"Forgive me coach, if my laughter has somehow disrupted the flow of the game." Ken stated, though he didn't sound sincere.
The two stood in front of each other in silence for what seemed like an awfully long time before the Coach made the next move.
"Let's have a chat in my office later." He said, patting Ken on the arm.
Like that, he turned and walked back up the stairs to the top of the dugout, leaving the rest of the players nearby to breathe out a sigh of relief.
Steve on the other hand was mortified. He waited till the coach left the dugout and dragged Ken by the arm away from everyone.
"Dude, what the hell was that about?"
Ken was wearing a sour expression on his face, but he was also confused. At first he had thought Coach Brown was a harsh but fair coach, not unlike Coach Takashi from the U18 National Team.
But from how he'd acted in this game, Ken felt that he made a mistake.
"I don't know… I started playing baseball because it was fun. If we can't even laugh and carry on in the dugout, then I might have made the wrong choice coming here." Ken stated, his gaze on Coach Brown's back.
"B—Bro… Don't say that kind of stuff out loud." Steve said in a hushed tone.
However, Ken ignored him. He was quite annoyed with the coach's conduct, but he wasn't in the position to do anything right now, especially since he'd only just come to Columbia.
"Strikeout!"
While this was happening, the lead-off batter for the 2nd string team had already struck out on the field. After hearing this, Ken grabbed his helmet and bat, before heading up to deck.
He ignored the coach and began to go through his warm ups.
Ken's eyes moved to the mound and saw Ethan, the guy who had been hostile towards him on orientation day. The guy turned to him, his gaze fierce.
'Good timing… I was just wanting to let out some pent up stress.' Ken thought, tightening his grip on the bat.
He took a few big swings, causing the sound of rushing wind to echo in the vicinity. A few more pairs of eyes looked towards him, filled with mixed emotions.
Ken paid them no mind, his eyes focused on the big guy on the mound. He had seen Ethan pitch in practice, albeit only a couple of times. He was a solid pitcher who could throw upwards of 95mph consistently.
But Ken knew that it wasn't his fastball that made him so tricky to hit.
He watched as the ball snaked out of Ethan's hand, dipping low on an angle on the way to the catchers glove.
WHOOOSH
PAH
"Strike."
The thing about Ethan was his almost identical pitches. Both his slider and his slurve had very similar flight paths, right until the last moment, making it a nightmare to pick.
One could usually tell the difference by the speed and trajectory, if they paid close attention, but the guy was great at throwing both consistently. With the addition of a changeup and a wicked two-seam fastball, it left batters constantly guessing where to strike.
As if to back up his concerns, the next ball was a slider which easily beat the batter once more.
Ken had managed to time the pitch with his practice swing, but that was only half the battle. He needed to make sure that his barrel was in the right position, otherwise it would easily get past him.
"Strike."
PAH
"Strikeout!"
The final ball was a fastball to the inside, catching the batter off guard. After chasing two different outside pitches, he was not ready for the final ball to be on the inside.
With that, it was now Ken's turn to step into the batters box. He made his way up, doing his usual routine of hitting the plate and the toe of his cleats before getting into position.
Ken took a cursory glance at the coach, as if waiting for instruction, but all he received was a tip of the hat, indicating he was free to do as he pleased. Since there were two outs already, this made quite a bit of sense.
He turned his attention to Ethan on the mound, only to see the guy smirk. It seemed that he was pleased to be facing Ken from his position on the mound.
'Let's see what you've got.' Ken thought, tightening the grip on his bat. He had been wanting to humble this guy for a while, and this was the perfect opportunity.
There was also the fact that the coach was watching him intensely from the side.
Not wasting any time, Ethan entered his wind up. His powerful body lunged forward and whipped out the ball towards him, causing Ken's eyes to light up.
The ball seemed to be heading towards the center of the strike zone, but Ken felt that something was off.
With sharp reflexes, Ken stepped back, only to watch the ball break and head towards him.
PAH
"Ball."
"Nice read."
Ken turned to the catcher behind him who had just commented, feeling a little odd. But he soon remembered that this was an intersquad match and that they were actually teammates.
"Thanks." He responded simply. If he remembered correctly, this guy's name was Clinton Tully and was a Senior this year. He seemed rather nice, giving Ken a good impression.
Since they would be working together in the future, Ken wanted to remain on good terms with his catcher. To form a battery, there must always be a level of mutual respect and trust between the pitcher and their catcher.
Clint threw the ball back to Ethan who was still wearing a cocky grin. He seemed to enjoy the fact that Ken was forced back from the plate earlier.
However, this only made Ken more inclined to hit the crap out of the next ball. With his new batting technique, he was confident of getting far more power into his swing than before.
WHOOOOOOSH