Dean waved his hand dismissively, "You know that research isn't my strong suit. That's why they give you assistant coach's right?" He replied with a grin.
"Oi, I'm an assistant coach too." Chris retorted, feigning being offended.
"Yep, makes sense."
"Hahaha."
The two continued to chat expressively, causing both the Australian and Japanese players to watch on with confusion. Ken was assaulted by plenty of questions that he didn't have the answers to.
In fact, Ken was just as clueless as everyone else.
Around 20 minutes later, it was finally time for the game to start.
Since it was the Super Round, there was a change to the start of the match. Both teams lined up and the national anthem was played for each.
The crowd who was mostly American, were quiet as they listened to the music. There was around 4000 spectators this game, with more expected to join later in the day when the United States played.
After the brief interlude, both team's captains joined the umpire for the coin toss which Japan won. Masayuki declared they would be batting first, prompting the Aussies to take the field.
Once everyone was in position, the plate umpire made the call.
"Play ball!"
"Batting 1st, Left outfield, Riku."
Riku made his way over to the batters box, shifting his feet and limbering up. He was wearing his trademark grin as he got into position, holding his bat high and staring at the pitcher on the mound.
The pitcher had shoulder length blond hair and blue eyes, but he looked rather skinny.
There was only confidence in Riku's expression as he faced the pitcher. He'd seen enough of the guy in the film session to know that he was someone he could beat as long as he was smart.
Suddenly, the first pitch came out after a quick wind up. The course was tricky, yet it lacked the blinding speed that would make it truly difficult to hit.
DONG
Riku casually hit the ball, lofting it over the infielders heads and easily cruising to first base. He didn't even look like he was breaking a sweat after making the first base hit of the game.
Despite giving up a base hit, the pitcher didn't seem too concerned.
"Batting 2nd, Center outfield, Masayuki."
Masayuki walked into the batters box with a serious expression. Usually one would be happy after their teammate got onto base, yet that didn't seem to be the case here.
The reason was because Australia lead the World Cup in double-plays, and it wasn't by a small margin.
This meant that until a runner had returned home, nobody was safe.
Coach Takashi had drilled this into the team yesterday, even going as far as to threatening anyone who chose to bunt with being sent to the bench.
The Australian pitcher performed his quick pitch, sending the ball on an outside course. The ball was thrown around 140km/h, though it seemed to be breaking far more than usual.
Surprisingly, Masayuki placed his bat out in front of him as if he was going to bunt. The moment he did so, the entire infield lurched forwards.
"S-Second!"
Nikko shouted out loud before the ball had even reached the bat, alerting everyone to Riku who had already begun his descent onto 2nd base.
At the last moment, Masayuki pulled back his bat, allowing the ball through to the catcher.
As if not expecting the fake bunt, the catcher was stunned for a brief moment.
"SECOND!"
Once again the small guy shouted loudly, prompting the catcher to recover. He quickly stood up and sent the throw over the pitchers head towards second base.
Unfortunately for him, the lapse in judgment allowed Riku enough time to slide into place before the ball reached its destination.
Many of the Japanese players let out a sigh of relief, their hearts still pumping after the scene. After hearing how serious the coach was about not bunting, they thought the Captain would be substituted right away.
"Man, the Captain is playing with fire." Daichi said, feeling a cold sweat down his back.
Miho shook her head, "Those two do that kind of stuff all the time." She said matter-of-factly.
"I guess they're used to playing with each other by now." Ken stated observantly.
Miho laughed, its sound pleasant to the ears.
"You know, I heard they used to butt heads a lot in the U15 team." She said, a smile on her face.
Both Ken and Daichi nodded, this was not a surprise to them. Riku was an odd character who always liked to tease everyone, it would be rather surprising if the stoic Masayuki didn't find issues with him.
"How did they patch things up?" Daichi asked curiously.
Miho shrugged, "I guess they just acknowledged each others skills and threw away their differences."
"Hmm…"
Daichi went deep into thought. It seemed that having a common goal was a good way of reconciling with other people.
DONG
While the trio were chatting, Masayuki managed to hit a bomb into the outfield. The ball rocketed over everyone's heads and floated into center field towards the giant Jeb.
The tall guy planted his feet and leapt into the air, causing the spectators jaw's to drop.
Tap~
His outstretched glove managed to tip the edge of the ball, killing its momentum entirely and causing it to fall onto the ground.
What should have been an easy hit was stopped in mid air before it could complete its distance.
Jeb quickly bent down and cocked back his arm, sending a vicious throw from center field all the way to home plate, much to the horror of the Japanese team.
Masayuki heard something akin to a fighter jet fly past him as he was about to run to 2nd base. He quickly stopped in place and shouted out to Riku.
"Get Back!"
Riku who had just rounded 3rd base, suddenly heard the call of Masayuki and did his best to stop his run.
PAH
The sound of the ball hitting the catchers glove sounded out, causing some cries of shock in the crowd.
"What an arm!"