Southpaw

"What The Hell Do You Mean I'm Pitching!?"

The game started out fine, it wasn't exactly exciting or anything special, but Seidou was on defense and Kazuya was catching so it wasn't boring either. The pitching though was quite lackluster, Tanba was just unable to get into a groove, and while the pitches were going strong, they weren't consistent or heavy.

Luckily the infielders were quite competent fielding the ball quickly and efficiently as if they were trying to cover the void that was the pitching mound. But the pitcher is the emotional control tower of the inning where the catcher is the strategical control tower and so Seidou was looking very lopsided. Eijun watched the game carefully keeping an eye on how Miyuki was calling the game. Unfortunately he was very unfamiliar with the pitching inventory that Tanba had, so he was unable to figure out which pitches he might throw. Even though he wasn't closer enough to see Miyuki's face clearly, Eijun knew that he was upset with how Tanba was pitching. Eijun didn't really know Tanba well so he didn't know what was going on in the older pitcher's mind, but to him it was a baseball faux pas because when a pitcher is on the mound their head should be in the game or they should get off. That was just Eijun's opinion though.

in the third inning, #5 the captain of Ichidaisan smacked the ball at it's sweet spot sending it flying past the fence. Ichidai's stands filled with cheers celebrating the home run. Whereas the Seidou team's stands hushed, filling with a heavy silence. It wasn't like the single point was impossible to catch up to, however, it felt like it weighed more as if the defense wasn't strong enough. Eijun took a deep breath in before yelling out as loud as he could.

"Let's go Seidou! we only need one more out! Let's end this inning!" The stadium filled with a deafening silence as everyone turned to stare at the loud brunette. Then all of the Seidou fans in the stands started to shout out encouragements as well.

"Here we go guys!"

"You can do it!"

"Let's finish this inning!"

"Let's go defense!"

The following clamor caused Kazuya to look up and smirk slightly before calling the next pitch. While the inning didn't finish immediately, Tanba able to finish the inning after walking two batters when Yuki and Kuramochi fielded an out.

During the the bottom of the third inning Kuramochi started as the first hitter and got on base easily. While the next two batters got out, he was able to steal second and third base so that he was in a prime spot to score. With a great hit over the first baseman's head that dropped well before the outfielders, Yuki was able to get Kuramochi home evening the score. Seidou managed to finish the inning even with Ichidai.

In the top of the fourth inning Tanba went back out, and with his decidedly lackluster pitching got 4 walks, and was scored on twice (once due to walks) more before the coach pulled him out and brought in Nori. Nori had improved by leaps and bounds since when Eijun had last seen him pitch. The teen was still timid and easily swayed by the mood of the team and fans, but he had gotten much better control and power. Kazuya was able to call a nice cautionary game for Nori due to his consistency, which was great, but not fun to watch (for Eijun) or play (for Kazuya). But the cautionary game calling worked and held Ichidai to one point between the fourth and fifth innings which was well enough, but not great. Meanwhile, Seidou's batting line up was unable to score, let alone get on base (other than Yuki) because Manaka the other teams pitcher was playing a clean pitching game and holding them scoreless. Thus when entering the sixth inning, Seidou was losing (2-4). Eijun, didn't really care that the pitching was boring, at that point, he was only concerned with cheering Nori on. 

The mild boy looked as if his body couldn't decide whether to shake in fear or hunch away from the fans. It looked like Seidou was most likely going to lose, and the stress kept piling up, until during a sidearm wind up when Nori's foot slipped causing the teen to roll over his ankle and crumple onto the floor in pain. The umpire called time out when Nori didn't get up, and Kazuya came up from home while the coaches came from the dugout in order to check on the downed pitcher. When they pulled down his sock to look at his foot, the vibrant purple color and the size of the ankle made the decision for them. Nori was too injured to continue pitching, It could be anywhere from a grade 2 sprain to a broken bone, Wither way it wasn't safe for him to continue with his injuries.

They were in a tight spot, they had no pitchers left in the current line-up, and with one pitcher out of commission, their options were to either play with a stand in from the bench, or to take advantage of the two blank spots in the line up and call down someone from the stands who was an actual pitcher. Kataoka bit his lip considering his options before turning to his catcher, whom he trusted to help make a good decision in this situation.

"Miyuki, out of the pitchers we have currently in the stands do you know if any of them are game ready?" Katoaka already had one of the pitchers in mind (Sawamura) but he wasn't sure if Miyuki would come to the same conclusion and if he would be able to bring out the pitchers skills without having worked with him in practice. 

"Hmmm..." Miyuki brought a hand up to his chin, "I think that Sawamura would be a possible choice, but I'm not sure how well we'll be able to work together since we've only formed a battery once.

"At this point, it's the only option, go call him down!" Kataoka nodded hoping that he wasn't making a huge mistake. Miyuki ran over to the stands waving his arms to get attention.

"Oi Sawamura! Get down here, we're putting you in!" The upperclassmen turned to look for the brunette incredulously. Why would they decide to put an untested first year into an official match?

"What?" Eijun shouted eyes wide in disbelief. He couldn't believe this was happening. He'd never turn down an opportunity to pitch, it was just that... "What do you mean I'm being put in?"

"Yeah, let's get you kitted up, You're number 19 and you're pitching!" Miyuki called gleefully. Normally this situation would piss him off, but at this point he was excited to call for Eijun again. Eijun huffed a little irritated.

"What the hell do you mean I'm pitching!?" 

***
Hey guys, it's Cinnamon Roll! Sorry for the late update, today was super busy. Anyway, I hope that everyone enjoyed this chapter, because I'm excited to post the next chapter with Eijun's first official match! I hope that everyone is staying safe out there! If you ever feel down, or need someone to listen to you, DM me and I'll do my best to respond. I may not know any of you face to face, but you all still matter to me! So yeah reach out if you need anything from me and I'll try my best to be of help if I'm able. That being said, I love you all! 

~Cinnamon Roll