Daichi who had been next in line to bat could only smile as he returned the bat and went to change his gear. He'd seen Ken's pitches from the stands before, but seeing them close was a whole other experience.
His hands were itching to swing at his brother's pitch, but he'd have to wait until the next innings.
Hiroki was the one starting off the 2nd innings for Yokohama. Out of all their players, he was the one who had improved the most in the past 2 months.
Ever since he'd broken through his potential, his rapid growth inside of the batters box was second to none. This was evident in how he'd already garnered the attention of Coach Takashi.
"Batting 4th, 1st base, Hiroki"
Though he looked unassuming, Hiroki was the definition of sleeper build. Underneath his uniform was the figure of a granite statue, something that Michaelangelo might choose to sculpt.
Daichi glanced at Hiroki briefly, yet he didn't look worried. Of course he held some respect for his opposing clean-up batter, yet his confidence was a result of his hard work and training.
He placed his glove into position and called for a pitch.
Yatsuo nodded, his face wearing a serious expression.
WHOOSH
In the next moment, the ball came flying towards the open glove. Though it looked as if it would be straight down the middle, it quickly began to break away from Hiroki.
It wasn't a slider, and it had too much movement to be a regular fastball.
'I can hit this!' Hiroki called out inwardly, his bat already moving before his thoughts could catch up.
He chased the ball all the way to the outside, feeling the contact that he was looking for.
DONG
'Damn it.'
He knew as soon as the bat made contact that he'd made a mistake. Since it was so far away from him, the hit lacked his usual power, merely sending the ball into the infield between 1st and 2nd base.
Hiroki quickly dropped his bat and ran with all of his might towards 1st base.
"Yours Akihiko!"
Takuya at the short stop position yelled out before running over to 2nd base to cover for the defender.
The infield adjusted perfectly as Akihiko chased down the ball and easily sent the ball into his teammates outstretched glove before Hiroki could arrive.
"Out."
A cheer erupted from the easy play, the home crowd giving their team the props they deserved. While the average fan might not notice, everyone on the field certainly did.
The quick adjustments and movements of the infielders showed that they knew exactly what to do in a scenario. Oftentimes there could be mix ups, especially within the school baseball scene where mistakes in the infield could occur.
All it took was for one person to not know where to rotate, and their whole defense would crumble.
It was clear that the Osaka fielders, led by the vocal shortstop knew exactly what they were doing.
While the play itself might have been an easy one, Ken had no doubt that they would be a tough nut to crack with any ball that remained in the infield.
"That wasn't a slider was it?" Ken asked the Coach as he adjusted his helmet.
Seiji shook his head, "That was a cutter. It's essentially in between a slider and a fastball."
Ken nodded, although he felt at a little bit of a loss. All these high school pitchers had plenty of pitches to work with, yet even between his two lives he only had the fastball as well as the forkball he got as a reward from the silver lottery.
It was at this time that he truly knew how naive he was to expect to win with only those types of pitches.
Yet now was not the time for self reflection, it was now the time for first part of the clash he'd been waiting for all this time.
As he stepped onto the field, the roar of the crowd seemed to fade away into the background.
"Batting 5th, Pitcher, Ken"
He made his way over to the batters box and tapped the plate with his bat and the toes of his cleats before getting into position.
Despite not saying a word to his brother behind him, he conveyed his feelings through the thick aura of fighting spirit resonating from his tall figure.
Daichi too felt his determination ignite, wanting nothing more than to show his brother how much he'd improved.
What better way to do so than beating him fairly? Especially on the biggest stage available to them… Koshien.
Yatsuo nodded before dashing forward with his left leg and whipping the ball out from his arm. Ken soon found out that seeing it from afar and being in front of it were two different things.
With the quick pitching action, one had a smaller window to process the information. This was especially true when the pitches were creeping upwards of 150-155km/h.
Yet Ken was able to see the ball in front of him as it began to break away. He recognized it as the pitch which had baited Hiroki into hitting a grounder.
He stepped in, timing the swing, yet he didn't follow through, allowing the ball to go into Daichi's glove.
PAH
"Ball."
Ken nodded in satisfaction. He could understand why Hiroki had gone for the ball, since the pitch broke so late, it was tough to pick.
If he hadn't seen the same situation earlier, he would have been caught out the same way.
Daichi collected the ball and sent it back to Yatsuo on the mound before crouching down once more.
'As expected of Ken. He won't fall for a ball he's already seen.' He thought inwardly, yet he wasn't discouraged.
The Maestro still had plenty of tricks up his sleeve.
He called for the next ball, to which Yatsuo nodded.
Once more the ball came flying quickly, this time with a little more speed. Ken identified it as a fastball and his body got into position, ready to swing for the fences.