Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-05-30
SHEER PLUCK WINS
FOR EASTERN NINE
Its Dogged Determination
Against Western Offsets
Lack of Base Ball Ability.
JOHNSON DESERVES
EXCEPTIONAL CREDIT
Light Blue and White Pitcher
Holds GameIy to His Task
in Face of Odds.
BY H. C. BYRD.

/
/ The high school base ball championship
/ has been Won on sheer nerve and pluck.
| They are the two factors that have given
the Eastern High nine the greatest honor
| That can come to a scholastic team. AS
far as showing evidences of exceptional
! base ball ability was concerned, the Light
| Blue and White was not there, but when
1t came to stick it-iveness and logged
determination it is questionable if any
team ever had anything on it,
! Western. in comparison to Eastern
yesterday. looked much the better ball
| club. The men seemed to handle them
selves better in the field and at bat, yet
| they did not win. In everything that
| pertains to base ball Western seemed to
have the margin on its opponent: it had
| more speed, it seemed to hit better and
| looked like a generally better al-round
ball club. But there was one thing in
which Western did not have it on the
| lads from Capitol Hill-the ability to keep
| plugging away in the face of odds. When
| Western had Eastern on the small end
! of > to score there were few that
| figured Eastern to have a chance to win,
| but II the players on that team gave up
| hope they showed no sign of il, stick
| ing to their work with a grim determina-
| ton that seldom loses. Finally their per-
| severance was rewarded with we'll
| earned victory.
| Eastern did not have the best bunch
| OF ball players-far from it-but it won
| the championship. and it deserves all
! the more credit for winning the honor
under adverse circumstances. When a
| team is outhit and outfielded and still
wins. 1t should be given even greater
| credit than if 1t had these advantages
| in its favor.
| While Adams has not been used in
| the box III the school series until yester-
| day, his work was very commenda BILE.
| lie pitched in Il way that would have
| won the majority of high school games,
ard IT was ony because of costly error
| on the part of his center FEEDER, Cook.
| that he lost anyway With man on
| second and third and two down. an easy
| MY was hit to center. 1t looked like
an easy out, but Cook dropped the ball.
| Both runs scored and Eastern evened
up the tWo-run lead that had been West
| ems
After that Western again took the lead
| ny fhree-run margin. but it was UNI
| rally in the last half of the eighth which
gave 1t the victory.
Notwiths standing the fact that il fig
! ured especially in the run getting, it
was not very good play on the part
| OF Greer to steal third in the inning
| when Eastern made its rally. There
| was nobody out at the time. and first and
second were occupied. Greer was on sec
ond and he cut loose to steal third. He
| made the bag safely, but if he had been
caught 1T would have ended his teams
chances of winning Western had a
to make an effort for those two runs
and not to try for a single tally. Had
that play ,g, not gone through, it would
| the Light Blue and White team. because
such plays We're made afterward that
| both men would have scored anyway.
| The three-base hit credited to Howard
should have been a home run. He had
reached third while the ball was still
in the outfield. and there is not the
the plate had he been sent in. The play
was behind Howard, though and it was
not his fault. Had perfect throw been
made to the plate, the chances are that
Howard would have reached it in safety,
but it was, the ball bounded about
| ten yards away, The coacher at third
| failed to take the chance and he lost
| his team run by not so doing.
Special mention should be made Of
the work of Johnson. the Eastern
| pitcher. While he did not seem TO have
| any great amount of stuff on the ball
| he just kept heaving them in, and
when he was hit, even when a line
| drive brought III the runs. which gave
Western good lead. the half grin,
! half smile did not leave his face. john
| son was hit hard in several innings.
| In one inning alone two line drives
We're handled by his outtielders, but
/ that did not seem to bother him, and
he worked away just as unconcernedly
/ as if he had struck out both men.
Fisher, who played center field for
| Eastern. covered a lot OF ground and
did some really clever work. He
| handled two line drives and made one
or two other plays that were above
/ the ordinary.
/ 1t will be a difficult matter to select
! the best catcher for the alI-high job.
] Lehman and Cohill are the two best
men in the series, but which of them
| will be given first honor is question