Page:Stanwood Pier--Crashaw brothers.djvu/194

174 the ball just a few feet in front of the plate and was thrown out; but it was a good sacrifice; Warren ran down to second. Another sacrifice by Slade advanced him to third; then,  with two out, Keating came to the bat.

He had struck out the time before; he did not mean to do that now. The first ball came straight at him; he stood heroically still, he  did not seek to dodge it; and then it took a  sudden curve and cut over the inside corner  of the plate.

“Strike!” called the umpire; and Keating pounded the plate with his bat.

The next ball went wide; Keating swung at the third and missed. Then came a high ball, too high, Keating thought, and let it go.—“Strike three!” called the umpire, and Keating could not refrain from giving him a reproachful glance, and St. Timothy’s could not  refrain from uttering a sympathetic murmur. And the score was still two to nothing in favor of St. John’s.

So it was after the fifth inning, so it was after the sixth, so it was after St. John’s half