That was the final undoing of Pitcher Calvert. Already the Petersburg second-choice twirler was warming up behind the first base stand. Calvert gazed anxiously around the filled bases, heard the frenzied shrieks of the coachers and the wild, disconcerting babel from the audience and faced the situation a bit wiltedly. The catcher soothed and reassured him from in front of the plate and Calvert tried his best to come back. But Jack laid his bat against the very first ball that came his way and off screeched a line drive into left field, scoring Tom and Gordon Smith and placing Sid on third. Jack took second on the throw-in.
Petersburg seemed inclined to stop the game then and there and have a consultation about it, but Umpire Reardon would allow no post-mortems. Calvert, the center of a group of dismayed players, yielded the ball and took that long walk from the box to the bench, cheered perfunctorily by friend and foe, and Gorman took up his task. Gorman was younger, smaller, and slighter, and that he didn’t at once stop the havoc being worked against Petersburg’s defences was not to be wondered at. Hale was now at bat and the hoarse cries of the Amesville fellows, mingled with the shrill shrieks of the coachers, whirled and eddied about his head, imploring him to clear the bases. In the meanwhile Petersburg’s coaches were rushing about, giving instructions to the fielders. Gorman had speed and lots of it, and Petersburg cheered loudly when his first offering cut the middle of the plate and went for a strike. But Hale was not to be denied and a moment later he connected with one of Gorman’s benders and lifted a high fly to deep left. The fielder made a nice running catch of it, but could not prevent Morris from scoring and putting the game at 5 to 4!
Amesville was now wild with excitement and hats and pennants were waving madly. With but one out and a run to the good the game seemed won, for Jack Strobe was dancing around at third ready to come across on any excuse. It was Peddie’s turn at bat, and Peddie, with one hit already to his credit, would surely be good for another. He was. The youngster let two wide ones go by him and then swung. Crack went bat and ball and the latter sped out into left field, free of the outstretched hands of the fielders, and Jack romped home!
Six to four now, and still there was only one down! Amesville sang and shouted and tramped and waved flags and acted like so many happy lunatics. Down at second Peddie sat on the bag and recovered his breath while Gorman and Beale met for a conclave between plate and mound and Joe, gripping his bat, strode resolutely to the plate. One hit had been the portion of “Lucky” Faulkner that day, and one hit seemed very little to him. And so, when the game went on, he watched and waited craftily until Gorman had tried him on two wide ones and scored a strike. Then Joe found what he wanted and smashed a drive toward third baseman and streaked to first. In the ordinary course of events that should have been the safest sort of a hit and should have put Peddie across the rubber and left Joe on first. But, as it happened, the Petersburg shortstop, who had all the afternoon performed remarkably, sprinted across at full speed and when the ball eluded the frantic glove of the third baseman, got it on the run and, without pausing, slammed it to the plate! It was a close decision, but the umpire waved Peddie out. That virtually ended the lucky seventh, for, although Joe went down to second and slid into the bag an instant ahead of the ball, Arthur Cummings proved an easy victim to Gorman’s skill.
So, with the score 6 to 4, Petersburg went desperately to bat in the eighth while the shadows lengthened across the diamond and the crowd on the stand began to dribble down to the field. Joe made the first out in that inning, taking a sizzling drive from Catcher Beale’s bat. After that Smith threw out the centre fielder and Pitcher Gorman got a life on Smith’s fumble of his grounder and took second when Tom walked the head of the list. But it was all over a minute later when a fine throw from Sam Craig caught the pitcher flat-footed off second.
Sam led off for Amesville in the last of the eighth with a scratch hit that proved too slow for second baseman to field in time. Tom Pollock tried hard to get a hit, but finally fanned, and Smith was instructed to lay down a bunt and advance Sam Craig. It was at this moment that Joe saw Jack leave his place on the bench and speak to Coach Talbot. What was said between them Joe couldn’t hear, nor did he try to, but after a minute of indecision Mr. Talbot nodded his head and Jack returned, looking, as Joe put it afterwards, like the cat who ate the canary.
“You and Bat got it all settled?” asked Joe laughingly as his friend seated himself again.
Jack rewarded Joe with a somewhat sheepish glance as he nodded. After a moment he said in a low voice: “It was about Frank.”
“What about him?” asked Joe, his gaze travelling to the end of the bench.
“You’ll see,” replied Jack evasively, and that was all that he would say.