With that, the Gladiators were back around to Nico, the lead-off batter in their line up.
"Batting 1st, Short Stop, Nico."
As the guy came up to the batters box, his face was filled with determination. He was the only one of the starting batters to not get a hit yet which didn't sit well with him. Now that they were in an advantageous position, he wanted to keep the pressure on.
'Just a single will be enough…' He thought.
The catcher Brady seemed to be a little out of sorts compared to the previous innings. Perhaps if they weren't down 4 runs already, he might have been able to change gears, but the scoreboard was bearing down on him.
"Come on Cade! You can do it!"
"Let's go Dodgers!"
A few shouts from the crowd broke through Brady's concentration, or lack-thereof. Yet for some reason, the cheers only added to the pressure he was feeling.
He crouched down and called for a slider, wanting to get ahead in the count.
'As long as we can control the count, we can stop hemorrhaging runs.' He thought, steeling his resolve.
Cade nodded, his powerful frame entering the wind-up. In the next moment, his wicked slider came out, snaking through the air as it targeted Brady's glove.
Nico's eyes lit up, his body surging into action.
"Not. This. Time" He exclaimed, twisting his body and sending the bat flying towards the outside of the strike zone.
It seemed as if he was expecting the slider, but it was surprising that he would go for such a pitch.
WHOOOOSH
WHACK
Nevertheless, the bat made contact with the ball, catapulting it into the gap between first and second base. Adam was almost cleaned up by the errant ball during his run towards second. Luckily his athletic frame allowed him to leap over it, avoiding the most painful outcome.
"Nice hit Nico!"
The Gladiators cheered out in elation after seeing the guy had secured a base hit. They were now in a great scoring position once more with the clean-up batters showing up soon.
Brady let out a sigh, his body language showing his disappointment. Even Cade who was usually stoic, began to show signs of fatigue.
They couldn't be blamed. Not only had they played a lot of games over the past 4 days, but their situation also seemed rather hopeless. The Gladiators seemed to be a step ahead throughout the whole game.
"Battings 2nd, Center outfield, Latrell."
"Let's go Latrell! Hit it big!"
As the athletic guy came up to the batters box, Ken approached the field with his bat in his hand and helmet secured. His instincts were tingling, which meant that there were more runs coming.
He turned to the bench, only to see Steve giving him some thumbs up. Despite being out of earshot, he could tell what the guy was thinking.
'Hurry up and end the game.'
Ken shook his head, letting out a small chuckle. They were currently up 4 runs at the top of the 5th inning, which meant they needed at least 4 more in order to invoke the mercy rule.
Of course they would have to prevent the Dodgers from scoring once more, but Ken had all the confidence in the world to do so.
'Let's see what we can do.' Ken thought, his eyes focused on the pitcher.
Since he had the time now, Ken decided to try and make some adjustments to his mental capacity. In his last at-bat, he'd thrown caution to the wind and unleashed his entire focus, resulting in too much information pouring in.
This lead to a splitting headache, which felt like his mind was going to explode.
'If I want to be able to use it, I'll have to set some limitations.' He mused inwardly, focusing in on the pitcher.
As he saw the pitcher wind-up, Ken slowly removed his shackles. At first, the information came in small drops, giving him small insights into how fast the ball would be, as well as some hints on the trajectory.
PAH
"Ball."
Ken nodded, turning his attention back to the pitcher. This time, he tried to unleash more of his mental capacity. Things seemed to slow down as his mind processed everything at a much faster pace.
WHOOOSH
WHACK
Hearing the ball being struck, Ken watched it fly into the left outfield. Since he was using his ability, he already knew that it would be a double.
He nodded in satisfaction, trying to remember the feeling he just experienced. Since everything to do with his mental ability had to be done manually and with his own intent, Ken needed to be thorough.
Thanks to the double, Adam crossed home plate wearing a grin. He walked past Ken, and gave him a high five before triumphantly heading back to the bench.
'Let's put an end to this.' Ken thought, making his way over.
"Batting 3rd, Pitcher, Ken."
As Ken stepped into the batters box, he could feel Brady shrink back slightly. But instead of trying to intimidate him further, Ken completely ignored him.
Seeing this, Brady felt a hint of frustration, followed by helplessness. He felt like Ken was looking down on him, but when he thought about it, it made sense. It was clear to him that they were on different levels.
But then, he grit his teeth. 'I don't care if we lose… I just want to strike you out.' He thought, turning his attention back to his pitcher. He made a signal, and placed the glove on the outside.
'I'll have you swinging at nothing but air…'
On the mound, Cade's expression shifted momentarily before nodding his head. Without a word, he began his wind-up and sent his slider out like a whip towards the outside of the strike zone.
Ken's eyes locked onto the ball, his mind being flooded with information. However, in the next moment he noticed something that he hadn't felt in quite a while.
'Is that Crunch Time activating?'
Seeing that the surroundings had come to a crawl, Ken's face wore a wicked grin. He pulled back his mental capacity and planted his front foot with power.
'I guess this is the dagger.'
WHOOOOOSH
THWACKK!
The ball rocketed into the right outfield, quickly disappearing on the horizon. Caleb the right outfielder didn't even move, his legs rooted to the spot.
"YEAHHH!" Steve shot to his feet with a wild cry.