CHAPTER VII
THE GREAT BASEBALL GAME
"Some crowd, this!"
"Well, I should say so! Say, this is the biggest crowd we ever had atany game."
"And look at the new grandstand, all decked out in flags and banners!"
"And look at the automobiles! We'll have to hurry up, or all theparking space will be gone."
"Hurrah, Brill! Come down here to see us defeat you, eh?" And a merrylooking student, wearing the colors of Roxley on his cap, and waving aRoxley banner in his hand, grinned broadly at Tom and the others.
"No, we came to bury you," retorted Sam. "It's all over but theshouting." And then he took up one of the horns he had brought, andsounded it loudly.
"Better let me take the car to the other end of the grounds,"suggested Songbird. "You fellows will want to get into your uniformsand into practice."
"Oh, we want to get good seats for the girls first," broke in Tom. "Itwon't take long to park the machine."
In a moment more, they found themselves in a perfect jam of touringcars, motor cycles, and carriages. Finding a suitable spot, Tombrought the touring car to a standstill, turned off the power, andplaced the starting plug in his pocket. Then the entire party made itsway as rapidly as possible to the grandstand, one-half of which hadbeen reserved for the students of Brill and their friends. HereSongbird took charge of matters.
"Just leave it all to me," he said. "You fellows go in and win."
"Yes, you must win, by all means, Tom!" cried Nellie. "Just rememberthat I've got my eye on you."
"Yes, we all want you to win," came from Minnie Sanderson. "I am goingto root--isn't that the right word?--for all I know how."
"That's the word!" cried Sam. "I declare, before you get through,you'll be a regular baseball fan!" And at this sally there was ageneral laugh.
Tom and Sam would have liked it had they been able to stay with thegirls longer, but the other members of the team were already in thedressing room, donning their uniforms, and thither the Rovers madetheir way. A short while later, the word was passed around, and theBrill team marched out on the grounds for practice; even Sam, as asubstitute, taking part. Evidently, the outsiders living in thatvicinity were of the opinion that the game would be well worth seeing,for long after the grandstand and the bleachers were filled, the crowdkept coming in the several gates.
"My, but this is going to be the banner game so far as attendancegoes," remarked Sam to Bob.
"Yes, and it will bring us in a neat bit of money," returned the Brillcaptain.
"How are they going to divide this year?"
"One-third and two-thirds," returned Bob; meaning thereby that thewinning team would take two-thirds of the receipts, and the losingteam the remaining third. This money, of course, did not go to theindividual players, but was put into the general athletic fund of eachcollege.
Roxley won the toss, and as a consequence, Brill went to bat first. Asthe first man took his position, there were cries of all sorts,mingled with the tooting of many horns and the sounds of numerousrattles.
"Now then, Brill, show 'em what you can do!"
"Knock a home run first thing!"
"Don't let 'em see first, Roxley! Kill 'em at the plate!"
The Roxley pitcher took his position, wound up; and the ball came inquickly.
"Ball one."
"That's right! Make him give you a good one."
Again the ball came in, and this time, as it was a fairly good one,the batter swung for it, and missed.
"Strike one."
"That's the talk, give him another like that, Carson!"
Again the ball came whizzing over the plate. The batsman struck itfairly, and it sailed down toward second base. The runner was off likea shot, but it availed him nothing. The second baseman caught the flywith ease.
"Hurray! One down! Now for the other two!"
The second man at the bat went out in one-two-three order. Then thethird player up knocked a short fly to first.
"Three out. That's the way to do it, Roxley!"
"Now, for a few runs!"
It must be confessed that Tom was a trifle nervous when he took theball and walked down to the box. The eyes of over twelve hundredspectators were on him, and those included the eyes of the girl hethought the dearest in all the world. He gave a short sigh, and thensuddenly braced up. "I've got to do it," he muttered to himself. "I'vesimply got to!"
As was to be expected, Roxley had its best batters on the top of thelist. The first fellow to face Tom was a hitter well-known for hisprowess. As Tom had heard that this man loved a low ball, he purposelysent in the sphere rather high.
"One ball."
"That's right, Clink! Make him give you what you want."
The next ball was intended for an out-curve, but, somehow, Tom missedit, and it came in fairly over the plate. Crack! The bat connectedwith it, and away the sphere sailed to center field.
"Run, run!" The cry echoed from all sides, and, almost in a twinkling,Clink was down to first, and racing for second. Then, feeling that hehad time to go further, he bounded onward, and slid safely to third.
"That's the way to do it! Look, a three-bagger!"
"Hurray! We've got them on the run; keep it up, boys!" And then theair was rent with the noise of horns and rattles.
"Steady, Tom, steady," whispered Bob, as he walked toward the pitcher."Don't let them rattle you; take your time."
"They are not going to rattle me," returned Tom, and set his teethhard. He faced the new batsman, and then, of a sudden, twirled aroundand sent the ball whizzing to third.
"Look out! look out!" yelled the coach at third, and Clink dropped andgrabbed the sack just in the nick of time. Then Tom went for thebatter. One strike was called, and then two balls, and then anotherstrike, and a ball.
"Don't walk him, Tom, whatever you do," said Spud, as he came down toconsult with the pitcher.
"All right. What do you think I ought to give him?"
"Try him on an in-shoot."
Once again, Tom sent the ball over to third, almost catching Clinknapping as before. Then, the instant he had the sphere once more inhis possession, he sent it swiftly in over the plate.
