Daigo crouched behind home plate, but instead of placing his glove in the middle of the zone for Shun to aim at like he usually did, Daigo positioned his glove high and inside, almost right by the batter's head.
Shun lifted his right leg as he propelled his body forward. He stepped firmly on the ground, twisting his entire body and whipping his arm toward home plate, aiming for Daigo's glove.
"Damn!" - The fourth batter was startled by the ball heading toward his head and fell backward, landing on his butt in frustration, clearly upset with someone with such poor control pitching. But at that moment, a loud noise surprised him.
PAH
"S-Strike!" - The umpire announced with a hint of surprise in his voice.
"What?" - The fourth batter muttered in disbelief. He was certain he had seen the ball flying toward his head, so how did it end up in the strike zone?
"It worked!" - Daigo sighed in relief and excitement at the same time. If Shun had made a mistake, that pitch would have ended up hitting the batter, but everything went well. The ball, which seemed like it would hit the left-handed batter, broke just before reaching home plate, landing in the zone.
A pitch that starts inside, outside the zone, but ends up on the inside part of the strike zone, a frontdoor slider.
Shun received the ball back from Daigo and set himself on the mound to pitch again. Even though he was excited that he had nailed his frontdoor slider, he knew very well that he was still in a tough spot.
Daigo looked at the batter getting up in shock and smiled. Following Shun's plan, he positioned his glove in the middle of the zone this time.
"Damn, he's changing the trajectory of his pitches!" - The fourth batter muttered, watching Shun carefully. Shun hadn't changed the trajectory of his pitches until now, so it was natural for the fourth batter to be confused.
Shun didn't care about his opponent's feelings. He quickly lifted his right leg, propelled his body forward, and whipped his arm toward the zone.
"In the middle!" - The fourth batter watched the pitch coming into the zone. After being caught off guard by the frontdoor slider in the previous pitch, he didn't want to let Shun get to two strikes without at least trying to swing. So, against his coach's plan, he decided not to wait and swung his bat, trying to send Shun's pitch flying.
WOOSH
POFT
"Strike!" - The umpire announced as the fourth batter swung and missed, while Shun's vertical slider dropped to the ground.
"Way too far outside..." - The fifth batter thought as he watched Shun's pitch.
PAH
"Strike!"
"What the fuck?" - The fifth batter cursed after seeing the insane movement of that slider. A slider that started outside the zone and ended up on the outer edge of the strike zone, a backdoor slider.
Daigo quickly threw the ball back to Shun and crouched down, placing his glove in the same spot. Shun caught the ball and nodded. Without hesitation, he threw the ball again.
"Damn! I need to hit this!" - The fifth batter panicked when he saw the same pitch again. Since he already had two strikes, he couldn't just watch this pitch.
WOOSH
DING
Unfortunately for him, hitting Shun's backdoor slider wasn't that easy. The ball was grounded toward the young samurai, Ren.
With a confident smile on his face, Ren easily fielded the ball and threw it to Kenta, who was covering second base.
PAH
"Out!"
Kenta caught the throw, and as soon as he heard the umpire's call, he threw the ball to the first baseman for a double play.
PAH
"Out! 3 Outs, changeover!"
"Yeeeaaahhhhhhh!!" - Shun roared in excitement after seeing the double play. He had done it, he survived the inning without giving up any runs.