The Reluctant Pitcher Read Online Free

Dick
     Lewis warming up with Chris. That meant that Dick would be pitching and Wally would be in the outfield.
    The Fireballs had first raps. Dick mowed them down — one, two, three. Lee, leading off for the Pacers, flied out. Then Sawbones
     went down swinging for Kim Shields’s first strikeout.
    Wally, batting third, watched Kim’s first two pitches carefully. He took a 1 and 1 count. Kim was a tall right-hander who
     looked older than he was. He had a sidearm delivery that frightened a lot of batters because the ball shot toward the plate.
     The batter often thought the ball was coming directly at him. He would step back and
zip!
A strike.
    Kim stretched and delivered. Wally watched the ball closely. It was heading for the outside corner of the plate. Wally swung.
     Ball met bat near the fat end and shot like a bullet down toward third. The third baseman was playing too far to his left
     and couldn’t field the ball. Wally crossed first base for a single.
    Rocky Newcome socked a long drive to center, but it was caught for the third out.
    The Fireballs took the lead in the second inning by scoring a run. In the third inningthey fattened their margin by putting across two more.
    Leading 3–0, the Fireballs began acting very confident. They strutted out to the field like bantam roosters in their white
     uniforms with red trim and red caps. So far Kim Shields had netted five strikeouts. The Pacers had only three hits, and two
     of them were singles off the bat of Wally Morris.
    J.J. Adams led off in the bottom of the fourth. He leaped out of the box on Kim’s first pitch to keep from getting hit, then
     fouled off three straight pitches. He took two balls for a count of 3 and 2, then leaned into a high pitch and sent it blasting
     out to deep left center.
    The fans jumped to their feet as the ball headed for the fence. It sure looked as if it were going over. Instead it struck
     the fence about a foot from the top and bounced back. The left fielder raced after it, picked it up,and pegged it to third. By that time J.J. was safely there, a neat triple to his credit.
    “Come on, boys. Let’s get ’em,” Cab Lacey kept saying. He was rubbing his face and his nose as he sat there in the dugout.
     Wally guessed what he was thinking. This was the second game Cab Lacey had coached in Luke Hutter’s absence. He had lost the
     first one; now he was losing the second. Luke Hutter might not like that at all.
    They couldn’t score any more that inning. In the top of the fifth, the Fireballs really got on to Pacers pitcher Dick Lewis.
     With two outs, they hit two singles in a row. The third was a line drive right between Dick’s legs. J.J. made a perfect peg
     from center to the pitcher’s mound, keeping a runner from scoring.
    Cab called time. He had Terry Towns warming up in the bull pen. He walked out to Dick, put his arm around his shoulders,and walked off the field with him. The way Dick lowered his head and smacked the ball into the pocket of his glove, you knew
     exactly how he felt. The Pacers’ fans cheered him.
    Terry went in and threw some warm-up pitches to Chris, then the game resumed.
    The pitch sizzled in.
Sock!
A blow to right field! It was high — higher than Wally had ever seen hit to right on this field before.
    Wally ran back, keeping his eye on the ball. Man, it was high.
    The ball looked blurry for a moment. It was coming down. It looked so small, like a white pill.
    Wally held out his glove.
Smack!
The ball struck the side of his glove — and bounded to the ground!
    A shrill cry rose from the Pacers’ fans. A cry of utter dismay!
    “Oh, Wally!” J.J. groaned from center field.
    Wally picked up the ball and pegged it as hard as he could to home. The first run scored. The second runner tried to score,
     too, but the throw was perfect and Chris tagged him out.
    “Tough luck, Wally,” said Cab Lacey as Wally ran in from the field. “That was a pretty high ball.”
    “Let’s get those runs back,”