Even at that, it got past his hands.

He wheeled, bolted after the ball, got it and made a throw to the catcher.
Out of the corner of his eyes, young Prescott saw the arching ball descend, a good throw and a true one.
Yet, ere it landed in the catcher's hand, Dick, by the fraction of a second, had sprinted desperately across the home plate.
"Runner safe home!" "Whoo-oopee! Wow! wow! wow!" rang the chorus of thousands.
"Four to two!" "What about Gridley, _now_ ?" "What about Dick Prescott ?" Then words were lost in volleys of cheers.

The Gardiner fans who had risen to cheer slipped dejectedly down from the stand.
And Dick Prescott?
While running he had given no thought to his knee.
Now, as he dashed across the plate, and heard the umpire's decision, he tried to stop, but slipped and went down.

He tried to rise, but found it would be better to sit where he was.
The game was over.

Gridley, having made the winning runs in the last half of the ninth, the rules of the game forbade any further attempts to pile up score.
One of the first of the great crowd to leap over into the field and cross the diamond was Coach Luce.