Ken nodded, yet he felt a pang of worry after he made the decision.
‘No point doubting myself now.’ He thought, getting into his stance.
Ken sent a cursory glance to Yatsuo who was chilling on 1st base, as if to let him know that he still knew he was there.
He performed his wind up, inadvertently jutting his left elbow out slightly before letting the throw go.
Daichi’s face blossomed into a wild grin as he saw the ball he’d been waiting for arrive. Yet his face changed a little when he saw the course which would end up too low for a big hit.
However, he quickly made the decision and went for it, rolling his wrists and ensuring that the bat would meet the ball at the scheduled time.
DONG!
Surprisingly, the ball had a lot of carry for one which had been hit from such a low angle. It shot at a 45 degree angle over Naoki’s head and into the outfield between left and center.
Jun always played further back than his brother, mainly to give support to the other outfielder Yuki who lacked speed. Even before he could shout, he saw Tatsuya dash in, his eyes glued to the ball.
Yatsuo had already taken off and had just about reached 2nd base by the time the ball began to drop onto the field.
“Tatsuya! Home!” Naoki yelled out, sending the speedster some directions while he tracked down the ball.
In a fantastic athletic display, Tatsuya managed to scoop the ball off the ground in the middle of running and was just about to throw it to home.
“Hold!”
Thankfully the call came out in time as Yatsuo had taken up his position on 3rd base, looking a little out of breath.
Due to his large frame, sprinting around the bases was a bigger effort than he would like to admit. Of course, batting before Daichi would usually equal a free jog around the bases, yet apparently not against this team.
Thankfully for Yokohama, Daichi’s hit had not resulted in a run for Osaka.
Ken stood upon the mound and couldn’t help but look at the two runners on base, deep in thought. His mind replayed all of his pitches that were hit in the past 4 innings, trying to understand what had gone wrong.
‘Wait… Were they all forkballs that were hit?’ He asked himself, his eyes widening at the revelation.
[Correct. It seems that user performs a certain action when throwing the forkball]
Mika’s monotonous tone crept into his mind at the right time, confirming his suspicions.
‘Do you know what it is that I’m doing Mika?’ Ken probed further.
If he could understand what was giving it away, he could use the tell to his advantage in the match.
[Users left elbow juts out when pitching the forkball. Showing example, please stand by]
In the next moment, Ken’s vision changed to an outside perspective. He saw two versions of himself side by side going through his pitching action frame by frame.
On the left was his fastball, his form was tight and compact as he lifted his left knee and placed both arms tight to his chest. Yet on the right side was his forkball which differed by a slight margin.
With the two frames side by side, he was able to notice that his elbow was indeed jutting out, yet it was only slightly. He felt a little odd that his tell was such a small and seemingly insignificant thing.
‘Thank you Mika, that was a big help.’
He made sure to thank his AI friend for her help, lest she get cranky with him again in the future.
His vision returned back to normal afterwards, drawing him back into his consciousness.
Ken turned to look at Daichi on second base and couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh softly. To think that his brother had been so astute to notice such a small detail in his pitching action.
Perhaps it was because his pitching arsenal was so small that they were able to notice such a thing.
Thus, Ken was now graced with the knowledge which Osaka held. As long as he kept his cards close to his chest, he could probably turn their own strategy against them.
“Hehe, you crafty buggers.” Ken mumbled as he turned his attention to the new batter who’d just appeared.
“Batting 5th, 3rd base, Satoshi”
Ken took a deep breath, feeling the effects of the Showdown skill leave his body. Thankfully it wasn’t paired with the penalty of Limit break like last time, meaning he would not have to suffer in this next at-bat.
It was currently 2 outs with 2 runners on base, meaning all he had to do was strike out this next guy to put an end to the 4th innings. Despite being hit twice, he could still preserve the score at 1-0 in their favor.
He turned his attention to Yuta who gave the next lead.
Ken grinned before performing his wind up and whipping the ball out towards the open glove of his catcher.
The ball flew through the air, drifting towards the right handed batter with decent speed.
Satoshi was flustered and swung and missed by a mile, almost falling over in the process.
The last time he faced Ken in the 2nd innings, the balls were at least 10% slower which was why the speed had caught him off guard this time.
“Strike”
The 3rd year adjusted himself and got back into position for the next ball. His eyes focused on a certain spot while Ken performed his wind up.
Now that he knew about his tell, Ken felt what Osaka was doing was even more blatant. The fact that they were aiming for a certain pitch and watching the left side of his body so obviously should have been clearer to him earlier.
Yet none of that mattered now since he had found out their secret.
“Strike!”
“Strikeout! Changeover.” frёewebηovel.cѳm
Ken sent Daichi a glance and a grin before heading back to the dugout with his team.