LIFE IN DIAMOND NO ACE WORLd

intersquad game

When were practicing on the field one day , coach suddenly called us for a meeting .

Coach - everybody,  tomorrow we will have a instersquad match between first years and 2nd string members . That's all do well tomorrow. 

When the crowd was surprised by sudden game , coach came to me

Coach - Ken,  come here

Ken - yes sir

Coach - listen Ken,  I will you a choice to pitch in tomorrow game for first years side or not . Personally , I won't recommend it . Anyway , by seeing your practice I have already decided to place in 1 st string of the team .

Ken - ok sir , I will not pitch tomorrow and practice more seriously to meet your expectations.  Small bow

After replying , I went and told eijun , furuya , kominato and kanemaru to gather in indoor gym for a meeting after dinner  . I ignored their questions and went to run laps with now 2 tires attached .

When after dinner we gathered I started to talk .

Ken - ok everybody , now let's talk about the motive of tomorrows game.  You see , tomorrow coach will decide players to promote in 1st string of the team after watching their play . I gathered you all today to tell you something .

First is that I will not join tomorrows game so dont count on me for anything .

Second is to tell you that you all have greatly advanced forward in baseball with all that training and tomorrow is the best chance to show the results to everybody .

Furuya and eijun have now good strength in lower body and can control their ball way better than before . Kominato has bat control that isn't inferior to regulars of our team . Kanemaru has fastest swing speed between the 4 of you and average bat control that doesn't lose to your opponent senpai tomorrow .

Now,  point is that , tomorrow do not try to show off . Just try your best with every play you do and results will follow accordingly.  

Oh yeah,  coach told me that I'm already on first string so there is no need to participate tomorrow. 

Eijun - you you .... lucky handsome bastard.  Shit , I'm jealous now . Hmphf.. 

Ken - all of you , do you think same as eijun . Then you are idiots . Bakayaro , with my skills , I can do better than most of the regular players on the team now and you guys cant even compare to 3 rd years with stamina and skills . There is no time for you to feel jealous as the more time to you waste , everybody else will improve in that time and it will become impossible to catch upto them .

Kominato- ok ( red face)

Kanemaru- shit , you are right

Furuya - ooooo....

Eijun - ahhhhhh...

Ken - what's wrong with your loud mouth now eijun hmph .. . You kominato have more confidence and wipe that red face of yours .

Alright I'm going to swing bat for a while now. You guys practice your skills for a short while and sleep well to be ready for tomorrows game .

Tomorrow , coach will give chance to everybody so dont get upset if your team has to chase a big lead from the start of the game . Just try your best to win and pay attention to masuko senpai and clean up tomorrow to avoid home runs .

I then ignored the sulking 4 and started practicing my bat swing .

Tomorrow came and everybody was ready for the game that was going to start now. 

Like I expected , the first years team had given up a large lead of 10 runs I'm the first inning.  Match was pretty one sided but some times got interesting when coach substituted players with 4 of my friends . Kanemaru hit a home run and one hit in 2 bats . Kominato hit a long hit over the left of the field  in 1 bat . Eijun and furuya only pitched for 1 innings each and showed great control.  Batters couldn't even hit eijuns irregular balls and for furuya ,  it goes without saying .

The next day my 4 friends joined 1st string as expected.  There were no complaints from any other player after seeing their plays . I also joined which of course everybody appreciated after seeing my practice daily. 

At night. 

Ken - hahaha... you idiots.  Like I said you played your best and joined 1st string .

You see , most of the players forget the most important thing in high school baseball that is to have fun . It was fun right , a game after a long time even though your time was short . You see , when having fun , player is at his best always.  So , never give in to the pressure of official games when playing with strong teams and enjoy the pressure . When you guys will learn to enjoy the pressure , games will start feeling more fun and you will be eager to play in a game more and more even if it is for only one play in a important turn of events during a game .