“I’d like to do something to old Finkler!” growled Walker savagely. “Stubborn old mule!”
“Think of his giving Borden a ride, though!” marveled Prentiss. “That’s the wildest yarn I ever heard. You don’t suppose he dreamed it, do you?”
“Who? Jack Borden? No, he didn’t dream it. Well, I’m off to practice. The Peace Embassy is dissolved, fellows.”
June came in and the Tri-Meet was duly held at Dixon Academy. As usual, Maple Ridge ran a bad third, being totally eclipsed by both her competitors in the track events, although she made an excellent showing on the turf. Chase won the meet, with Dixon a close second and Maple Ridge last. Maple Ridge was not disappointed or cast down for the simple reason that she never expected to get better than third place. A new captain was elected and Thorp Prentiss handed over the reins of government with a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile the Baseball Team had been coming strongly. Sam was pitching better and better every time he was put in the box and his support was steadying down wonderfully. Jack was still spending much of his time on the bench during the contests, although he usually got in for two or three innings in right field or left. His batting was getting more certain all the time and as a pinch-hitter he was making something of a reputation for himself. Mr. Shay kept him at the net for half an hour at a time every practice and Jack could not help but profit by the work. In the field he was gradually acquiring that ability to judge flies that he had envied Tyler Wicks the possession of. He learned to “size up” the batter; to know what to expect from a left-handed hitter; to judge direction by the batter’s stand at the plate; to tell by the sound of bat against ball whether the hit was a long, hard one or one to be handled by the infield. In short, he began to develop very rapidly what Mr. Shay, the coach, called “baseball sense.” But all this didn’t give him the coveted position with the “regulars.” He was still a utility man; substitute outfielder and pinch-hitter. The difficulty was that Jack had three good players in front of him, all hard to displace. There was Tyler Wicks in left field, and Tyler was a very good man, not brilliant, but steady and dependable. In right field Watkins was almost as good, though more valuable as a batter than a fielder. In centre Truesdale was all that could be desired. As for the other substitutes, Jack was already on an even footing with them; in fact, he stood a little better in the estimation of Mr. Shay and Dolph than any of them, possibly excepting Joe Williams. And even Joe might find himself out-distanced if Jack’s batting continued to improve. Already the latter was hitting close to .300, with only Ted and Dolph and Truesdale ahead of him.
Maple Ridge lost the game with Mayport Academy, on the latter’s grounds, the second Saturday in June owing to what Sam called “one grand slump.” Mort Prince, who started the game for Maple Ridge, was batted out of the box in the fourth inning when Mayport through a combination of four safe hits and two errors in the visitors’ infield tallied six runs. After that Maple Ridge went to pieces. Hal Morris took Prince’s place and was fairly effective until the seventh. Then the enemy landed on him fiercely, and when the dust of battle had cleared away the score stood 14 to 4 in Mayport’s favor, and Maple Ridge departed homewards with their green banners trailing. There were some who criticised Mr. Shay for not putting Sam in instead of Morris. The more knowing ones, however, pointed out that with the whole team playing like a lot of children the game was lost after the fourth and that it would have been useless to put in Sam, especially as he would be needed on Wednesday for the contest with Springfield Preparatory, the last game before the final one with Chase. Jack vindicated his reputation as a pinch-hitter in the Mayport fracas, batting for Prince in the fifth inning and lining out a two-bagger. Unfortunately, however, he was the first man up and his hit brought no runs; and he never got beyond third himself. In the seventh inning he took Watkins’s place in right field, and although he did no worse than any one else that day he certainly failed to distinguish himself. No errors were scored against him, but that was due more to good luck than aught else, for twice flies that he might have captured fell safely to earth before he reached them. Once he and Truesdale got into a mix-up where their territories overlapped and the ball struck the turf between them and Mayport tore off two tallies.
Mr. Shay had very little to say either on the way back to Charlemont or later. A slump is something that is almost certain to happen to the best regulated ball teams, and scolding seldom helps much. The players had a lay-off on Monday and a short, if sharp, practice on Tuesday. The contest with Springfield Preparatory School was not considered important, although as Springfield had given Maple Ridge several good drubbings in the past the Light Green was naturally not averse to a victory. Whether the team had recovered from its slump was a matter of conjecture on Wednesday, and the school was divided in prophecy, many predicting an overwhelming defeat for Maple Ridge and others foretelling a close victory.
The game was played at Springfield. Sam was in the box for the visitors. From the second inning the contest was a batting-fest, with honors about even. Sam’s slants struck no terror to the hearts of the home team and they landed on them unerringly. On the other hand, the Springfield pitcher fared no better, and with two on bases in the third inning Gus Turnbull brought the Maple Ridge supporters to their feet by knocking out a home run that put the Light Green in the lead. This lead was held until the eighth, when Watkins muffed a long fly and let in two runners. Shortly after that Watkins pulled off his second error, allowing a ball which he had been unable to reach in time to catch to bound by him. It was clear that Maple Ridge was still feeling the effects of the slump, although convalescence had set in. The infield made four errors, of which only one proved costly, and Dolph had two passed balls chalked against him when the game was over. But in spite of this Maple Ridge triumphed by inaugurating a batting rally in the first of the ninth, tying the score with Truesdale’s sacrifice fly that brought in Sam, and taking a two run lead later, when, with two out, Ted, Dolph and Cassart all hit safely. In the last of the inning Maple Ridge tightened up and, although Springfield got two men on bases, no runs were scored, and Maple Ridge traveled home with a 10 to 8 victory tucked away.
Jack adorned the bench during the whole of that game and it required all of Sam’s eloquence to comfort and encourage him.
“Don’t you worry, chum,” said Sam. “You’ll get into the Chase game all right. I wouldn’t be surprised if Shay put you in at right. Will certainly played like a lobster this afternoon. Maybe we all did. I know I didn’t have much on those chaps, and that’s a fact. But Will was absolutely woozy; didn’t make a single hit either, did he?”