Despite radiating a fierce determination, Leo was feeling rather anxious on the inside. This only increased, when he felt the familiar burst of power from the mound as he stepped into the batters box.
They had been far too careless in the lead up to the game. Yet this current scenario was as much a result of their carelessness as it was Japan's coach's brilliance.
By using Ken as a closing pitcher and limiting his pitching arsenal, they were able to hide his true abilities from everybody in the competition.
Already, Ken had thrown 2 pitches that they'd never seen him throw before. The addition of those 2 pitches might not seem like that much, but it ripped a hole in their already shaky game plan.
Now that Leo had to worry about the changeup and slider, his window of opportunity had shrunk even more.
Leo gripped his bat tightly and stared down the freshman standing on the mound. This game had been eye opening for him in more than one way.
He had thought there was no challenges left for him in High School, yet a player had emerged from the other side of the world to prove him wrong.
Despite only being a freshman, he had held the entire US batting lineup to no hits in 7 innings. If one didn't find this impressive, then they were blind as well as stupid.
'I acknowledge you Ken… But I'm getting a hit this time.' He said inwardly, honing all of his focus on the tall figure upon the mound.
Ken could feel a sense of danger from Leo in the batters box, yet this only served to pump him up. The additional strength coursing through his body felt as if it needed an outlet.
He lifted his left leg high and tucked his arms to his chest, entering his wind up. In the next moment he exploded forth, sending his arm whipping out beside him.
WHOOOOOSH
PAH
"Strike!"
The swing was so intense that it had affected the ball's trajectory despite not making any contact with it. Thankfully Daichi was able to latch onto the ball, a testament to his continuous training and instinctual chemistry with his brother.
This elicited a noise from the crowd. Even from their vantage points, they could tell that the ball was close to being sent packing.
Daichi swallowed his saliva and threw the ball back to Ken.
"Nice pi~tch"
"HAHAHA"
Aki let out an uproarious laughter as he heard Daichi's voice crack. It wasn't just him, the shout was so loud that even those in the outfield had heard it.
Ken did his best to hide his smile, not wanting to embarrass his brother.
Leo on the other hand was still wearing his cold mask. Only now did he remember that the catcher was also a freshman. He'd been so focused on Ken that he'd forgotten about the other genius in the Japanese team.
Daichi's ears had turned bright red after the fact, wanting nothing more than to bury his head in the dirt and hide. If it wasn't for the fact he was in the middle of the finals of the World Cup, he might have even asked to get subbed off.
Yet after looking at the figure of Leo in the batters box oozing fighting spirit, he realized that he was overreacting. He shook his head and quickly adjusted his focus.
'Let's try for another fastball, inside this time.' He thought, calling for the pitch and placing his glove to the desired spot.
Ken also quickly recovered, nodding seriously. He entered his wind up and sent the ball rocketing towards the inside.
Leo's eyes lit up as he adjusted his center of gravity, pivoting his body slightly and letting loose his dreadful swing.
WHOOOOOSH
DOOOONG!
"W-WHOA!"
The crowd screamed and cheered as the ball sailed into the left outfield. At a glance it was easy to tell that the ball was heading over the back wall, yet the trajectory seemed a little off.
Everybody on the field followed the ball, watching with bated breath to see if it would stay fair.
'Go out!'
Michael stood out of his chair and prayed silently. He wasn't in a great position to see the angle of the hit, so he looked at the jumbo screen in worry.
As the ball and the foul post got closer, it was still not obvious what the result would be.
In the end, the ball made it into the stands without touching the foul post.
"Tch."
"Foul!"
All of the Japanese players on the field let out a collective sigh of relief after catching a break. The hit was far too close for comfort.
At this point, Daichi was freaking out. He knew that they couldn't throw any more fastballs to Leo otherwise they'd risk giving up a home run.
'We have to throw that now…'
With his mind made up, Daichi squatted down and made the signal, receiving a nod from Ken in response.
Leo's eyes narrowed.
'Here it comes…'
There was no way that any sane catcher would call for another fastball in this situation, not when he'd almost sent the last one packing with ease.
Ken entered his windup and sent the ball out, using the same action as his fastball.
'There it is!'
Leo's eyes scanned the ball and could see a difference in the shade of the ball. This was what the Head Coach had told him to look out for since changeup's spin slower than a fastball.
Since it spun slower, the seam would appear less often, giving it a lighter shade than a fastball. It was truly difficult to pick, yet Leo's mind had the capacity to differentiate between the two.
WHOOOOOSH
DONG
Leo felt a lot less contact on the ball than he would have wanted, but he still quickly threw the bat down and ran towards first base as fast as he could.
Riku only managed to collect the ball by the time the guy had almost arrived onto 2nd base.