“Yeah! Let him hit, we won’t let anything pass.” Manuel mirrored his brothers sentiments, resulting in a few other voices coming from the rest of the field.
Ken’s gaze was still remaining on Jorge. While he couldn’t fully see his face from that far away, he raised his hand in a thank you gesture.
Jorge couldn’t help but chuckle, shaking his head in exasperation.
‘I’m not doing this for you… Our pride is worth more than a single game. Not that we intend on letting you win.’ He thought, getting into position.
While Guillermo was still in shock, he turned his head to the Head Coach, as if to get confirmation. He felt like he needed some validation before making such a decision.
The Head Coach let out a small sigh before nodding, telling the catcher to face Ken head on.
“Alright, well you wanted a face off. I hope you’re prepared.” Guillermo said, before squatting down into position.
Ken felt elated. For some reason this guy had been goaded into facing him.
‘Haha! My charm must be out of this world.’ He thought, gripping his bat tightly.
Of course he still had to face the submarine pitches of Antonio, but at least he now had an opportunity to win it for Japan.
Guillermo called for the pitch, placing his glove on the outside of the strike zone.
Antonio nodded before winding up and sending the ball out from a low angle.
Ken’s eyes widened, following the course of the pitch. In an instant he knew that it was not the sinker he was looking for, therefore he simply watched it as it entered the glove of the catcher.
PAH
“Strike.”
He wasn’t confident in hitting the slider. It was far too tricky to make contact with, especially since he’d only seen it a few times this match. Were it not for being in the final innings, he might have tried to hit it out of principle.
Ken returned to his position and stared back at Antonio.
‘Throw it… I know you want to.’
The next ball came, taking on almost the exact course as the last ball.
PAH
“Strike.”
This time, Ken frowned.
‘Two sliders in a row? Does this guy know I’m waiting for a sinker?’
He was now in a pickle with the count at 2-2 due to the 2 consecutive strikes. He now needed to make contact with the ball if it looked like it was going to be a strike, otherwise it was quite literally game over.
Ken took in a deep breath through his nose and out through his mouth, savoring his clear mental state.
He now had no choice but to use everything at his disposal and wait for the sinker.
Antonio once again dove into his wind up, once again sending out a damned slider.
Yet this time, Ken seemed to undo his mental shackles, taking in every bit of information that entered his vision. The angle, velocity and even rotation of the ball were all taken into consideration as he watched on like a hawk.
DING
“Foul.”
Guillermo almost jumped in surprise as he saw Ken actually make contact with the slider. He had noticed earlier that the guy wouldn’t even swing at them usually, as if he was waiting for another pitch.
Therefore, he thought that the guy had no chance of making contact with it. Yet this foul had subverted his expectations.
But that didn’t mean he’d given up calling for it.
The next ball that came was another slider, this time wider than the last.
PAH
“Ball 3.”
Ken let it go through to the catcher out of instinct. Yet when he heard the count, he almost had a heart attack.
‘Crap! I forgot they already had 2 balls from before.’
That meant that if there was another ball he’d get walked to 1st base, going right back to his earlier predicament.
‘Please oh please for the love of baseball, throw a damn sinker.’
Despite complaining inwardly like a child, Ken kept his poker face. He needed to pay close attention from now on. If there was one wild pitch that he didn’t make contact with for a foul, it would be game over.
Feeling slightly suffocated, Ken returned to his position.
Antonio wiped the sweat off his brow, feeling the fatigue of the long match start to eat away at him. He had been pitching non-stop since the 2nd inning and wanted nothing more for the game to be over.
‘This guy is so stubborn.’ He thought inwardly.
Perhaps if he hadn’t had to waste so many pitches in the past couple of innings, he might have been fresh enough to persevere. Yet there was no point in thinking about such things.
‘Let’s end it with this one.’
In the next moment, he bent down and sent his pitch blitzing towards the plate. It was one of his best pitches of the day, despite being so late in the game.
Yet the moment it left his fingertips, he saw a wide grin appear on Ken’s face.
‘What?’
Ken felt as if time had slowed down, instantly recognizing that his Crunch Time skill had activated. He felt strength enter his limbs, causing his body to heat up in response.
‘I’ve been waiting for this.’ He thought with glee.
There was no need to overuse his mental capacity in this situation, therefore he sealed it once more to avoid a headache.
He felt his body filled with power as he twisted his core and sent the bat roaring towards the path of the ball with ill intent.
DOOOOOOOONG
Like the sound of a gong, the bat resonated in the arena, causing everyone to subconsciously get to their feet and follow the path of the ball.
Antonio swung around, feeling despair grip at his heart.
Hiroki almost jumped a few feet in the air in excitement as he began his run.
Ken followed the ball for a while, but he knew the result already.
Walk-off Home Run.
There you have it. Cuba played right into Ken’s hands…
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