The Junior Trophy

by Ralph Henry Barbour

By half past five the rain had stopped and Day went off homewards with a swagger, viewed gloomily from the porch by House.

But after the first disappointment House cheered up and looked on the bright side of things. It really did believe that had the game run its full nine innings it would have overhauled the enemy and defeated it. And that was good grounds for believing that the next time would tell a different story. On Monday practice began again and George Waters, smarting under the slur cast upon his science by the Day Team, worked like a Trojan. When George couldn’t be found in the house you had only to walk around the corner to discover him “pitching ’em in” to anybody he could persuade to don a catcher’s glove and stand up in front of him. Day did a good deal of exulting that week and told how well the Junior Four Trophy would look alongside the Hockey Cup. House let them talk and bided their time.

But, all the same, Ben Holden realized that House had a good deal of a task ahead of it. Day could afford to lose one of the remaining games, but House had to win them both. He didn’t doubt but what George Waters could be relied on to pitch the team to victory in one contest, but he didn’t believe that George could do it twice or that Sam Perkins was capable of presenting a very strong front to the enemy. But win the next game they must! And that meant that George must go into the box. With the series tied at one game each, there would be time enough to bother about the third game. And so, for fear that George’s enthusiasm would lead him to tire himself out in practice, Ben laid down the law on Wednesday.

“After this, George, you practice fifty balls every afternoon, and that’s all. First thing you know you’ll have a bad arm!”

Bert, who since his remarkable two-bagger that should have been a three, had become a keen ball player, worked hard at the batting net. Up until Thursday he was plainly discouraged, for, in spite of that wonderful hit in the game, he couldn’t locate a ball to save his life. But on Thursday the unexpected again happened. He landed on two of Sam’s offerings and cracked them into the field. After that Bert was encouraged and began to fancy himself a bit. Kid pestered Ben from morning until night to be allowed to get into the next game and Ben finally promised, to get rid of him, that if they got a safe lead Kid might go into the outfield for a couple of innings. Whereupon Kid moistened his glove in the inelegant but approved manner of all great players and begged whoever was within hearing to “slam him one!” Undeniably Mt. Pleasant Academy had become baseball mad.

And the Saturday came, and it rained all the morning until half-past eleven. But at twelve the sun was out hot and at two Mr. Crane telephoned to Captain Turner in the village that the grounds were dry enough to play on. Warned by their previous experience, Mrs. Merton and Nan came to the game with waterproofs. But, as it turned out, they didn’t need them. The clouds floated off into the east and the weather proceeded to give an excellent imitation of a mid-June day.

I shan’t burden you with a detailed description of that second game because, since House won, a third contest was made necessary and you’ll have to read about that. Waters pitched a fine game and Day made only twelve hits off him in nine innings. On the other hand, Sibley, who started in the points for the Day Team, was easy for the enemy and lasted only three innings. Then “Toots” Morgan came in from left field and took his place. But by that time House was leading six runs to two, and during the rest of the performance she managed to hold Day down to a total of five runs and at the same time amass a very tidy little bunch of twelve for herself. In the sixth Perkins relieved Waters on the mound. Kid played through two whole innings, had two chances and accepted them both, went once to bat and was passed to first and stole second by sheer cheek. That he was finally left on third base was no fault of his.

Bert played four innings, had little to do in the field and secured a scratch hit in the fifth inning, scoring Cupples from third. The errors on each side were fewer to-day and both teams played a steadier game. Flushed with victory, House went off the field cheering, while Nan, having nothing else handy, waved her raincoat in ecstasy.

Day was disappointed. It had firmly expected to win the series in two games. Now it must play a third and there was only Morgan to depend on, for Sibley had proved himself a very simple conundrum for the enemy. And Ben Holden and Waters and a half-dozen others, “doping it out” that evening, found cause for encouragement.