He made his way back to the dugout in rather low spirits, however he did his best to plaster a smile onto his face. Since Tatsuya had made a remarkable catch, he made a point to congratulate the teen.
Carlos was inconsolable as he returned to the bench, his face twisted in anger and regret. He gave off an aura that warned others to not approach him, leading to no one coming up to console him.
Without saying another word, he grabbed his hat and glove and returned to the field, taking up his post on 3rd base. With his hat lowered, no one could see his expression.
Coach Hanada was all smiles as he saw the brilliant play from Tatsuya. He couldn’t help but ruffle the unruly teen’s hair in good spirits upon his return.
His attention turned to Ken who seemed out of sorts. An understanding smile crept onto his face as he nudged the Ace.
“Don’t worry about losing the duel. Baseball is a team sport after all.”
The coach placed his hand on Ken’s left shoulder and consoled him. From his viewpoint, Ken was upset that he couldn’t put Carlos away by himself, viewing it as a failure.
Of course he was dead wrong, however Ken still appreciated the sentiment and smiled weakly at the coach whom he respected immensely.
Seeing such concern for him only helped to make his mind up.
‘There’s no way I can throw the game to face Carlos again.’
Thus began the 8th innings of the game. Since no one had scored since the 2nd innings, the score was still 5-1 in favor of Yokohama.
If there were no new developments then it would likely remain as such.
Kazuhiro kept his current streak, only giving up a single hit in the 8th and a double in the 9th innings. Ken threw only 9 pitches in the 8th innings and was now on the mound for the bottom of the 9th.
His eyes were drawn to Carlos on the opposition bench. He had a towel draped on his head, showing just what kind of despair he was facing.
Funnily enough, Ken was also in a similar situation despite his team currently winning.
He shook his head, as if to remove any unnecessary thoughts. They were 3 outs away from being crowned winners of the Kanagawa Prefectural Tournament and getting a direct invite to Koshien.
Only 49 of the best teams in all of Japan get the honors of visiting Koshien for Nationals, and they had the chance to do it now.
Ken focused his attention onto Yuta who had been leading almost flawlessly this game. He nodded his head and began his wind up, sending the ball on target once more.
“Strike.”
“Strike.”
“Strikeout!”
An eruption of cheers came from the crowd and dugout at the announcement of the first out of the innings. An air of excitement penetrated the atmosphere, bringing forth more chants.
“2 MORE OUTS”
“2 MORE OUTS”
Ken ignored the chants, not letting them effect him in the slightest. He tried to focus on one thing, and that was Yuta’s glove.
‘Just pitch it into the glove.’
WHOOSH
“Strike”
“Strike”
“Strikeout!”
“ORYAAAH!”
“1 MORE OUT!”
“Nice pitching!”
The cheers got even louder with the last out, causing the crowd to almost enter a fever pitch. He could hear individual voices, mainly Makoto, Ai and even Shiro from the bench. Despite not playing, he was still showing his support in his own way.
Ken turned his attention back to the plate, only to be met with Kazuhiro who was the 1st batter on the team. Usually pitchers weren’t lead-off batters, but this guy had great agility and could make contact on the ball.
At least when it was not facing Ken’s pitches.
WHOOSH
“Strike!”
The umpires loud voice called out over the field, bringing with it another cheer.
Kazuhiro gripped his bat tightly, feeling despair grip his heart. Was it going to end like this? Even though he had improved tremendously in this match, would it not be enough?
He subconsciously turned to the bench, only to see the anxious faces of his teammates. His eyes then moved to Carlos who had his head covered by a towel, seemingly not interested in the closing moments of the game.
Kazuhiro bit his lip, feeling a bout of frustration.
‘He can turn this game around… I know it.’
‘I just need to get on base somehow.’
“CARLOS!” He shouted abruptly, giving both Yuta and the umpire a fright.
There was no reaction from the person who’d been called out, yet Kazuhiro didn’t care.
“We’ll get you back on the field! Just sit there and wait!” He yelled. However, it seemed to fall on deaf ears as Carlos didn’t even raise his head let alone remove the towel.
The umpire was about to chastise Kazuhiro for his earlier actions, however he saw the determined expression on the teen’s face and decided to swallow his complaints.
Kazuhiro positioned his body forward, crowding the plate.
An almost instinctive reaction for a catcher would be to throw an inside pitch after being challenged in such a way, and Yuta was no exception. He placed his glove towards Kazuhiro’s body and called for a fastball.
If this was in any other circumstance, Ken might let out a hollow chuckle or even shake his head in exasperation. However, this was potentially the final out of a game that would send them to nationals.
As long as they got this out, they would punch their ticket.
He decided to trust Yuta once again and began his wind up before sending the ball whipping right to the open glove.
Kazuhiro’s eyes widened as he saw the fastball coming right for his arm. As if expecting such a scenario, he made a wild action and tried to evade the pitch yet he was caught on the left wrist.
“A-Ahhh!”
However, when he fell to the ground he began to hold his upper arm and writhe on the ground for a while.
The umpire who was obstructed by the batter could make the only logical call based on the evidence he could see.
“Deadball! Take your base”