"Everyone gather up!" Ken shouted, bringing everybody in to the center of the diamond. The outfielders even came over, packing the center of the pitch.
"First of all, it is no ones fault that Jin got injured." He clarified, focusing his gaze on Kouichi who still looked to be shaken.
"This is the final friendly before we start the spring tournament. We need to give Coach some reassurance that we are the right players for the squad, otherwise most of us will be riding the bench for the entire season. This is our chance to set the pace and go into the tournament with momentum."
Slowly, the team started to lift their heads, resonating with his words. Ken decided to strike while the iron was hot.
"We've beat Kanagawa 9 times in the past 2 years of friendlies and tournaments. Let's all work together and get our 10th win today!" Ken finished, putting his glove into the center of the circle.
Daichi was the next to put his glove on top, sending a smile towards Ken. The others quickly followed suit and Ken turned to Kouichi with a smile.
"Send us off Ace."
Kouichi seemed startled for a moment as he turned his gaze to Ken. He suddenly felt a wave of determination, especially with the expectant looks from his other teammates. This was the first time he felt the pressure of being the Ace, yet instead of weighing him down with their expectations, his teammates were supporting him.
"SEIKO! FIGHT!"
"FIGHT!"
The team raised their hands with the chant before heading back to their positions. Coach Yoshida raised his eyebrow, inwardly shocked. He had not told Ken to call the meeting, nor had he given any instructions to the team.
"Interesting…" He said, cupping his chin with his hand in thought.
Even when Ken had been the Ace, he had never taken it upon himself to do such things, merely letting his pitching do the talking.
Either way, this was a good thing for their team so the Coach let it be. The look in Kouichi's face showed that he was no longer caught up in his guilt and was ready to continue the game.
His next 3 pitches were dynamite as they easily fooled the Kanagawa 3rd batter.
"3 outs, change!" The umpire yelled.
Ken didn't even have time to get used to the first base and was already sent to the dugout thanks to Kouichi's beautiful pitching. He walked over to the new Ace and put his arms around his shoulder.
"Hey man, remember you can let them hit a few times, we also want to play." He sounded like he was joking, but inside he wasn't sure if he could complete the mission if he didn't at least get the ball thrown to him.
"Haha, we'll see we'll see." Kouichi said, laughing it off as a joke.
"Ha ha…" Ken laughed along, but inwardly he was anxious.
'Did I fire him up too much?' he thought, feeling a tinge of regret.
The Coach came over to the players and opened his mouth, "The batting line up will be the same, with Ken replacing Jin as the second batter. Any complaints?"
"No Coach." The group answered.
"Ken. You told me that you could bunt? If Keisuke manages to get on base I want you to do a sacrifice bunt okay?"
"Yes Coach!" Ken replied while putting his helmet and gloves on.
"Great. Let's go."
Keisuke approached the batters box and hit the bat on the tip of each shoe before lining up towards the pitcher. He was tall and very skinny, looking as if he would be toppled over by a mild wind.
However, his gaze was confident as he stared down the plate at him.
'This guy looks like a daddy-long-legs spider…' Keisuke inwardly commented.
The tall student performed his wind-up and sent the ball rocketing towards the strike zone. Keisuke's face couldn't help but turn up into a smile as he could easily identify the course.
DONG
He smacked the ball which flew directly between first and second base and had plenty of time to make it to first base before the right outfield player picked it up. Keisuke grinned widely, sending a thumbs up to Ken who was on his way to the batters box.
"Just try and hit the ball okay?" He shouted, receiving a look of annoyance back from Ken.
'What do you mean hit the ball!? All I'm doing is bunting…' Ken quipped inwardly.
The pitcher received the ball back from the outfielder, not looking too impressed that his first pitch was easily hit. However, his face changed when he saw it was Ken in the batters box.
Kanagawa Senior were very familiar with Ken considering how often they had played each other. They also knew that he was an awful batter with terrible statistics during his middle school career.
Therefore the pitcher Yoshinao Oyama felt a surge of confidence.
"I'm going to strike you out boy." He murmured.
Ken gripped his bat tightly, waiting for the pitch to come his way. As long as it was anywhere within the strike zone, he should be able to get bat on ball.
Yoshinao's long arm sent the ball shuttling towards him at a respectable speed of 85km/h with its course heading towards the outside edge.
Ken's eyes lit up, this was it! He leaned over the batters box and moved his right hand on the barrel of the bat, getting into his bunting form.
TONK
The ball bounced off the bat and landed at the perfect distance between himself and the pitcher, filling him with shock. However it didn't last long as he quickly dropped the bat and ran with his all towards first base.
Ken felt his body fill with strength as he ran the fastest he had ever run towards first base. The added bonus from his Quick First Step and First Pitch Hitter skills gave him an increase of 2 grades in Agility, bringing it to a B+.
"SAFE!"
By the time Yoshinao had reacted and collected the ball and thrown it to first, Ken had just landed his foot on the first base, beating the ball by just under a second.
"Whoa!"
The whole dugout stood up in wonder as Ken not only performed the bunt exceptionally, he also managed to make it to first base safely.
There were 2 people in attendance that were the most shocked and that was Coach Yoshida, as well as Chris. They both stared at the boy as if they were looking at an alien.