The umpire’s eyes widened a little in confusion, but he quickly dismissed his concerns. As long as they weren’t purposefully aiming for the batter, he didn’t care.
Satoshi however, felt really odd. It wasn’t that he couldn’t throw such a pitch, just that it seemed wasteful. However, he eventually nodded and got into position to throw.
He performed his wind up and threw exactly to where Daichi was asking. Yet what happened next caused him to almost yelp in shock.
WHOOOOOOSH
DING!
The big guy had swung for the hills, looking as if he wanted to chop a tree down with murderous intent. Just the sound of the bat swinging through the air was loud enough for him to hear it on the mound.
The ball was thrust high into the air above the umpires head. As a seasoned umpire, he quickly moved out of the way, making sure not to impede the catcher from having a chance at getting to the ball.
With practiced ease, Daichi flung off his catchers mask and tracked down the ball in the air. There was quite a lot of spin on the ball, yet it soon dropped safely into Daichi’s glove.
“3 outs, changeover!”
The umpire was incredulous as he yelled out the call. This was the first time that he’d seen the US in the World Cup finish an inning after only facing 3 balls from a pitcher.
One might think it was the pitcher who was creating such opportunities, however he knew better. Daichi was the one making the calls from behind the plate, dictating the proceedings with an expert eye.
“Formidable…” He muttered.
Samuel was stunned, still standing in the batters box. He took a while to process what had happened, trying to understand where he went wrong.
He turned his gaze to Daichi who was already heading off to the dugout and narrowed his eyes.
‘I need to be careful next time.’ Sam said in his heart.
It wasn’t just the US team that were shocked. Since most of the crowd were rooting for their home team, their faces were either confused or solemn.
Throughout the entire World Cup, that was their shortest inning by far, even when compared to the end of the batting lineup.
“Damn, nice work guys!” Aki was pumped as he called out to Satoshi and Daichi on his way back in.
“Yeah, that only lasted for a few minutes.”
“How did you do it?” Kuro asked, his expression still gloomy in the midday sun.
“What are you guys talking about?” Daichi replied, in the midst of taking off his gear.
He had to be quick considering he’d be the first one up to bat.
Everyone turned to Satoshi a moment later, as if expecting him to fill them all in on what had happened.
Satoshi raised both his hands and stepped back.
“Don’t ask me, I just followed his leads.” He said, gesturing to Daichi.
Before they could follow up with him, Daichi stepped onto the field with his helmet and gloves on, promptly ignoring them.
“What is up with him?” Riku asked, his gaze moving to Ken.
“Come to think of it, both you and Daichi have been acting rather suspicious. What is it that you aren’t telling us?”
Masayuki stepped forward and questioned Ken who was in the midst of getting ready for his own at-bat.
Ken grinned, respecting the intuition of his Captain. However, he kind of enjoyed being one of the few who knew the game plan.
While he could tell them that he’d come up with a strategy for every batter and even Ryan the pitcher, he decided not to. There was a limited window for the latter strategy to work, and it would only become shorter if the whole team used it.
Therefore he walked up to Masayuki and placed his hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t worry Captain, we’ve got it under control.”
With that, he walked past the rest of the team.
Instead of being assured, Masayuki was frustrated.
“Damn cocky freshman…” He muttered, loudly enough for those in the vicinity to hear.
Hiroki heard this and quickly slunk his way over to the bench, trying not to draw attention to himself.
With his burning curiosity, Masayuki approached Chris the assistant coach in hopes of answers. He figured that if anyone were to know the brother’s tactics, their father would be a top contender.
“Coach, do you know what type of tactics Daichi is using to strike out these guys?” He was rather upfront, not wanting to beat around the bush.
“Hmm? Tactics?” Chris pondered, briefly looking over to Coach Takashi for confirmation.
“Didn’t Ken ask for the hard drive with all the US games on it?” The Head Coach replied after a while.
“Ah! That’s right. He asked me this morning for that, then he disappeared until it was time to leave.”
“Huh?”
Masayuki seemed a little taken aback. He knew that Daichi liked to go through film and do research, but not Ken.
Even so, if he figured something out, wouldn’t it have been beneficial to tell the team? Or at least tell the coach’s in such a situation?
Masayuki pondered for a while, placing his hand on his chin in thought. That was when a distinct noise broke him out of his reverie.
DOOOOONG
He quickly swung his head around, only to see Daichi sprinting towards first base with his head down.
‘Where’s the ball?’
His eyes narrowed as he tried to find the ball, yet it proved difficult with all the jumping and shouting coming from the others in the dugout.
It was only when the right outfielder sent the ball back towards the infield that Masayuki was able to track down the ball. By then, Daichi had already slid onto 2nd base, safe and sound.
“Nice one Daichi!”
“So close to a Home run!”
Ken who was still on the side of the field, saw Ryan’s expression and couldn’t help but feel a mocking smile creep onto his face.
‘He’s probably too arrogant to notice.’ Ken snickered inwardly.
What does Ken know that the US team themselves not know? Could this be what gets Japan ahead in the game?
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