Forbidden Protege

Ch. 7: Play Ball (Part 5)

Ono held his breath. She had shot down every pitch he called, leaving him only one choice. And she agreed. It seemed like a stupid move to him, but she made it clear it was the only pitch she would throw. With a runner on first, he crouched behind the plate, setting his glove at the inside. Alexia stood on the mound and took her position, lifting her left leg and twisting her waist around.

The ball shot out from her hand again, still just as hard to see before it appeared halfway to the plate. It flew at a medium height towards the inside and Ono waited for disaster. He watched as the batter stepped back and swung for it. He watched as the pitch approached. He watched as it broke to his right. His eyes widened as he jumped up and to the side, just barely snagging the ball before it went behind him. The batter turned to see the balled settled in Ono's mitt and both of them wore a shocked expression.

"Strike three! Batter out! Change!" the umpire called, breaking both of them out of their stupor. The batter glared towards Alexia who was smiling brightly, her usual glint back in her eyes. Ono jogged towards her after handing the ball to the umpire.

"Nice job catching that! I was worried for a minute," she said, chuckling.

"Why did you want to throw that pitch?" Ono said, still utterly confused. Yes, it had worked, but seriously? That could have ended terribly.

Alexia grinned at him before throwing her left arm around Haruichi's shoulder as he approached, causing the younger boy to blush slightly. As they made it back to the dugout, Alexia knew she had better explain before the coach could say anything.

"The only cutter I threw today had ended badly. He wasn't expecting it, so by throwing it like it was going to be an inside pitch, I could catch him off balance," she said, watching the coach's expression closely. "I pride myself on my control, so I knew I could do it."

Ono mentally nodded. While it seemed reckless, he admitted that she had a point. The first thing he had noticed about her pitching was her precise control. It made sense that she would have absolute faith in it since it seemed also superhuman, and the thought process checked out. Still, he could barely believe that it had worked.

The coach nodded at her, his lips twitching up slightly, catching the entire team off guard. "That was reckless, but it seems what I heard was true. Your old team excelled at pulling off dangerous yet well thought out plays."

Alexia beamed back at him, her entire face lightly up. "Yeah, we really did." She stepped into the dugout and was greeted by one of the players holding out a cup of water to her. "Thank you," she said as she took it and drank. Once finished, she threw it away and stood at the front of the dugout, pulling on her batting gloves. She was the fourth in line so it was likely she'd have to hit.

She scanned the field briefly, noting that the players were standing in their usual spots, before zeroing back in on the pitcher. He was the same one that had pitched the three innings prior. His fastball was quick but not insane. He had a good forkball but his slider was inconsistent. She watched as he threw his warm up pitches, the dugout around her fading into the background.

Eijun sat in the back watching her. He had done well enough on the mound, but he felt a nagging inferiority while watching Alexia. She had gotten herself into trouble but then pulled through in her first inning. The way she had dug her way back out and then told the coach her view on baseball was certainly impressive. Then she had gone back out and done an excellent job shutting the batters done. Only the one had gotten a solid hit and she had pulled off a great play at the end. By comparison, he knew he was lacking.

Haruichi noticed his quietness and walked over. "Eijun-kun, you did good out there, too," he said, smiling softly.

Eijun turned to look at his friend. "But it's not enough! Alex-san is so much better than I am!" He complained loudly. A few of the players turned to see if Alexia would reply, but she didn't seem to hear the younger boy as she watched the pitcher warm up.

"Well, she is a year older than us," Haruichi pointed out. "And she's played baseball longer. It's just natural that she would be better than you."

Eijun grumbled and muttered under his breath. A sudden voice made him jerk his head upwards.

"Me being older has nothing to do with it," Alexia stated, her gaze still locked on the field. Everyone in the dugout startled, used to her being oblivious to what was being said when she had that look on her face. "I've spent more time practicing than you. That's why I'm better. Saying that you're not as good because you're younger is a cop out." She turned to look at Eijun and then let her eyes drift over the others. "It's one thing to say you haven't had as much practice, but age isn't an excuse." She turned back to watching the pitcher and the umpire called for the next batter to step up.

Haruichi stared at her back for a second. A few days ago she had said that she didn't believe in such a thing as a genius player and now she was saying that it didn't matter how old someone was. It was clear to him that she valued hard work over everything else, which made him curious about how much work she put in. Her pitch control was unbelievable, even he could tell, so how much work did she put into it to get that good? He had no doubt that she was naturally talented as well, but he also believed that she worked much harder than her happy attitude during practice let on.

The first batter made it to first and advanced to second by a sacrifice bunt. The third batter hit a double to bring the first runner home. Alexia walked up to the plate as she adjusted her helmet, her eyes shifting from the pitcher to the catcher. He glared at her as she approached.

"What was up with that last pitch?" he asked, not expecting an answer. Her smirk caught him off guard, almost as much as her reply.

"You guys weren't expecting it and it worked. That made it a good call, right?"

He scoffed as Alexia stepped into the right batter's box. She kicked at the dirt before taking her stance. She held the bat loosely over her shoulder, adjusting her grip before bending her knees and assuming her casual batting stance. She watched as the pitcher nodded at his catcher. Her eyes locked onto his form and a smile played on her lips as he pulled up, lifting his left leg. He stepped forward, releasing his pitch.

As it went towards her, Alexia stepped back slightly in the box and swung, never breaking eye contact with the ball. She watched in slow motion as the ball made contact with the sweet spot on the bat and heard the clang as it went flying over the infield. She was off running. She was a couple steps away from first when the base coach motioned her to second. She took one large step to the right and twisted, planting her left foot on the side of first base and pushing out towards second, losing minimal momentum as she made the turn. She sprinted towards second and briefly glanced past the base to the commotion in the outfield.

The ball was being thrown just as she was a couple steps from the base. She shifted her weight backwards, sticking her right foot out and leaning towards the left slightly. Her foot made contact with the base and she let her knee give, bringing her into a sitting position just in front of the bag. The tag had been applied to the side of her knee and the umpire called her safe. A roar came from Seido's dugout at the call and at the score of another run. She stood on the base, ignoring the scoffs from the second baseman and shortstop, and raised her fist towards the dugout.

"Holy crap, that was amazing!" Eijun exclaimed as he bounced slightly, causing Alexia to chuckle. "How did you turn so fast?! I've never seen Cheetah-senpai do that!"

Alexia covered her hand with her mouth as she laughed at the nickname. She smiled, remembering the fact that she had taught herself how to turn so sharply because she was tired of boys saying she ran the bases too slow. She was just as fast on a straight path, but they said she took too much time turning. So, she changed her style to take practically no time.

The pitcher received the ball and stood on the mound. Alexia took a lead as she eyed the third base coach. Now that she was on base, she'd make them even more wary of her.