The Normal Record. April 1900

              16
THE NORMAL RECORD.
evening of pleasure is guaranteed to all. It
is intended to show the work that the two
societies have been doing.
The committee on debates has made arrangements with the Vacaville High School
for a debate to   take  place   in   that   school
some time in the latter part of May, in all
probability on the twenty-sixth. The debate
will be on the question of 'the retention of
the Philippines. Seott Hendricks, James
Matlock and Miss Anna Reynolds have been
selected by the committee to represent the
Normals, the two medal debaters upholding
the same side they will speak on in the finals.
Athletics.
This month has been a busy one for the
boys, as the following record will show:
Wednesday morning bright and early,
April 26, seventeen young men started for
Oroville. Nine of the above were to uphold
the fair fame of the Normal in a baseball
tournament at that place. The other eight
were to do whatever they could to help the
nine win. A great many "ifs" and "mights"
were spoken but very few "wills." It was
to be,the first time that any Normal team
would meet the strong professional teams of
surrounding towns, therefore there was very
little confidence but only a wish that the
Normals would win.
At a little after ten the Normal boys took
the field against the baseball team of Biggs.
Our boys seemed to be nervous and as a
result at the end of the third inning the score
stood six to three in favor of Biggs. But
Biggs had played her hand while the Normals had just commenced. Slowly our boys
forged ahead, one and two runs an inning,
while the opposing team came to the bat and
went out in 1, 2, 3 order. From the sixth on
it was a shut out for Biggs. Then, as the
third man of Biggs went out in the ninth, the
crowd, and especially the seventeen went
wild with excitement. Even Jones forgot
his sore finger and played the snare drum
as he had never played it before, all the way
back to Oroville. The score stood 7 to 6 in
favor of Normals.
It was meet that we and the Normalites
should be glad! It showed that we did have
a baseball team and that the Normals could
play ball! None could dispute the assertion
now t,hat we have a first class baseball team.
Honcut vs. Normal.
The next morning the  Normal  boys  again
took the   field  against  Honcut.    The  latter
team had also won the day before   from   the
Oroville Jr. nine. Hendricks was in the
pitcher's box for the first tryout. The first
three pitches were balls. All the Honcut
rooters began to yell. But the next three
times Scott pitched, the batter hit the air in
vain and Hendricks had fanned the first
man up as well as the first one of his season.
The boys, on a whole, did good work this
inning. At certain times, owing to the
easiness of the game the boys became careless and allowed errors that would not have
crept in, in a closer game. At the end of
the game the score stood 21 for Chico Normals and 8 for Honcut.
Normals   vs.   Gridley,
After taking . a rest of about three hours
after the game with Honcut our boys took
the field against Gridley. An exceedingly
strong north wind was blowing so that the
correct gauging of a fly ball was almost impossible. Also the batter had to bat the ball
dead against this wind. This game was expected to be the banner one of the tournament as the Normals had played two excellent games and had shown themselves capa
ble of playing first class ball. Even Gridley
felt a lit;Ie uncertain. But straoge to relate
very few predictions came true.
Particulars of this game had better be dispensed with. Errors for the Normal team
would cover the page. To the credit of our
team it may be said that only one man struck
out. But th? boys, batting against the wind,
very seldom lifted the ball out of the diamond.
Hendricks batted several flys to the field
only to have them caught by the fielders.
Jack did not pitch the game he is capable of,
although he struck out four of Gridley's
batters. His infield support was bum, to
use a slang expression, and thus things became worse for our team. On the other
hand, the support the Gridley pitcher received