miss?” Rudy
goaded the batter.
“I’ll show you,” Jimmy shot back. “I’ll send this one out of the park!”
Sparrow went through his windup and delivered. It was a perfect low-and-outside pitch.
Sure enough, Jimmy cut at it as hard as he could. He missed by a mile.
“Strike!” yelled the umpire.
“Two more just like that, Sparrow, two more like that!” Rudy yelled. And in a voice just loud enough for the batter to hear,
he added, “Two more just like that, Jimmy!”
Jimmy growled, but two pitches later, he was stalking back to the Bearcats’ bench. He glared at Rudy over his shoulder.
“Just you wait until you’re at bat — you and all your Mudder teammates,” he hissed.
Rudy just smiled.
Drew Zellar was up next. He hit the first pitch to right center field. Alfie Maples tried to make the catch but fumbled the
ball. Drew stood up at second.
Buck Austin walked. Players at first and second. Stretch came to the plate. He walloped Sparrow’s third pitch head-high down
the first base line. It looked like a sure single. The runners took off.
But at the last moment, Turtleneck Jones stuck out his glove and caught the ball! Buck Austin tried to get back to first,
but he was too late. Turtleneck landed smack on the base, and Buck was out.
The Mudders’ fans cheered as the team jogged in from the field.
The score was still Bearcats 1, Mudders 0.
8
“Okay, okay, let’s see some good hitting out there!” Coach Parker yelled. It was the bottom of the third inning, and Rudy
knew that the coach wanted them to get on the scoreboard.
Rudy took off his equipment and laid everything but the mask in a pile. The mask he held on to tightly.
Turtleneck was up first. He took three swings, all foul balls. The fourth pitch was wild. So were the next three. Turtleneck
had a free ride to first.
Next up was José. Sometimes José hit well; other times he struck out.
Today was one of the strikeout days. José returned to the bench and tossed his helmet aside angrily.
“That’s okay, José,” Rudy said consolingly. “Everybody makes outs.”
“I’m not mad about that,” José replied. “I’m mad because of what that Jimmy Sullivan said while I was up. He called the Mudders
losers and said we’d have better luck playing against five-year-olds in T-ball. That guy really gets me steamed!”
Rudy nodded. He wasn’t surprised that Jimmy was bad-mouthing the batters. But he didn’t tell José that he, Rudy, had started
it. Instead, he decided he’d cool it the next time he was behind the plate. After all, he didn’t want to do anything that
might hurt his team.
If Jimmy Sullivan said anything nasty to T.V. Adams, T.V. apparently didn’t let it bother him. He swung at the first pitch
andmade it on base. Turtleneck advanced safely to second. Suddenly it looked like the Mudders had a chance to score a run.
Then Nicky hit a shallow pop fly. The Bearcats’ second baseman took one step back and caught it. Two outs.
Alfie Maples was up next.
“C’mon, Alfie, you can do it!” Rudy yelled. But he didn’t really believe that. Alfie usually got out.
This time was no exception. Although Alfie connected with the ball, it dribbled down the first base line. Bearcats pitcher
Stretch Ferguson fielded it easily and sent it to the first baseman for the out.
“Rats,” Rudy said. He worked his way into his gear and walked to the plate.
Three batters later, he was walking back to the bench. Sparrow had found his stride and was pitching like a big leaguer.
Unfortunately so was Stretch Ferguson. Bus, Rudy, and Sparrow all struck out.
“You losers didn’t even last long enough for me to open my mouth,” Jimmy Sullivan crowed as he passed Rudy. “I got to sit
back and watch you dig yourselves into a deeper hole!”
Rudy seethed but held his tongue. Then the Bearcats went down one, two, three, with Jimmy making the third out. Rudy couldn’t
stop himself.
“Funny, I don’t