Ken finally made it back to the dugout after his home run. He was well received, dishing out high fives like they were free samples at the grocery store.
"Looks like you broke that pitcher." Coach Hanada said with a somber tone.
While it was good for their team that they had overcome the opposing pitcher, Seiji Hanada was passionate about mentoring the younger generation. Seeing such things filled him with sorrow.
He glanced at the opposing coach who was calling out words of encouragement from the dugout. There was a look of panic in his face, yet it eventually changed into acceptance.
"Good… At least that guy noticed." Coach mumbled.
The opposing coach then organized for a pitcher change, personally heading up to the mound and collecting Hiroshi to bring him out of the game.
Since he had now been substituted, there was no way he could get back into the game, meaning Zama High was now without their Ace.
Ken too watched this transpire, feeling an ache in his heart. Yet thanks to the Poker Face ability he was able to put up a stoic facade, not revealing his true thoughts.
He finally understood why his Crunch Time skill activated in that moment. Somehow the system had detected that if he smashed the first pitch it would do enough mental damage to take the Ace off the mound.
Had he missed the pitch, it was very possible Hiroshi would be able to recover after enough balls, hardening his resolve.
The new pitcher clearly wasn't expecting to be out so early and had ended up throwing a few meatballs which were quickly punished by the Yokohama batters.
The next at bats were as follows; Single, double, sacrifice fly and a single. At the top of the 1st innings, Yokohama found themselves up 5 runs with 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd base.
Yusuke walked up to the batters box, his face filled with determination. This was his first game back since his injury, considering the coach had decided not to play him in any of the friendly matches.
Despite being up 5 runs, he didn't look like he was about to take it easy.
Hiryu was currently a wreck after what had happened this innings. In all of his years of club baseball, he had never felt so utterly helpless in a match. It was as if every batter on the Yokohama squad were in prime shape.
His eyes stared at Kazuo on the mound who already looked to be worn down after being toyed with.
'Will he even make it through the rest of the game?'
He shook his head. The game was not over yet, they had another 8 innings to go.
Hiryu called for a ball outside after seeing how tense the batter was. Since he was the 9th batter, they should be able to secure the final out of the innings and go on the attack.
Kazuo nodded, bringing his glove up to his chest before following through and sending a pitch right where he was lead.
'Good! As long as he keeps pitchi—'
DOOONG
The ball rocketed into the air straight into center field, causing the fielder to run back with all his might. Since there was 2 outs, both the runners on base and Yusuke began to sprint around the bases.
"CATCH IT!"
Hiryu shouted, his face full of panic.
However, the fielder soon slowed down and stood in place.
'What the hell is he doing?'
"What are you—"
He suddenly swallowed the words back down in his throat, finally realizing why his teammate had stopped chasing the ball.
"Nice Homer Yusuke!"
"ORYAAAAAAA!"
The Yokohama dugout went crazy, celebrating the triumphant debut of another one of their rookies. The hype was even more since everyone knew how much work Yusuke had put in to get back into shape after his operation.
Ken felt his face light up into a smile. It was so genuine that even his Poker Face skill did not activate, showing the world how happy he was in this moment.
If it wasn't for the system, Yusuke would have pushed through his injury right until the moment he became a professional, only for it to all be taken away seemingly overnight.
On the field, the Zuma High players was silent. They were down 7 runs and had lost their Ace, things were not looking good for them. Their heads were bowed and it looked as if they had already given up on the game.
"…not over yet."
"It's not over yet!"
Hiryu shouted from home plate after seeing the state of his team. As the captain, it was his responsibility to pull their team out of the fire end back on track.
At the sound of their captains voice, they slowly raised their heads, looking in his direction. Tears began to form in some of their eyes as they looked towards the only person who had yet to give up on the match.
"Y-Yeah."
"One more out…"
"ONE MORE OUT! LET'S GO!"
What started as one person slowly grew in number. Soon enough the whole team on the field were screaming out at the top of their lungs, trying to find the inner strength to persist against such odds.
Tatsuya who had stepped up to the batters box felt the resolve of his opponents and nodded somberly. Even though he had been taunted by the opposing catcher not long ago, he did not want to trample on their fighting spirit.
'I'll take this seriously.' He thought, getting into his batting form.
Kazuo on the mound seemed to be an entirely different person as he sent the ball down the lane towards the catchers glove.
'He's desperate…' Tatsuya thought, feeling as if the course was predictable.
DING
"Crap!"
The ball seemed to come alive at the last moment, drifting towards the batter and jamming his swing. It popped straight up into the air and was promptly caught by Hiryu with relative ease.
"YEAHHHH!"