The Catcher's Mask Read Free Page A

deepleft center field. José couldn’t get to it before it hit the ground, and Jimmy made it safely to second.
    That’s where he stayed for a while. A pop fly to short and a grounder to second made it two outs for the Bearcats.
    Then Bus fumbled a snake-sizzling grounder to short. The batter, Stretch Ferguson, made it to first, and Jimmy advanced to
     third.
    Rudy sized up the situation. “Okay, guys, the play is to second or first,” he shouted. “We only need one!”
    Horace Robb sent a scorching double to Barry McGee’s right side, scoring Jimmy and planting Stretch safely on third.
    Finally, Jack Walker grounded out to second. The Bearcats led, 1-0.
    Sadly, the Peach Street Mudders did nothing their turn at bat.
    Bearcat Boots Finkle came up to bat in thetop of the second. Sparrow tried hard, but Boots got on first safely. Then Luke Bonelle came up.
    Rudy squatted behind the plate. Suddenly he realized that Luke might try a sacrifice bunt to send Boots to second base.
    He shifted his position slightly and prepared himself to spring into action.
    Sparrow went through his windup and let the ball go. Sure enough, Luke squared himself around and bunted. The ball dribbled
     forward, and Luke took off for first like a scared rabbit.
    But Rudy was already in motion. He scrambled forward, plucked up the ball, and heaved it to Turtleneck. Turtleneck lunged
     to meet the throw just as Luke was nearing first. The ball socked into Turtleneck’s glove a split second before Luke hit the
     base.
    “Out!” the umpire cried. But hardly anyone heard him. From his position, Rudy had seen Boots Finkle stumble on his way to
     second. If Turtleneck threw quickly, they might be able to get Boots out, too.

    “Second! Second!” Rudy yelled at the top of his lungs.
    Turtleneck immediately hurled the ball to Nicky. Nicky stretched, snagged the throw, and swept his glove around in time to
     tag Boots.
    “Out!” came the second-base umpire’s call.
    The Mudders’ fans went wild. They were still cheering when Jim Jakes flied out to José to end the half inning.
    Coach Parker was all smiles as the Mudders ran in from the field.
    “Nice double play, guys,” he said, clapping his hands. “Good eyes, Rudy. That’s the kind of smarts catchers need to have.
     Keep up the good work.”
    Rudy grinned and slid his mask from his face. “Oh, I don’t think that will be a problem, Coach. Nope, not a problem at all.”

7

    The Mudders took their raps, but again their bats were silent. Going into the third inning, the score still read Bearcats
     1, Mudders 0.
    Rudy suited up and headed for the plate, carrying his mitt.
    “Okay, Bearcats, look out! We’re going to stop you cold!” he cried out.
    “Fat chance,” said Jimmy Sullivan, the Bearcats’ leadoff batter. “Your pitcher is getting tired.”
    It seemed that Jimmy was right. Sparrow threw three pitches, all bad.
    “Time!” Rudy called. He yanked off his helmet and trotted to the mound. “Take your time, take your time,” he advised Sparrow. “I’m giving you a nice big target here”
     — he held up his mitt — “and all you have to do is hit it.”

    “I’m doing my best,” Sparrow mumbled.
    “I know, but I’m going to help you do better.” He leaned close to Sparrow. “I’ve noticed that that clown Jimmy has trouble
     judging pitches that are low and outside. Think you can put one there?”
    Sparrow grinned. “I’ll try.”
    Rudy turned to go, but Sparrow called him back. “Hey, you know this is the first time you’ve ever come out to the mound without
     the coach?”
    Rudy realized that Sparrow was right. “Well, I have a feeling it won’t be the last time. That okay with you?”
    “I’ll tell you after I see if a low-and-outside pitch works!”
    Rudy jogged back to his position. Crouchinglow, he held his glove up nice and wide.
    “Hey, Jimmy, why don’t you take a swing at the next one? C’mon, what’ve you got to lose? Or are you afraid you’ll