“Wow! Wow! Wow!” cried Sid’s and Holly’s mates. “That wins the game!” and they hugged Sid and his chum. “Two Runs!”
“The game is not won yet,” said the coach, more soberly. “We need more runs.”
But they couldn’t get them. There was a sudden improvement on the part of Langridge, who had begun to weaken, and he struck out the next two men, the third getting out on a bingle. But the score was five to four in favor of Randall, and if Tom could hold them down, and strike out three men, the game was theirs. Could he do it?
There was a great strain on everyone as the Randall team went out to the field. From the grand stand came softly the “Conquer or Die” song, and Tom felt a sense of moisture in his eyes.
“I’ll strike ’em out!” he muttered.
How he did it is college history to this day. Calmly he faced the first man, and delivered a ball.
“Strike!” howled the umpire, and this time it was Boxer Hall that sent up a groan of protest. But it was silenced, and in two more balls delivered over the plate with faultless precision, but with puzzling curves, Tom had one down.
“Only two more,” called Phil to him encouragingly.
Tom nodded. How he did pitch! The balls sounded like guns when they hit Dutch Housenlager’s big mitt, but he held them.