The coach hit a swift grounder toward second, and second baseman, reaching it with one hand, snapped it quickly to first, from whence, it sped back to the plate and the outstretched glove of Dolph Jones, catcher and captain of the Maple Ridge School Nine.
It was snappy work all around. Tom Shay, the coach, nodded approval, and the boys grouped on the bench and along the top of the stone wall behind it voiced applause.
Sam Phillips, who had been pitching to "Ducky Drake," the substitute catcher, pulled off his glove and squeezed himself into a seat on the bench. "Gus is playing good ball this spring, isn't he?" he observed, his gaze on the second baseman. "I guess, though, he is still wondering how that ball got into his mitt!"
