Ken was stunned by the ruthless call of the coach just moments after the mistake was made. Sure he thought that the guy was an idiot, but he didn't expect that such a move would get him tossed from the game immediately.
'Is this what college ball is like?' Ken thought, assessing the situation with a frown on his face.
However, he shook his head. This was more than likely Coach Brown asserting his power over the players. Since this was his first year as Head Coach, it was understandable that he would be harsh, at least in the beginning.
The problem was, Ken hated this type of dictatorial coaching method. It was one thing if the coach was harsh on their mistakes, but something else entirely if he was just throwing his weight around for the sake of it.
But he could only remain silent. His playing time hinged on his ability to show off his skills in this game, so no matter how much he didn't agree with it, he needed to hold his tongue.
Zachary trudged off the field with his head lowered, obviously upset with himself. He was about to walk past the coach and into the dugout, but he was stopped.
"Zachary, you're a Center outfielder, do you know what that means?" Coach Brown asked, placing a hand on the guy's shoulder.
Before he answered, the coach continued. "It's your job to direct the outfield. That means you need to be evaluating the play and making the right calls. If you had have looked where the ball was going, you would have seen that Ken was in the better position to make the catch."
His tone was steady, like that of a father softly correcting one of their children. While Zachary was still disappointed, he nodded, "Yes coach."
"Okay good. Go sit on the bench and reflect for a little while, I'll put you back in the game after the 3rd inning." He said, patting the guy on the back.
Zachary's body froze before he nodded like a pecking chicken and made his way past. If they were using regular game rules, once substituted, a player couldn't come back onto the field. Of course this was just a practice game.
"Liam, you're up." Coach Brown said, looking towards a lanky guy on the bench.
"Y—Yes coach!"
Once Liam took his place in the center outfield, the game resumed once more.
Steve wore a wry expression on his face after receiving two bad pitches in a row. He sighed in his heart, wishing that Ken would come up to the mound already.
'What's with this guy? He's not throwing it to where I want it…' He complained inwardly.
His eyes moved to Coach Brown who had just ruthlessly taken the outfielder out of the game moments earlier, half expecting him to move Blake off the mound. However, his prayers were not answered.
In fact, the coach seemed to be rather confident in Blake's abilities, at least from what Steve could gather.
'Is he just a slow starter or something?' he considered.
Steve shook his head. Blake was a division 1 college player, even if he was just a 2nd string pitcher. This should mean that he had some skills that the coach's approved of.
'Alright, I've got no information about my pitcher and we have 2 runners on base with no outs, not to mention that the next two batters are the clean-up crew…'
Instead of pumping himself up, Steve only felt even more depressed.
'Wait… Maybe they're testing me?' He thought, his eyes narrowing. He had just told Ken the same thing earlier when the guy was sulking.
When he thought about it, it started to make sense. Why else would they have paired him with a pitcher he didn't know, especially when they were aware that he and Ken had been a battery for well over a year in High School.
Thinking this, Steve's lips turned up into a grin.
"Alright, challenge accepted." He muttered.
'If this guy is a slow starter, let's try work out of the zone for now and get his arm fully warmed up. I'll avoid any breaking balls first and get a feel for his pitches.'
With that, Steve placed his glove outside of the strike zone and called for a fastball.
WHOOOSH
PAH
"Strike."
'Lucky~'
Thankfully, the batter had swung for the ball, probably thinking that he would get an easy hit like the last two batters.
PAH
"Ball."
'Good. Now let's see what your slider looks like.'
WHOOOSH
PAH
"Strike."
'Not bad, not bad. It's got some nice movement.' Steve assessed. 'I can work with this.'
With a 1-2 count, he decided to take a risk, calling for a fastball in the zone in hopes that the batter would be anticipating another ball.
The wind-up came before the pitch was thrown perfectly. Steve's eyes widened in delight, seeing that he was receiving what he asked for.
'It worked!'
But in the next moment his expression morphed.
WHOOSH
WHACK
The ball was struck dead on for a line drive straight back to the pitcher.
Everyone in the stadium held their breath as the ball rocketed towards Blake on the mound who was still following through from his pitch. Just as everyone believed that the guy was going to be struck, something unexplainable happened.
Blake twisted his body, just managing to move out of the way in time. It flew right past his ear and headed towards Yu who was near 2nd base.
The guy was quick on his feet as he dove in the air, sticking out his glove.
PAH
But the force of the ball caused it to bounce out of the webbing and onto the ground in front of him. Instead of panicking, Yu grabbed the ball and stood on 2nd base before throwing it to 1st.
"Out!"
"Holy crap, a double play!"
Everything had happened so fast that no one really had the time to react to the play.