"S-Strike."
The umpire finally made the call, breaking through the silence.
Yuta felt his hand turn numb from catching the cannonball that was sent his way.
'Damn, has he always thrown that fast?'
He stared at the ball that had taken a while to stop spinning even after he caught it in his glove. It was as if the ball had a mind of its own.
Only after a few seconds was he able to collect himself and throw the ball back to Ken. Although he was shocked in his mind, he outwardly tried not to show it.
He had caught hundreds if not over a thousand of Ken's pitches in practice, yet none of them had been this fast. It was like he was a completely different pitcher in a real game.
"Nice pitch." He called out.
Once again Ken got into position, waiting for the batter to come to his senses. Although it wouldn't matter considering he wouldn't even be able to catch a whiff of the next two balls.
A taunting grin appeared on Coach Hanada's face as he stared at the opposing coach from his position in the dugout.
'How do you like our new Ace old man?'
Coach Goto could practically feel Coach Hanada's gaze burning into the side of his skull, yet he did not react. He didn't want to give the younger man the satisfaction that he so desperately wanted.
Inwardly he was trying to come up with a way to claw back the game. Since it was the last innings, this was their final chance before the curtain was drawn.
His gaze naturally moved to their best player Carlos who had been watching on lazily. However, the coach's eyes widened as he saw his star batter staring eagerly at the opposing pitcher on the mound.
'Does he want to face him?'
Goto's mind raced as he weighed up the pros and cons of using Carlos in this friendly match. He had originally thought that Carlos didn't like to play friendlies and that he'd need to win with just their Ace Kazuhiro, but that might not be the case now.
"Carlos, did you want to have a bat?"
Hearing his name, Carlos finally took his attention away from the field. The coach's words were like music to his ears and exactly what he wanted to hear right now.
Seeing his expression, the coach didn't even require a verbal answer. He could see his decision written all over his face.
"Okay. You'll replace Kazu in the batting line up."
"Strike three! Out."
The batter dazedly walked back to the dugout and placed his bat away. He was so dazed that he even forgot to take off his helmet before sitting on the bench.
"I couldn't even see his pitch." He said softly, to no one in particular.
The poor kid didn't even get a chance to swing the bat before he was struck out in 3 pitches. It almost felt surreal, like he was playing against a pitcher who was many years older than him despite him being a 3rd year in high school.
Carlos placed his helmet on and headed onto the pitch, grabbing his bat and going through his warm-up motions. Since he was replacing Kazuhiro who was first in the batting lineup, there was one more person that needed to bat before it was his turn.
Unfortunately, since that player was the 9th batter, no one had any hopes for him.
To no ones surprise, the very first ball was sent roaring down the middle of the strike zone and was completely missed by the batter.
Unlike his teammate, he had decided to just swing at the ball even if he couldn't see it. After all, you miss every ball that you don't swing at.
Since this pitcher seemed to not like to waste pitches, this was actually a sound strategy.
However, it was Yuta who was leading Ken right now. He had the utmost confidence that none of these small fry could touch even the seam of Ken's fastballs right now, so he saw no point in throwing any wasted pitches.
The next two balls were similar, yet both ended in humiliation for the batter who just seemed to be swinging wildly.
"Strike three! Out."
The batter felt like crying as he left the batters box, only to see Carlos making his way there. His eyes widened and hope started to blossom inside him.
He was about to wish him luck, however Carlos did not even look at him. He was too busy staring at the opposing pitcher on the mound with keen interest.
"Nice pitch!"
"Woohoo! Let's go Ken!"
The Yokohama bench screamed out words of encouragement, they could practically taste the win on the tip of their tongue.
Ai too was quietly cheering. Her heart beat faster as she watched Ken on the mound, showing the results of his hard work and determination in training.
'He's so cool' she thought inwardly.
If Ken could hear her thoughts he might turn as red as a tomato.
Thankfully he was focused on the game, well the player who had just entered the game.
'So the main boss has appeared huh?'
Yuta also saw Carlos and frowned. He had plenty of data on this guy, but he knew that he would be hard to beat, even with Ken's abilities.
"Timeout please." He said, jogging over to the mound.
"What's up?" Ken asked, his tone relaxed despite how tense Yuta was.
"This guy is bad news. He was one of the best batters at nationals last year, Carlos Toro. I suggest that we walk him and strike out the next batter." Yuta said, his eyes trained on Ken's expression.
"Walk? In a friendly match?" Ken tilted his head and asked.
He had matched up against Carlos before in his previous life and had been smacked out of the park during the prefecture tournament. If it wasn't for Daichi saving them with a 2 run home run, they would have lost back then.
Therefore Ken had a little bit of a grudge, unbeknown to Carlos.