“Do, eh? Well, you stand up here and see what happens to you, my friend.” He stepped forward and launched the ball down to Grady on second. “We’ll make you wish you hadn’t been so smart before we’re through with you.”
Mr. Shay pulled his mask on and took up his position behind Dolph.
“Play ball!” he cried.
[CHAPTER IV]
BOARDERS VS. TOWNERS
Hal Morris, as a pitcher, was not in the same class with Sam Phillips, nor was he nearly so good as Mort Prince. He had speed and two or three simple curve balls that weren’t very puzzling, especially as almost every one of the Towners had stood up to him in front of the batting net and were well used to his pitching. It was a foregone conclusion that the Towners would hit Morris good and hard. If the Boarders were to win the game it must be through tight fielding and an equal dexterity with the bat. Dolph, pretty sore over the trick that had been sprung on him, determined grimly that his team should win in spite of the handicap. And for a time it really looked as though the Boarders might come through victorious, for Morris, working finely with Dolph, struck out Tyler Wicks, amidst the cheers and jeers of the Boarders; disposed of Ducky Drake in the same manner, and threw Coolidge out at first.
“That’s good work, Hal,” said Dolph as they retired to the bench. “Keep that up and we’ll put it all over them.”
Truesdale worked Prince for a pass and got to second on Dolph’s neat sacrifice hit to third. But Grady was an easy out, shortstop to first, and Ted Warner popped an infield fly to second baseman. Again in the second inning Morris held the enemy safely, and the opinion became current that Morris was a better man on the mound than he had been given credit for being, and that Shay was making a mistake in not using him more. With one out and men on first and second, Morris himself started the double play that retired the Towners.
But if Prince’s team was unable to score, so too was Dolph’s. Up to the beginning of the fourth inning the only hit that had been made was of a scratch variety by Smythe, and neither side had reached third base. So far the spectators had remained in what, for a Towner-Boarder game, was a very orderly condition. But when Gus Turnbull found Morris for a two-bagger right at the start of the fourth the Towners’ enthusiasm began to bubble. And it boiled over when Joe Williams followed with a bunt that advanced Turnbull and left him safe on first. Morris began to look worried and Dolph strove to steady him down. But Morris had never faced real trouble before, and with the coachers trying their best to rattle him and the Towners along the third base line ably seconding their efforts, he began to lose control. He pitched four balls to Peters and the bases were filled. Boarders and Towners shouted at the tops of their lungs, the latter trying to get the rival nine “up in the air” and the former doing their best to drown out their enemies. Milton Wales was up and Dolph knew that Milton was a weak batter. He signaled for a straight ball “in the groove,” but Morris pitched a wild one that Dolph just barely stopped. At this sign of disintegration the Towners, highly delighted, redoubled their clamor.