Shun positioned himself in the batter's box, recalling the captain Kazuki's report about Kohei's pitches.
"In the game against Seishin, he didn't give up a single run. He has a great curveball and a decent slider, but the pitch he uses the most is his insane 4-seam fastball. Its speed almost reached 140 km/h in the game against Seishin. It's going to be tough to get many hits off him, so we need to take full advantage of any chances we get with runners on base."
"Hehe, doesn't matter how good he is!" - Shun smiled as he watched Kohei on the mound beginning his wind-up. The first pitch of the duel came.
PAH
"Strike!"
"Uooohhhhh!" - The crowd cheered, impressed. The speed counter on the stadium screen showed an impressive 137 km/h, an absurd speed for a second-year middle school boy.
"Wow! He really is fast!" - Toji said, impressed, from the stands. He was watching Kohei on the mound with fire in his eyes, wanting to catch the boy's pitches.
"Pheww, what a shame! Shun got matched up with a monster so early in the tournament, that's really unlucky!" - The brown-eyed, black-haired girl, Kaori, sighed, clearly not believing that Shun's team could defeat such a monster.
"Hey! They're the ones unlucky to face my brother! Bro is going to win!" - Little Yumi got upset with Kaori's comment, not believing for a second that her brother could lose.
"Ah, hehe, I'm sorry, Yumi!" - Kaori said with a smile. She found Yumi's reaction very cute, defending her older brother. She wanted to pinch the little girl's cheeks but held back, afraid Yumi might bite her fingers.
Meanwhile, behind home plate, the white-haired boy was smiling with satisfaction.
"Hmph! You can't touch that, just stand there and get destroyed!" - Sugawara sneered at Shun, seeing that he hadn't even reacted to the fastball down the middle.
Shun didn't bother reacting to the catcher's provocation, he was focused on Kohei on the mound, deep in thought.
"Impressive!" - Maybe because Kohei was also a lefty, Shun felt a kind of rivalry with him. He then decided to do something he hadn't done in a while. He asked the system to show Kohei's stats.
[Kohei Sasaki
Overall: A-
PITCHING: A
BATTING: B-
FIELDING: A-
RUNNING: B+
GAME IQ: A-
Overall Potential: SSS+]
"As expected, he's definitely the best pitcher I've ever faced." - Shun looked at Kohei's stats, impressed. He didn't seem to notice that Kohei had already started his wind-up. The second pitch came quickly.
WOOSH
DING
"Ball!"
Finally, on the eighth pitch of the duel, Kohei threw his first fastball outside the zone. Shun didn't move as he watched the pitch miss. The count was now 1 ball and 2 strikes.
"Son of a bitch! Damn bastard! Piece of shit!" - Sugawara was crouched behind home plate, glaring at Shun with rage, cursing every insult he knew in his head.
"Hmph! Let's see if you touch this!" - Sugawara called for a different pitch and positioned his glove. The pitch came.
"Curveball in the zone!" - Shun had no trouble identifying the pitch. As always, the boy aimed toward the left field line, expecting the ball to go foul.
WOOSH
DONG
"Huh?" - Shun looked surprised at the trajectory of the ball he had just hit. He saw the ball sail over the third baseman's head and bounce in fair territory. In an instant, he started running with excitement, feeling like the goddess of luck was on his side today.
"Nice, Shun!"
"Nice hit, Shun!"
Shun heard the cheers from his teammates in the dugout and raised his fist in celebration.
"Fuck!" - Sugawara cursed loudly as he watched Shun safely reach second base. He looked at the on-deck circle and saw a young boy with a samurai topknot walking toward him with a smile on his face.
"Yeeaahhh! Nice, Bro!" - Little Yumi was jumping up and down with excitement. This was the first time in the three games she had watched that her brother had reached second base directly.
"Yeeeaaaahhhh! Nice hit, Shun! That's my boy!" - Kenshin also shouted excitedly. His son was giving him many surprises today, but all of them were good ones.
Ren stepped into the batter's box, determined. This was the first time Shun had reached base with a hit and not a walk, and the young samurai wasn't about to be left behind.
"Son of a bitch! Son of a bitch!" - Sugawara was on the verge of exploding with rage behind home plate. He did his best to calm down and signaled for Kohei to throw a fastball on the outer part of the zone.
As soon as Kohei lifted his leg and began his wind-up, Shun took off toward third base without hesitation.
"Steal!" - The shortstop, Isamu, shouted, alerting the battery.
PAH
"Strike!"
"SON OF A BITCH! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE??!!" - Sugawara shouted loudly as he quickly grabbed the ball from his glove and threw it with force toward third base.