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rubber,
     delivered, and the batter turned his bat toward the ball as if to bunt. The pitch was low.
    “Ball!” said the umpire.
    The batter went into the same motion several more times, and Brad didn’t put one over theplate. He gave the man a free ticket, too, and the bases were loaded.
    Rex called time and went out to talk to Brad. Legs and Jimmy Merrill walked over to Brad, too. They talked with him awhile,
     then returned to their positions.
    Whatever they said didn’t do any good. The first pitch Brad put in there was hit for a line drive over short. Two men came
     in, and the hitter stopped on second for a clean double.
    The Canaries’ fans went wild. It looked surely as if the yellow birds were heading for their eighth straight win.
    Then Brad struck out the next hitter, and the next two flied out.
    Rex led off in the second. He uncorked a double, went to third on Marty Cass’s hit to right field, then scored on Bonesy’s
     single.
    Legs grounded out to second, Marty was caught trying to steal third, and Windy Hill swung at a third pitch that was far too
     high, ending the half-inning.
    The Canaries kept rolling. They got two hits at their turn at bat and racked up one run. Now it was 3 to 1 in the Canaries’
     favor.
    David heard the Canaries’ fans yelling cheerfully. Even the players were laughing and joking away in the field, confident
     that this was just another game. That they would put this one in their pocket, too.
    Brad Lodge, leading off in the top of the third, gave the Canaries more to cheer about as he went down swinging. Then Ken
     changed the picture. He belted out a single and went to second when the shortstop missed Chugger Hines’s smashing grounder.
    The coach gave Jimmy Merrill the bunt signal. It would be better to have men on second and third, in scoring position, than
     to take the chance of having Jimmy hit into a double play.
    Jimmy missed the first pitch. He fouled the second and struck the plate disgustedly with the tip of his bat. Now he had to
     swing.
    Rocky Stone, the tall right-hander for theCanaries, delivered a pitch just level with Jimmy’s knees. Jimmy swung. Out!
    Rex was up. He had doubled his first time up. Could he repeat?
    Apparently Rocky Stone didn’t want him to. He walked Rex to load the bases.
    Now it was the Flickers’ fans’ chance to cheer. And they did.
    “Come on, Marty!” they yelled. “Drive it out of the lot! Blast it over the fence!”
    Rocky took his time. He removed his cap and wiped his brow with his sleeve. Then he looked for the signal from his catcher.
     He nodded, stepped on the rubber, made his stretch and delivered.
    “Strike!”
    The Canaries’ fans shouted happily. “Thataway, Rocky! He’s your man now!”
    Marty waited for the next pitch. He held his bat high and his legs close together. The pitch came in. He swung.
    “Strike two!”
    “He’s all yours, now, Rocky boy!” yelled the Canaries’ catcher.
    Marty almost swung at the next one. It was wide.
    “Ball!” said the umpire.
    Rocky still took his time. He picked up the rosin bag, rubbed his fingers on it a moment, then dropped it. He toed the rubber,
     stretched and delivered the pitch. Like a white bullet the ball sped toward the plate. Marty swung.
    Crack!
A smashing drive over short! Ken scored. Not far behind him came Chugger. The shortstop caught the throw-in from the center
     fielder and made a beautiful peg to the catcher. Rex held up at second.
    The Flickers’ bench went wild.
    Bonesy struck out. But the Flickers were strongly back in the game. They had tied it up, 3 and 3.
    Mandy Rubens, the Canaries’ slugging outfielder, broke the tie with a blast over the left-field fence with the bases empty.
    The Flickers came to bat in the top of the fourth, trailing by the score of 4 to 3. It was a close game so far. The Canaries
     were a different bunch in the field now. They were not laughing and joking. They were serious. They had begun to realize that
     this was a