PAH
Right at the last moment, the ball snaked to the outside of the strike zone, just evading Ken's bat by a inch.
"Strike."
Ken frowned slightly, but he didn't dwell on it too much. He had picked the slider, but underestimated how far it would break.
His gaze looked up to Ethan who shot him a haughty glance, something he had been expecting. Having faced many cocky players in his time, Ken easily shrugged off the blatant attempt at getting under his skin.
'We'll see how long you can keep up such an expression.' Ken mused, looking forward to wiping off the smug grin as soon as possible.
The next ball came on a similar path, this time a slurve. Ken's eyes lit up as he tilted his body and swung at it with power.
He wanted to send it flying over the fence.
WHOOOOSH
CLICK
The bat nicked the ball, sending it flying into the foul zone and right past the fielder on 1st base.
"Foul."
Just like that, Ken was now on a 1-2 count and his back was against the wall. However, he didn't panic. It wasn't like he couldn't hit the pitches, he had trained far too much for someone at Ethan's level to get the better of him.
Elsewhere in the crowd, Coach Johnson was watching on with interest, assessing Ken's batting form with an insightful eye.
"What do you think Coach? Who is going to win, your new golden boy or your protege Ethan?"
Coach Reynolds thought for a while before shrugging. "How should I know? This is the first test for Ken against a college pitcher." He turned to the Aussie coach and grinned, "I should be asking you if you think Ken can hit against Ethan."
"Hehe, you're right old man. But to answer your question... I don't think he's ready quite yet." He replied matter-of-factly. "After all," Coach Johnson continued, "he's only just learned a proper batting technique."
The older man nodded. "It's still only early days, he'll have plenty of time to adjust to college level." While he had the ultimate faith with Ken's pitching, the same couldn't be said about his batting.
THWACK!!
"Eh?"
Both Coach's faces faltered as they heard the loud echo of the ball being struck by Ken's bat. The two watched as the ball flew into center field, seemingly disappearing into the horizon.
"Or maybe not..."
The two looked at each other, noting the surprise on each of their faces before breaking into chuckles. Not often were they made to eat their own words, so soon after they were spoken as well.
Ken followed his ball for a few moments before locking his gaze onto Ethan. 'Come on. Look this way...' Ken said in his heart, placing his bat down on the ground.
The moment Ethan turned and faced him, a brilliant smile bloomed on Ken's face as he saw the result of his hard work. Seeing Ethan's somber expression was enough for him to feel quite satisfied.
"Nice hit Ken!"
As Ken jogged around the bases, he received some encouraging words from the main squad on his way last.
Tristan especially seemed to be in a great mood, almost fondling him on his way to 3rd base. Apart from Ethan, everyone appreciated his home run.
"Didn't you say he just learned this batting technique? How come he looks like he's been doing it for years?" Coach Coleman approached Coach Johnson and asked in puzzlement.
"I have no idea…"
What the three coach's didn't know, was that Ken had been crazily practicing the new technique in his Image Training for the past week. Finding out that there was a way to get more power while keeping his balance, of course Ken would be excited.
This, paired with the new batting missions that he'd been putting off for a while, made for great timing.
When Ken made his way to the dugout, Coach Brown gave him a cursory nod, as if he was satisfied with the play. I mean, it was difficult to look sour after your player just hit a massive home run.
"Dude nice homer!"
The 2nd string and freshman players were hyped up from the play, bombarding him with high fives and fist bumps in the dugout. To them, even getting a single home run against the main squad was something worth celebrating.
"Don't be satisfied with just this…" Ken said, his expression turning serious for a moment. "I want to beat them."
"Eh?"
A look of confusion broke out amongst the 2nd squad. To them, this game was one where they were meant to showcase their own abilities. Winning and losing didn't matter in the long run.
"Ken, why are you focused on that? You should just be looking to make some good plays yourself." Blake, the pitcher from earlier spoke up. Despite being in the same position as Ken, it was clear that he recognized the latter's abilities.
"What do you mean?" This time, Ken was getting a little frustrated. It was attitudes like this that likely prevented these 2nd string players from making it to the main squad to begin with.
He continued, "I have never played in a game that I didn't plan to win… To do otherwise, goes against my kind of baseball."
There was silence for a few moments as everyone took in his words.
Behind Ken, Coach Brown's eyes lit up before he quickly turned around. He couldn't hide the wild grin that crept onto his face after hearing such a line. It seemed that he and Ken held a similar ethos.
"But do you really think we can beat them?" Yu asked meekly, his tone showing how little confidence he had in actually doing so.
Ken turned to Yu and smiled, "Guys, we're college players too. Just because they might be a little older, or more experienced, doesn't mean that we will lose."
"Baseball isn't a game that is based around such certainties." He said matter-of-factly.