'W-What the hell does he want?' Steve thought, confused. 'It's not like I could have hit that ball.'
However, as Ken looked down at his hands by his waist, Steve finally understood.
'He's giving me signs??' Steve's eyes lit up as he saw the sign for another slider. He turned to the pitcher, only to see the guy begin his wind-up again.
PAH
"Ball."
Sure enough, another slider was thrown, this time outside of the strike zone. Steve felt a bomb go off in his mind, 'How could he have figured out their signs already?'
Ken had only been on 2nd base for around 6 pitches so far, so it didn't make sense that he would already have deciphered their signs. Unless he was a genius of course.
Steve's mind wandered, remembering the almost perfect score on the SAT's that Ken was able to achieve. 'I guess it makes sense…' He thought.
'If I know what's coming, maybe I'll really be able to convert some runs…'
Suddenly, the pressure surrounding him disappeared. His frame felt light as the confidence surged from within. He turned to Ken, waiting for the next sign.
However, this time instead of giving him the signal, Ken simply shrugged his shoulders.
'EH!? WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN?' He screamed inwardly.
But there was no time to think since the pitcher had already begun. The ball left his fingertips a few moments later as the ball came whipping into view.
WHOOOSH
PAH
"Strike."
'A curve!? Damn it! Who throws 3 breaking balls in a row?' Steve complained, his annoyance going through the roof. The count was now 1-2 and they were potentially 1 pitch away from coming away with nothing in this crucial 4th inning.
Steve turned his gaze to Ken and was about to glare at him, but this time he received another signal.
'A fastball? I should be able to hit this…' He thought, gripping his bat tighter.
'Is it inside or outside?'
Steve's mind filled with possibilities. Just knowing what type of pitch it was going to be should help a lot, but he still needed to work on the timing and placement in order to get a good hit off.
If it was anything short of an outfield hit, they would be done for.
Steve tried to swallow down his nervousness, his attention placed solely on the pitcher. The surroundings seemed to quieten down as he honed his focus.
From the lifting of his front leg to the stride, all the way to the release of the ball, Steve's eyes were wide open.
'Outside!'
His whole body jerked into action. Steve's front foot planted before he twisted his body and threw his arms into the swing. He could already see the trajectory of the pitch, he just needed to time it correctly.
Time seemed to slow down for him as the ball and the bat neared each other.
WHOOOOOSH
Then, Steve felt probably the best feeling in the world run through his hands and up to his arms.
THWACKK!
Steve followed through, his eyes glued to the ball which had sprung off his bat. Just from the feeling of hitting it, he knew that it had hit the sweet spot. But that didn't mean they were out of the woods just yet.
With a sense of anxiety, he watched silently as the ball traveled into the right outfield, its trajectory unknown.
"Run around the bases you idiot." Latrell said in an amused voice as he crossed home plate.
These words seemed to snap Steve out of his reverie. He had been too focused on where the ball would end up to remember he needed to run.
'Crap…' Steve quickly surged forward towards 1st base, trying to make up for lost time. His eyes were still trying to pay attention to where the ball was going, only to see the right outfielder running with all of his might towards the fence.
"Catch it Caleb!" The center fielder shouted desperately. Having a Grand Slam hit against them in the 4th inning was a sure-fire way of losing a game. Especially when facing a pitcher like Ken.
Caleb's frame was athletic, not to mention he was rather tall. When the guy arrived at the fence, he turned his body towards the oncoming ball, his face filled with focus.
He bent his legs before leaping high into the sky and throwing his glove up to catch the ball. A collective hush washed over the field as everyone's attention was on the outfielder.
Pah~
The ball hit the tip of the glove, and just when it looked like it was going to bounce off, the fielder tightened his grip. Like this, the ball barely managed to stay locked into the webbing.
However, due to the speed in which the ball was sent into the glove, the fielders arm was knocked back into the fence.
"C—Crap!"
Despite how tightly he was gripping the ball, hitting his arm against the top of the fence was enough to dislodge the teetering leather ball. Caleb watched on in horror as the ball left his glove and floated over the fence.
Silence fell over the field as everyone tried to understand what had happened in the outfield.
"Y—YEAH!"
Coach Wyatt was the first to break the silence, a husky roar sounding out from the Gladiators bench. It was soon followed by the cheers of both the crowd and the Gladiators players themselves.
Steve who had almost stopped in place after seeing his ball wrestled from the air, suddenly felt dumbstruck.
"It went over?"
A feeling of elation surged from within as he just realized what he'd done.
"GRAND SLAM!" He jumped into the air, pumping his fist in triumph. Feeling overwhelmed with a sense of achievement, he almost forgot he needed to keep running around all the bases.
With his emotions running high, Steve practically skipped like a schoolgirl around the bases towards home. When he arrived, he saw his 3 teammates waiting to celebrate with him.
'Ah, this is the best…' he thought with satisfaction.
SLAP
SLAP SLAP
"A—AH! What are you doing?" He squealed in fright, now covering his backside.
"Nice homer!"
SLAP
"H—HELP."