Just To Make Quite Certain
Taking to heart the adage that the ball game is not over until the final out is recorded, the surging Port Vale club sought to seal the coffin for the opposing South Shields club, and did so in record fashion.
Already taking an eight runs to one lead into the top of ninth innings, the Valiants went on to spend most of the next game scoring run after run and by the time they were finally retired by outs, they had plated fourteen tallies against the Tynesiders.
One could reasonably accuse the Valiants of acting in an unsporting manner by scoring far more runs than they would ever need, but as anyone who has spent the last two decades closely watching baseball matches can tell you, a club can never have enough runs to feel secure in victory, as long as there is no clock to ease their minds in the pursuit of such. After, was it likely that the Tynesiders would score twenty or more runs in the bottom of the ninth innings to draw level or win the match? Not at all. On the other hand, was it impossible for the Tynesiders to score twenty or more runs in the bottom of the ninth innings to draw level or win the match? Again, not at all.
