Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-05-22
BY n. c. BYRD.

high schools, and in each instance has
lost the championship. Last spring. after
having practically won the title, it was
forfeited in the last contest by overcon-
fidence, and there is little question about
the Red and White nine being the SUI
perior Of the one that defeated it yester-
day.
No intention to detract from the well
earned victory secured by Tech is evil
dent, and yet had Western an even break
in what is generally termed base ball
luck 1t would have won. Several times
line drives were speared by Tech men
with men on the bases, and double plays
resulted when ordinarily runs would nave
been scored. Just the opposite was the
case with Tech; as instead OF being cut
out of runs that it should have had 1t
had tallies given it almost.
But that is base ball, though it does
seem hard lines for the Western nine
that it should go through two seasons win
ming every game until the last one and
then lose out to team that apparently
was it's inferior. But there might be
million butts and Thoughts" placed after
everything that takes place in life, and
they don't change the result one iota
1t is Techs championship. 1t won the
honor simply through superior nerve and
stick Ito it tiveness. and it's players de-
possible for those connected with the
manual training school to bestow upon
them.
There was one especially noticeable fea-
ture to yesterdays game. the excellent
work of the umpires. The double system
that was employed worked splendidly.
Just how well the men who arbited the
game did their work is evidenced by the
fact that during the entire game not a
kick was registered against a decision.
On the bases Mr.. Collifower had some
very close decisions to render, yet he per-
formed we'll. Behind the bat Mr.. Hughes
ran the game in fine shape. There is not
an umpire in the District who is better
than Hughes on balls and strikes, and 1t
is questionable II there is one as good.
There must be something wrong with
the Western coach, losing two cham
pionships in succession, as Western did
last year and this. He must be an ex-
| traordinary hoodoo. or something of the
kind.
Austin did not have much on the
ball yesterday. and in reality he was
hit a whole lot harder than the West
ern hit column shows. Several times
with men on bases line drives were hit
that ordinarily would have gone safe.
and had they. the whole complexion
of the game would have been changed.
There were two things, though. in
fidence and nerve. The youngster, al
though he pitched poor ball at times,
| never lost himself to the extent that
he did not have supreme confidence in
| his ability to pull out of dangerous
| holes. Austin was lucky enough to
| have his support help him out of some
| mighty dangerous positions at times,
but he must be given credit for stick
=, ing to his work under trial. Any
| scholastic pitcher with less nerve and
less confidence would have gone under
] for good and all in the eighth. when
Western had already scored four runs
and had three men on. with only one
down. OF course, it may be said that
anybody could have confidence with a
| fve-run lead. as Tech did. but there
was a time when things looked very
precarious for the Manual Trainers.
and Austin stuck by his work in spite
of that.
| In the ninth yesterday. when Stearns.
first on an infield hit. the game might
| have been won had he been allowed to
steal and then sacrificed around. But
! with two hitters Of the caliber of Myers
and Howard following. and both sure to
| come to bat, it was the right kind OF base
ball to put him down and trust one of the
! pair to come through with a hit. Both
] failed in the pinch.
| Stearns, the Western shorstop. played a
| fine game OF ball. He fielded his position
! in a perfect manner. and there were some
hard chances handled by him. too. He is
| credited with only one hit in the score
column, but he landed on the ball much
as he twice hit smashing line drives di-
rectly at the infielders. He is practically
sure of a job as all-high short fielder.
Simpson Of Tech did some exceptionally
| good work around second base. The
youngster cut off two or three balls that
were tabled hits. Men were on the
bags at the time, too.
| There is about the poorest crop OF
catchers In the high schools this season
| that has been seen in late years. There
| is not one who Is an accurate throwel
| and only one Is able to handle the balls
| received from the pitcher as he should
| Another failing that is evident in nearl,
| all Of them is their inability to make
plays at the plate. Men have been called
have been perfectly thrown by the field
| ers. The balls have been poorly handled
| by the catchers or else they have faileG
to make the play through their being un
able to block man off the plate.
The Manhattan club has again strength
ened its pitching staff. This time it /!
Lefty" Wooden who has been added t.
the Cornell team. but secured his RELEASE
| from the Paperhangers and from now or
will be seen with Manager Donnelly'.
| bunch.
The Potomac Electric Power Company
showed just how strong an aggregation
it is going to be In the way it beat Man
| haitian yesterday. With Hughes in tn,
| box the Manhattan club was unable Il
stem the tide and lost out by a 3-to-1
score. With the proper kind Of handling
provided 1t keeps its present lineup. thu
| Pepco bunch will come near landing tn,
pennant in the Independence circuit. JUS
as things appear at present 1t looks a!
though Manhattan. Pepco and Loff1er will
battle down to the flag end Of the season
on close terms. If these three teams d.
not finish one. two, three, then a goot
guess will be missed.
To "Pete" Lynch must go a great dea
of credit for the showing Tech has made
during the past year. Lynch has KEEP
the Manual Trainers together and ha:
had them working well. Although HI
may not have taught the Tech team al
the base ball in the world, Lynch has
kept the players In every game fighting
to the end, and that in itself is undoubt
eddy responsible to great extent for thu
championship that has been won.
1t now develops that John Paul Jone.
has never had any other intention thar
to go to the Olympic games. His only
fear. as he expressed it to James e. Sui
livan, secretary of the Amateur Athletic
Union. was that he would be unable tt
lcompete in more than two events. 1,
was rumored that Jones would not take
part In the Olympic games and woult
teach in q summer camp instead. Thai
there never was any foundation to the