As the Korean team made their way off the field, Coach Hyun breathed out a sigh of relief. They were originally on the back foot, but managed to force a double play and avoid the worst case scenario.
Of course conceding a 2-run home run was not within his plans, but it could have been a lot worse.
"Alright guys, remember what I told you. Be patient and try to pick your shots, we'll have more opportunities the longer the game goes on."
Coach Hyun's eyes traveled to the Ace of Japan's team and narrowed his eyes. He knew that they were going to have a hard time scoring runs against the sniper, but he had faith in his team.
Ken put on his glove and hat before slowly walking onto the field. He soon broke out into a jog and glanced at the mound briefly before running into the right outfield.
It felt quite odd running past the mound.
"Eh?"
Coach Hyun blinked a few times after seeing Ken run into the outfield, astonishment evident on his face. He slowly turned to the player on the mound and almost couldn't believe his eyes.
"Why is their Ace in the outfield? Are they underestimating us?"
His gaze moved to Coach Takashi on the opposing side of the field, but the guy didn't even spare him a glance.
"No, this seems like an intentional move" He muttered to himself.
With a flash, he quickly called back his two lead off batters and said a few words to them, pointing at the right outfield. The two were a bit confused, but still nodded.
After that, Coach Hyun relayed the same message and more to the rest of his team. The way he quickly pivoted his strategy spoke of just how intuitive the South Korean Head Coach was.
Satoshi began his warm up pitches from atop the mound, quickly settling into his rhythm. His sharp eyes looked intensely at Daichi throughout, making him feel a little uncomfortable.
'Man, this guy sure has an intense face.' Daichi said inwardly.
Even in practice, the guy was always giving the same intense stare. There was a sense of intimidation happening even to him, who was on the same team.
After finishing his warm-ups, Satoshi nodded to the umpire.
"Batting 1st, 3rd base, Du."
Du Rim who was walking into the batters box suddenly looked around in confusion. Since it was an American reading out the names, the pronunciation was terrible, making him unsure if his name was actually called.
It wasn't just the Korean team that had this issue. The announcer had already butchered the pronunciation of majority of the Japanese players at the top of the inning.
Daichi squatted into position and called for a ball on the outside to begin with. He wanted to put pressure on the Korean team, but Satoshi was known to be a slow starter.
As long as he could get the pitch count up a little, the guy should get into his rhythm.
Satoshi entered his wind up and threw out a fastball as directed. The ball lacked a little spin, but the speed and trajectory seemed okay.
DONG
Yet the flat ball was picked off right away and sent directly into the right outfield. Ken who was on high alert, had already started running forwards the moment he heard the ball connect.
In a fraction of a second, he was able to identify the balls angle and trajectory, thanks to his upgraded mental capacity.
"Eh?"
Coach Hyun's eyes bulged as he saw Ken seemingly enter hyper speed and track down the ball which should have been an easy single.
Pah
Ken dove forwards and stretched out his long arm, just barely catching the ball before it had hit the ground. He stood up to his feet and showed the closest umpire the ball within his glove.
"Out!"
"Looks like we made the right decision huh coach?" Coach Takashi said with a wild grin. His hand running through his goatee.
"Y-Yeah." Chris was stumped as he watched his son return back to his position in the outfield. Generally, one wouldn't see such a level of play from a regular outfielder, let alone someone who was playing it for the first time.
It wasn't that what Ken did was amazing or anything, just that it took a lot of balls and self confidence to do.
If he had missed the ball, or misjudged the trajectory and let it soar over his head, the runner would most definitely have had a free ride to at least 2nd base.
"Nice one Ken!"
Masayuki ran over and smacked him on the back.
Ken cringed a little from the pain but he still wore a smile.
"I'll just say this, remember that there is no one behind you to pick up for your mistakes. This isn't like being on the mound, we're the last line of defense."
It was clear by his words that Masayuki was a perfect fit for the captaincy. He managed to both give praise and constructive criticism within the same breath, leaving Ken more receptive to his calls.
"But… He hasn't played outfield before right?" Coach Hyun stammered, feeling some of his earlier excitement falter.
"Batting 2nd, Left outfield, Youngjae."
Hearing the butchering of his name, Youngjae cringed slightly before stepping into the batters box. He had seen the earlier play from Ken and looked at the coach for confirmation on what to do.
After receiving no meaningful response, he looked back at the pitcher and decided to proceed with the original plan. Instantly, he felt the intimidating gaze of Satoshi on the mound and gulped.
WHOOSH
"Strike"
Daichi nodded, even though it was only the second pitch, he could feel that it was sharp.
'Perhaps he's better when it's an actual game.' He thought before throwing the ball back to the mound.
Crouching down, Daichi called for another ball on the outside, this time a two-seam fastball. Once this one went through, he'd call for a cutter and beat the batter.
Or at least that was the plan.
DOOONG