"Three strikes! Batter out!"
"Good for you, Rover! That's the way to do it!"
"Now kill the other two, Tom!"
But to "kill the other two" was not so easy. The next man went out ona pop fly to third, which held Clink where he was. Following that camea safe hit which took the batter to first and allowed Clink to slidein with the first run. For the moment pandemonium seemed to breakloose. The Roxley cohorts cheered wildly and sounded their horns andrattles. Brill, of course, had nothing to say.
"Oh, Songbird, they got in a run!" remarked Nellie, much dismayed.
"Well, the game is young yet," returned the Brill student.Nevertheless, he felt much crestfallen to think that Roxley had scoredfirst.
With one run in, and a man on first, Roxley went to the bat with moreconfidence than ever. But it availed nothing, for Tom finished theinning with the Roxley runner getting no further than second.
"Now, boys, we've got to do something," said the Brill captain, whenthe nine came in. "Two runs at least, and three if we can possibly getthem."
"What's the matter with half a dozen, while we are at it?" laughed thesecond baseman.
"All right. As many as you please," returned Bob.
But it was not to be. With all her efforts, Brill managed, during thisinning, to get no further than third. Tom came in for a try at thebat, but the best he could do was to send up a little pop fly that therival pitcher gathered in with ease. Then Roxley came in once more,and added another run to her credit.
"Hurrah for Roxley! That makes it two to nothing!"
There were looks of grim determination on the faces of the Brillplayers when they went to the plate for the third time. The first manup was struck out, but the second sent a clean drive to left fieldthat was good for two bases. Then came a sacrifice hit
by Spud, thatadvanced the runner to third, and on another one-base hit, this runcame in amid a wild cheering by the Brill followers.
"Hurrah! One run in! Now, boys, you've broken the ice, keep it up!"And then the horns and rattles of the Brillites sounded as loudly ashad those of the Roxley followers a short while before.
But, alas! for the hopes of our friends! The only other run made thatinning was a third by Roxley!
During the fourth inning, Roxley added another run to her score. Brilldid nothing, so that the score now stood 4 to 1 in favor of Roxley.The fifth inning was a stand-off, neither side scoring. Then came thesixth, in which Frank Holden, the first baseman, distinguished himselfby rapping out a three-bagger, coming in a few seconds later on a hitby the man following him.
"Up-hill work, and no mistake!" said the Brill captain, when the teamhad come in for the seventh inning.
"See here, Bob, if you think you would rather try some of the otherpitchers----" began Tom.
"Nothing of the sort, old man. You are doing very well. I don'tconsider four runs against two any great lead. And you haven't walkedas many men as their pitcher."
The seventh inning brought no change in the score. But in the eighth,Roxley added another run, bringing her total up to five.
"Looks kind of bad," said Sam, to another substitute on the bench."Five to two, and the ninth inning. We've got to play some if we wantto beat them."
"Sam, I want you!" cried Bob, coming up. "Felder has twisted his foot,and you will have to take his place in left field."
"Am I to bat in his place?" questioned the youngest Rover.
"Yes."
"All right. I'll do the best I can."
There was silence around the grounds when the Brill team came to thebat. With the score 5 to 2 in favor of Roxley, it looked ratherdubious for the visitors. Some of the onlookers, thinking the gamepractically over, started towards the gates, and the carriages andautomobiles. The first man up was the captain, and he walked to theplate with a "do or die" look on his face.
"Now, Bob, lam it out for all you are worth!" shouted one of hisadmirers.
The first ball sent in was too low, and Bob let it pass him; but thesecond was just where he wanted it. The bat swung around likelightning, and, following a loud crack, the sphere sailed off towardsleft field.
"Run, Bob, run!" yelled a great number of his friends, and the captainlet go all the speed that was in him. When the ball finally reachedthe diamond, it found Bob safe on third.
"That's the way to open up! Now, then, bring him in!"
This was not so easy. The batter up tried a sacrifice hit, but theball rolled down well towards the pitcher, who landed it at first in atwinkling. Bob attempted to get home, but then thought better of it,and slid back to third. The next batter up was Sam. He had with himhis favorite ash stick, and, as he stepped behind the plate, hegritted his teeth and eyed the pitcher closely.
Carson had been practicing on what he called a fadeaway ball, and nowhe thought this would be just the right thing to offer Sam. He woundup with a great flourish, and sent the sphere in.
Sam was on his guard, and calculated just right. His bat came aroundin a clean sweep, and on the instant the ball was flying down towardsdeep center.
"My! look at that!"
"Run, Rover, run!"
No sooner had the ball connected with the bat, than Bob, at third, wason his way home. He reached the plate before Sam touched first. ThenSam, skirting the initial bag, tore straight for second, and then forthird. In the meantime, the fielder was still running after the ball.As Sam started for home, the fielder managed to capture the sphere,and threw it with all his skill to the second baseman.
"Run, Sam, run!" yelled Tom, fairly dancing up and down in hisanxiety. "Leg it, old man, leg it!"
And certainly Sam did "leg it" as he never had before. Straight forthe home plate he came, and slid in amid a cloud of dust, just beforethe ball came up from the field.
"Hurrah! hurrah! a home run!"
"Now, boys, we've started the ball rolling," cried out Bob. "Remember,only one more run ties the score."