Free Long Stretch At First Base by Matt Christopher Page B

to do something.
    Al was a funny batter. He kept wiggling his body like a worm and moving his bat back and forth.
    “Hey, Wiggles!” somebody yelled. “Let’s see you hit that apple!”
    Al took two strikes and then two balls. Then he hit a high fly to center. Bobby held his base as he saw the center fielder
     run back. For a moment he thought that the ball was going over the center fielder’s head. But suddenly the player stopped,
     reached up his glove and picked the ball out of the air. Quickly Bobby pushed himself from the bag and tore for third. As
     he reached the third-base sack he saw the coach hold up both hands, which meant that he didn’t have to slide.
    Left fielder Toby Warren hit a blooping fly to the pitcher for the second out. Jim Hurwitz, the tall, skinny center fielder,
     who wore dark-rimmed glasses, took the first pitch for a called strike. Then he drove a hard grounder to third. The ball struck
     the third baseman’s arm and glanced off to the outfield. Bobby scored.
    Then Dave Gessini poled a long fly to left field. The ball was high. The Clippers outfielder got under it in plenty of time
     and caught it for the third out.
    “All right! Hurry in, hurry out!” shouted the plate umpire.
    The second inning went scoreless for both sides. In the third, the Yankee Clippers lead-off man singled through short. A triple
     over the head of right fielder Jerry Echols scored him. 1-1.
    Cappie bore down. He struck out the next two batters. The next Clipper walked. Now there were men on first and third.
    Cappie stepped off the mound, stooped and picked up some dirt in his hand. He rubbed it between his fingers a little and then
     let it filter back to the ground. He’s nervous, Bobby thought. Every time a man reached third Cappie got nervous.
    Cappie gave the batter a free ticket to fill the bases.
    “All right, Cappie, boy!” Kirby shouted from first base. “Settle down! Bear down and get ’em out!”
    Cappie stretched and delivered.
    “Ball one!”
    The chatter in the infield grew louder and louder. “C’mon, Cappie! Give ’im that sinker!”
    “Ball two!”
    Again Cappie backed off the mound, picked up some dirt, and dropped it.
    “Strike!” A beautiful pitch over the heart of the plate.
    “Thataway, Cappie!”
    Then, “Strike two!”
    Bobby’s heart pounded. That batter was a big kid. If he connected solidly with one of Cappie’s fast pitches he’d knock itover the centerfield fence and clean the bases.
    Cappie stepped on the mound. He toed the rubber, stretched, threw.
    Crack!
A line drive to short! Bobby raised his glove.
Smack!
The ball stung the palm of his hand, but he held it.
    Three outs!
    “Nice catch, Bobby!” Coach Barrows said, smiling broadly. “That would have gone for two or three bases for sure!”
    Bobby grinned as he sat down. “I hardly knew I had it!” he said.
    Kirby patted him gently on the knee. “Beautiful catch, Bobby. I wish I could hit as good as you can catch.”
    “You will,” said Bobby. “Just get up there and swing.”
    Kirby put on the protective helmet. Hewaited till the Clippers pitcher threw his three practice throws to the catcher and for the umpire to yell “Play ball!” Then
     he walked to the plate.
    Kirby swung hard at the first pitch. Strike one. He swung hard again — so hard he fell to the ground. Strike two.
    “He tries to kill it,” said Coach Barrows. “I’ve told him a hundred times not to swing too hard.”
    Bobby looked at Kirby and wished for a hit. A heaviness came over his heart. He just couldn’t understand it — Kirby being
     so big and not being able to hit. At least, he was a good first baseman.
Nobody
could beat him at that position.
    “Strike three!” yelled the umpire.
    Kirby turned away from the plate, his eyes toward the ground. His bottom lipwas curled up. He tossed the bat aside, walked to the end of the dugout and sat down.
    “You’re still swinging too hard,” said Curt Barrows. “Swing easy. Just meet