With a leap, Ken brought his right leg upwards and kicked off the wall. Due to his height and long limbs, the jump had catapulted him high above the wall.
Once he felt like he'd reached the maximum altitude, he turned his head, only to see the ball much closer than he had anticipated. At some point he must have run off course, causing the ball to be on a direct pathway to his face.
'Crap!'
With the reflexes of a cat, he placed the glove in front of his face, only to feel the ball make impact with his nose through the mitt. However, he didn't have time to feel sorry for himself, quickly turning his attention to his descent.
With the ball secured in his glove, Ken did his best to land on his feet without risking injury. Thankfully, he had the Fine motor control skill, allowing him to control every aspect of his body with relative ease.
A moment later, he landed safely on his feet. Only then, did he feel the pain of being smacked in the nose by a ball. It was a shooting pain, but he quickly shrugged it off, showing the ball in his glove to the nearby umpire.
"Out!"
"3 outs, changeover!"
"Holy crap!"
"Nice one Ken."
Latrell trotted over from the center outfield position and offered a high five. But his face changed a second later, "Are you okay?"
Ken sniffed, only to feel a warm liquid exiting his nose.
"Ah damn it." He muttered, trying not to get blood on his uniform.
The large teen who had hit the home run and was leisurely jogging around the bases, suddenly heard the out call and almost tripped over his own feet. He stood frozen on the spot and looked out towards the right outfield in shock.
Coach Wyatt on the other hand was gobsmacked. When Ken told him that he had played the outfield position before, he wasn't expecting much, merely using it as a reason to keep him in the batting lineup.
But in the very first inning he'd already robbed a home run.
However, upon seeing Ken getting closer with a worried looking Latrell beside him, his expression changed.
'What happened?'
He soon found out, as Ken approached with blood pouring out of his nose.
"Quick, get the first aid kit." Coach Wyatt ordered one of his assistants.
When Ken arrived, the coach placed his hand on the teen's shoulder, "Nice catch out there. Let's get you sorted out."
Thankfully, they were now batting, meaning there was some time to get Ken patched up before he needed to bat. At first glance, he could tell that there was no break, allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Can you breathe through your nose?" He asked.
Ken tried, but it felt as if it was blocked. He shook his head in response.
"Okay that's fine. I'll shove these in for now to stop the bleeding, you should be fine to continue playing. Only if you want to of course."
Ken gave the coach a look, which was all he needed to see.
"Haha, alright go take a seat. We'll need you to hit big this inning." He said with a grin.
Apart from feeling stuffy and having a bit of a headache, Ken was fine. He moved over to the bench, only to become the center of attention.
"Dude that was so cool."
"I can't believe you robbed a homer so casually."
"Thanks for that Ken…" Brett said, looking as if he'd just swallowed a lemon. It took a lot for him to speak up like this, especially since finding out Ken was also good in the outfield and apparently anything to do with baseball in general.
Ken gave him a simple thumbs up, turning his attention to the field.
"You all good man?" Steve asked, sitting down next to him.
"Yeah, no worries. My girlfriend's father hits harder than this." He said with a grin.
However, the words caused Steve's face to pale. Just what kind of father would hit their daughter's boyfriend? His mind wandered for a while, imagining himself in a ring against Steph's father.
'I could probably take him…'
BANG
The sound of Nico hitting the ball into open space jolted him out of his reverie. The rest of the bench cheered as he easily made it to first base without any opposition.
Ken got up from his feet and collected the bat he'd practiced with earlier. He made sure to place it aside, wanting a sense of familiarity in his first at-bat.
Latrell approached the batters box with a determined expression, his eyes focused on the pitcher. From this angle, Ken could see the definition of the teen's muscles through his tight uniform.
While he was already in good shape when they met, after Ken's training for the past 2 months, there were some differences. Most notably, Latrell's stamina had greatly improved from all the running and conditioning he'd been put through.
Sure, baseball might not be a stamina intensive sport, but there were only benefits associated with training it.
Latrell's batting form looked powerful, despite him standing in what some would call a neutral position. Perhaps it was because of his physique, but it looked like he could hit some bombs.
PAH
"Ball."
The first pitch came flying past, entering the glove on the outside of the strike zone.
Ken whistled in appreciation. The ball was a cutter with some good movement and judging by the sound it made going into the glove, it was fast.
"Good vision Latrell." Ken called out, egging on his friend.
Keeping his composure, Latrell waited for the next ball. It wasn't long before a fastball came right down the middle, taking him by surprise.
WHOOOOSH
WHACK
The ball was hit, sailing over the shortstops head with some speed. The player tried to jump for the ball, but missed out by only a few inches.
Ken pumped his fist, letting out a smile as he watched Latrell easily cruise to first base. In only the first inning, their team already had two players on base and no outs.
Now it was his job to send them home.
'Let's see how far I can hit it with this bat.'