does, but it's out of the question yet. Have you any line on
him?"
"Not yet," answered Rankin, "but I'll keep my eyes open. He's a good
fielder all right, now that he isn't so nervous. He wants to play his
head off. But Sam--well, we can't do any better right away, and--well, I
guess we'll win this game."
"We've got to!" insisted the manager earnestly, "if we want the people
of Riverside to support us. They won't come to see a losing home team
all the while."
The game with the Whizzers was to take place on their grounds, and early
on that morning the Silver Stars, some substitutes, and a crowd of
"rooters" got ready for the trip. Denville was about seven miles from
Riverside, back from the stream, and could be reached by trolley. A
special car had been engaged for the team.
The game started off well, and the Silver Stars got three runs in their
half of the first inning. The home team was blanked and for a time it
looked as if there would be an easy victory for the visitors.
Sam was pitching in good form, and had struck several men out. For three
innings the home team did not get a run, and there was only one to their
credit in the fourth. There was gloom and despair among their supporters
while the "rooters" of the visiting team were happy singing songs and
yelling.
Joe played well and had two outs to his credit on long flies, with no
errors to mar his record. But he noticed that as the home team came to
the bat in their half of the fifth, in which the Silver Stars had made
two runs, that Darrell and the captain were in earnest consultation with
Sam. They seemed to be remonstrating with him, and Joe heard the manager
say:
"Take it easy now; we have the game on ice."
"Oh, I know how to play ball," retorted the pitcher.
Then began a series of happenings. With a lead of four runs when the
last half of the fifth started it would have seemed that the Stars might
have won out. But Sam fell a prey to the applause of the crowd and began
to do "grandstand" work. He contorted his body unnecessarily in winding
up for a delivery. He hopped about before pitching the ball and he
failed to study the batters, though he had had plenty of chance to do
so.
The result was that he went to pieces through sheer weariness and began
giving balls. Then the home team, realizing what was happening, began to
pound him, and to steal bases. In their half of the fifth the home team
made six runs, putting them two ahead.
"We've got to stop that!" said Darrell, with a shake of his head.
"We sure have," agreed the captain.
There was somewhat of a brace on the part of the Stars and they made one
run in their part of the sixth. But the Whizzers kept pace with them.
The seventh inning resulted in one run for the visitors and none for the
home team and that made only a lead of one for the home nine.
Joe brought in a run in the eighth, but as if it had been prearranged
the home team duplicated so the score at the beginning of the ninth
stood eight to nine in favor of the home team.
"We need two runs to win, if we can serve them goose eggs for lunch,"
said the Silver Star captain grimly. "Go to it, boys; beat 'em out."
"Sure we will," said Sam airily, and he brought in one of the needed
two runs. Darrell contributed the other, and when the visiting team took
the field they were one ahead.
"Don't let a man get to first!" cried Captain Rankin.
But it was not to be. Sam gave the first man his base on balls and there
was a groan of anguish from his fellows and the Riverside crowd. Then
the second man whacked out what appeared to be a pretty three bagger,
scoring the runner from first. The batter slipped on his way from second
to third, however, and was put out when Joe made a magnificent throw in
from deep centre.
With one out Sam gathered himself together and struck out the next man.
Then came to the bat the mightiest walloper of the rival team.
"Wait for a good one. Make him give you what you want," advised the
coacher to the batter.
And the latter did wait, for when he got what he wanted he "slammed it"
away out in centre field.
"A home run! A home run!" yelled the frantic crowd.
"And win the game!" shouted a score of the players' friends. "Come on,
baby-mine!"
Joe was madly racing after the ball, which had gone away beyond him. He
got it and hurled it to second for a relay home, as a quick glance had
shown him the man rounding third.
Straight and true the ball went and the baseman had it. Then he sent it
to Catcher Ferguson as the runner was racing in. Sam had run from his
box and stood watching and expectant near home plate.
The runner dropped and slid and Bart Ferguson, as the ball landed in his
mitt, reached over to touch him.
"Safe!" howled the umpire, and it meant the defeat of the Silver Stars.
For a moment there was silence and then Sam, stepping up to the umpire,
a lad smaller than himself, said:
"Safe, eh? Not in a thousand years! You don't know how to umpire a game.
Safe! I guess not!" and drawing back his fist Sam sent it crashing into
the face of the other lad.