Bobby Blake was back again on the team!
“Now,” cried Fred, expressing the hope and belief of all, “you’ll see Rockledge begin to climb.”
And Rockledge did climb with a vengeance.
The very next Saturday with Bobby in the box and pitching gilt-edged ball they walked all over Belden, not only beating their chief rival but doing it to the score of seven to nothing. The whole team played behind their pitcher as though they were inspired with new life. And from that time on, the Beldenites drew into their shell and did not do so much crowing when they met the Rockledge boys in the town.
But Bobby and his comrades knew that they still had a heavy task before them, if they were to win the pennant of the Monatook Lake League.
Belden had now won four games and lost two. Rockledge was even in gains and losses, having won three and lost three. If there had been many more games to play, Rockledge would have felt much more confident, for she was now traveling faster than her rival. But the end of the season was coming fearfully close, and there were only three more games to play.
“Belden is the one we’ve got to beat,” declared Frank. “We’ve got the Indian sign, I think, on Somerset and Ridgefield.”
As far as Ridgefield was concerned, this seemed true, for Rockledge won the game by four to two, his mates handing Bobby a lead in the first inning that he was able to keep throughout the game. But as Belden also won on the same day from Somerset, though after a harder battle, the Rockledge boys were still “trailing” the school across the lake.
The excitement now was reaching fever pitch, and it broke all bounds the following Saturday, when Belden came a cropper with Ridgefield, being “nosed out” in the ninth by a sudden rally on the part of their opponents, while Rockledge won handily from Somerset in a free batting game by ten runs to six.
“Hurrah!” yelled Mouser, “we’re tied with Belden now.”