abcnovels
Chapter 174: Sixth Round (23)
Chapter 174: Sixth Round (23)
PAH
"Strike!" - Kasuga's catcher caught Imai's pitch, but again, he didn't care much about the umpire's call. This time, Imai threw a fastball, challenging the batter. The ball reached the catcher's glove before he hesitated, stood up, and threw the ball toward third base to try to tag Shun out.
PAH
"Safe!" - But once again, after sliding toward the base, Shun's foot reached it first. Applause and cheers came from Shoto's dugout and the stands, but Shun simply stood up calmly and looked at Ren. Now, everything depended on the young samurai.
With just one out and a runner on third, any fly ball or even ground ball could turn into a run. Because of this, Ren's job had become much easier. However, even though he didn't need a hit to score a run, Ren let the count rise to two strikes while Shun stole the bases, making things not as easy as they seemed for the young samurai.
'Damn! Which pitch should I ask for? We just need him to swing and miss, but... he saw the curveball well on the first pitch. Maybe another four-seam fastball? Or the cutter? Damn!' - The first batter began to overthink, clearly wanting a pitch that would guarantee he could escape the situation. But unfortunately, no such pitch had yet been invented in baseball. After a moment of thinking, he decided to ask for the pitch Imai hadn't thrown yet in the duel, the cutter.
"HA!" - Imai didn't hesitate and threw the requested pitch, putting all his strength into the ball as he whipped his arm toward home plate.
"Fastball!" - Ren looked at the pitch coming quickly toward him. Seeing that it was within the strike zone, he had no choice but to swing his bat to make contact with the ball.
WOOOSH
Ren swung his bat with power, but just as the ball was about to hit the sweet spot of the bat, it sliced through the air.
DIING
Even though the ball hit a strange spot on the bat, since the bat was metal, Ren managed to send the ball into the air toward right field. The young samurai started running to first base, but as he watched the ball's trajectory, he knew he didn't stand a chance.
'It wasn't hit very far, but... is this enough for you, Shun?' - Ren thought as he watched the right fielder positioning himself to catch the ball.
PAH
"Out!"
"RUUNNNNN!" - The moment the right fielder caught the ball, Ren yelled as loudly as he could.
"GOOOOO!" - And it wasn't just Ren, everyone in Shoto's dugout and even some people in the stands were shouting. But none of these shouts were necessary.
The moment the ball landed in the right fielder's glove, Shun sprinted toward home plate without hesitation. He understood very well that this might be their only chance to score in the game, and he wasn't going to waste it.
The right fielder threw the ball toward home plate as soon as he caught it, and Kasuga's catcher turned to await the ball. If it had been any other time, the catcher would likely have praised the throw, but at that moment, all he cared about was stopping Shun from scoring.
PAH
Kasuga's catcher caught the ball, but as soon as he turned to make the tag, he saw Shun on the ground, already sliding toward home plate.
"Safe!" - The umpire announced, extending his arms.
"Yeeeahhh!" - Shun quickly got to his feet, roaring with excitement. They had finally managed to score the first run of the game.
"YEEEEAAHHH!!" - A deafening cheer echoed throughout the stadium as Shun's team celebrated their first run.
"Nice run, Shun!" - Ren ran toward Shun while shouting in excitement. Even though he had been tagged out, he didn't care about that at all, as his team was now ahead.
"Hahaha, great sacrifice fly!" - Shun responded cheerfully.
* clap *
The two friends then slapped hands before embracing each other and heading back to the dugout. But before they could go any further, they passed by Jiro, who was walking to the batter's box, and celebrated with him a bit as well.
"Great play, guys!" - Kenta was climbing the dugout steps to wait in the on-deck circle and greeted his friends as they arrived.
"Thanks!" - Shun laughed happily as he raised his hand toward his friend.
* clap *
Kenta slapped his friend's hand with a smile, keeping his hand up as Ren followed behind Shun.
"Hahahah, captain, don't worry! Even if you're having a bad day, we've got things covered!" - Ren laughed excitedly as he teased his friend. Without giving Kenta a chance to retract his hand, he quickly slapped it again.
* clap *
"Huh?" - Ren had a playful smile on his face, but after slapping Kenta's hand, he couldn't help but feel a little confused. For some reason, his friend was holding his hand tightly.
"Hey man, let go!" - Ren said quickly as Kenta started squeezing his hand harder. Unfortunately for him, Kenta didn't even bother responding and simply looked at Ren with a smile while tightening his grip.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch, please stop! I'm deeply sorry!" - Ren couldn't take the pain anymore and began pleading for forgiveness. Miraculously, after he apologized, Kenta released his hand and let Ren go.
"Hmph!" - The young samurai huffed indignantly as he descended the dugout steps. He had just wanted to mess around a little with Kenta, but he was too naive, strength always had the final word when it came to pranks.
Shun watched the scene in disbelief. He knew his friends were playing casually in this match, but only after seeing the two of them joking around as usual did he realize that these two hadn't changed one bit under pressure, they were still idiots.
WOOSH
DONG
Meanwhile, in the field, Jiro made good contact with Imai's pitch. However, the ball didn't have enough force and ended up stopping in the center fielder's glove.
PAH
"Out! 3 outs, changeover!" - The umpire announced the end of the top of the eighth inning as Kasuga's players started making their way back to the dugout, clearly shaken by being behind on the scoreboard.