The Year Mom Won the Pennant Read Online Free

stepped into a sidearm pitch, swung hard, and missed completely. He walked
     back to the dugout, dragging the bat, not looking anywhere except at the ground.
    “Forget it, Wayne,” said Mom. “You’ll be up again.”
    Scotty waited out Monk’s pitches and got a free ticket to first. Pat came up, took twoballs and a strike, then laced a drive to deep center field. It sure looked as if it were heading for the Great Beyond. But
     the Knicks’ center fielder, running back as hard as he could, reached up his gloved hand and nabbed it.
    The Knicks came up and put across two more runs to give them a 6 to 3 lead. With two on and two out, the Knicks’ batter drove
     a hot liner directly at Nick. It was high. Nick leaped, stretching as far as he could.
Pop!
He had it!
    He ran in from short, sweat dripping off his face. A few inches higher and that ball would have gone over his head and two
     more runs would have been scored.
    He looked sorrowfully at Mom. Her first game, he thought, and they were going to lose it. She caught his eye and smiled.
    I don’t know, he thought. We’re losing thegame and she looks as happy as if we were winning it. If Dad were in her place,
he
wouldn’t be smiling. You could bet your life on that.

6
    J ohnny Linn led off in the bottom of the fourth inning with a colossal triple to left center field. It sure looked like a good
     start. But Bill Dakes, batting for Cyclone, grounded out to third and Jerry Wong bounced one back to the pitcher for the second
     out.
    “Oh, no!” Mom moaned. “Jim, bat for Nick! Wait for a good one! Tom, get ready to bat for Gale.”
    Nick tossed his bat onto the pile fanned out on the ground and returned to the dugout. He wasn’t happy about being replaced,but knew that Mom wanted every player on the team to play at least three innings. It was a league rule that every player had
     to play at least two innings. Mom preferred to be a little more generous whenever she could.
    Jim Rennie drew a walk. Then Tom Warren walked, filling the bases!
    The Thunderballs’ dugout buzzed like a beehive. “A grand slammer, Russ!” yelled Nick. “Clean the bases!”
    Russ wiggled the toes of his sneakers into the soft, dusty earth, tugged at his protective helmet, then got ready for Monk’s
     pitch. The ball came in slightly high. Russ swung, and missed.
    “Too high, Russ!” Cyclone shouted.
    The next was high, too. Again he swung and missed. The Thunderball fans groaned. Monk pitched another high one. This one Russ
     let go by. Ball one.
    Monk threw two more balls for a three-two count, then rifled the next one in knee-high. Russ swung hard and missed for strike
     three. Three away. Russ tossed his bat angrily toward the dugout and ran out to his position at first base. Nick knew exactly
     how he felt. He had struck out with the bases loaded a few times himself.
    “Scotty,” said Mom, as Scotty started out of the dugout, “wait. Mike, take right field.”
    “Yes, sir,” said Mike Todey. “I mean, yes, ma’am.”
    Nick grinned. Guess it was going to be a long while before most of the boys would be calling Mom “Coach.”
    The Knicks picked up a run in the top of the fifth with a double and then an error by Jim Rennie. He had made a neat catch
     on a fast bouncing ball, but pegged it too high to first base. The runner on second scored onthe overthrow. The run was the only one the Knicks got.
    The Thunderballs started off like a straw fire during their turn at bat. Wayne Snow belted a hot grounder that zipped over
     the third-base bag for a double. Mike Todey singled him in and Pat Krupa drew a pass.
    “Look at Pat,” said Scotty. “He wobbles like a duck. I can’t see how he can run as fast as he does.”
    “He pulls back all levers and goes when he has to,” Nick said, grinning.
    Johnny Linn, up next, also drew a walk, filling the bases. Again the Thunderballs’ fans grew excited and began to yell for
     a hit. Any kind of hit.
    Bill Dakes tapped the tip of his bat