“Of course you can pitch,” said Darrell quietly. It was unquestioningly Sam’s right and though he was in rather an exhausted condition still the manager and captain knew that he was at his best early in his game.
“What are you going to do; change pitchers?” demanded the manager of the Academy team, striding up to Darrell and Captain Rankin.
“Yes.”
“You can’t do it now.”
“Why not?”
“It’s against the rules. You’ve got to have some one bat for him first. You can’t change until next inning.”
There was quite a mix-up, and rules were quoted and mis-quoted back and forth, for, as I have said, the lads were far from being professional or even college players. The upshot of it was that Sam was allowed to go in, whether or not in accordance with the rules the boys did not decide, and the little feeling that had been raised soon subsided, for they were all true sportsmen.
As for Joe, at first he felt humiliated that he was displaced but he realized that he had had more honor that he had at first expected, and his arm was beginning to pain him very much. So, on the whole, he was glad Sam had arrived when he did.
Not so the captain, manager and other Star players, however, for Sam allowed two runs while he occupied the box, and the Academy team and their friends were jubilant.
The Stars managed to get two runs in their half of the seventh. Joe did not play, his place at centre field continuing to be filled by Tom. Joe was glad of the rest and he watched the efforts of his rival closely.