Everybody but Latrell stood rooted on the spot, watching as the ball soared through the air into the center outfield. Ken felt his heart sink, not expecting his pitch to be hit at such a point in time.
All he could do now was hope that it wouldn't go over the fence, otherwise they would be subject to another 4 innings of baseball.
Latrell sprinted towards the back wall, showing off his intense speed. He arrived at the back fence rather quickly and turned towards the ball which was still in the air. For a moment, he stood still, giving the impression that he wouldn't have a chance at catching it.
However, he casually held out his glove in front of his face and easily caught the ball.
Pah~
He quickly showed it to the umpire not far away, who made the call.
"Out! Game set, Gladiators!"
"YEAH!"
The field erupted into cheers while Ken let out a sigh of relief on the mound. The hit had been far too close for comfort, despite him throwing it high, it had carried much further than he would have anticipated.
Caught in his relief, Ken had almost forgotten what usually came after winning.
'Crap, I need to hide.' He thought, his eyes darting around the field. He looked directly to where Steve would have been, but frowned since he couldn't see him.
'Where the hell did Steve go?'
It was only then out of the corner of his eye, he saw the guy sprinting off the field, shedding his gear and holding his backside. It seemed that the prophesied dump had arrived earlier than expected.
"PFFT"
Ken felt his sides begin to cramp as he tried to hold in his laughter. It was only when he was approached by his team for celebrations that he was finally able to calm down.
Now that they had secured victory, Ken felt a sense of accomplishment. While it wasn't at the same level of Koshien, he had actually enjoyed competing with his teammates over the past 4 days.
While nothing would come out of it for now, Ken believed that he'd done enough to attract some more colleges for his consideration in the future.
"Good game man."
Ken span around after hearing the deep voice, only to see the opposing pitcher Cade nearby, holding his hand out for handshake. Ken evaluated him slightly before grasping the hand.
"You too man, you pitched well." He responded respectfully. Ken was one to respect his opponents, unless they pissed him off, like the catcher from earlier.
"Heh, not as good as you apparently." Cade said self-deprecatingly.
Ken shook his head, "Comparison isn't always good. I'm sure you have some good College offers already." He replied.
"Mmm. I'm sure you'll have some as well soon." After saying as much, Cade moved on and began to shake the remainder of his teammates hands.
As if following after their ace, the rest of the Dodgers made their way over and did the same, shaking hands with their adversaries. While it wasn't like Japan where one would bow to each other before and after the game, Ken still liked this kind of thing.
When it came to shaking Brady's hand, the guy looked to be rather devastated. However, he bit his bottom lip and bowed his head, "I'm sorry for trash talking earlier." He said sincerely.
It seemed that he'd learned his lesson in provoking Ken.
"Haha, don't worry about it. I love a good trash talking." Ken responded, gripping his hand a little tighter, "Your squeeze bunt was great by the way."
"T—Thanks." Brady replied, his face lighting up a little.
While this was happening on the field, Coach Wyatt and Coach Roberts shook each others hand.
"Congratulations on the win coach. Withholding the slider and forkball was a real devious strategy, it really threw a spanner in our plans." Coach Roberts said, wearing a wry smile.
"Ah… You see, Ken only told me just before the game that he could pitch those two…" Coach Wyatt responded weirdly.
"Huh?"
Coach Roberts stared at him blankly, his gaze moving to Ken on the field. "You mean to tell me that it was his idea to bring out those pitches for the finals?" He wore a pensive expression, as if he was shocked by the abilities of the Junior pitcher.
Coach Wyatt shrugged, "I don't know all the details, but I don't think Ken is that kind of person. He's only been in the team for a couple of months, there's a chance that our Catcher didn't know he could pitch those two balls."
However, this only made Coach Roberts even more confused. "Right… Well, congratulations all the same coach. Let's hope we can match up next year with a whole different team." He responded.
The thing about 18U tournaments was that every year nearly the whole team would change. With more than half the players moving onto college, it made it quite difficult to keep any sort of consistency.
"Sure thing, maybe we'll see each other back in Texas."
With that, the two separated and rounded up their teams, sending them back to their benches. Despite the game ending, there was still a large amount of people left in the audience, likely for what was to come next.
The charismatic announcer who had graced everyone's ears before the match had begun came onto the field, holding his microphone.
"Wow, what an amazing final game we just witnessed here at East Cobb Fields. Thank you all for attending the WWBA Tournament sponsored by Perfect Game, we appreciate your presence."
"To all teams who attended the tournament, we'd like to thank you for putting on a great show for us. But now it is time for the award ceremony where we hand out the awards for great performances."
In the Gladiators bench, Steve managed to sneak back in, finding a seat beside Ken. His face looked a little pale, likely from the war he'd just experienced in the bathroom.
"You all good man?" Ken asked, unable to wipe the smirk off his face.
"I hate you…"