The Baseballers Dream - Diamond no Ace

|11|

|11| Debut on the Mound

Hoshiko stood on the mound.

She wasn't going to lie in saying that she wasn't nervous.

She was terrified.

Hoshiko normally throws to female players, she's thrown pitches to her brother before.

But, that's her brother.

She's never thrown to a fully competitive all-boys team.

As much as she hated to admit it, men were better hitters than women.

She looked to the plate. A third-year stood in the box. A first-year behind the plate and the Coach behind the catcher.

A bead of sweat dripped down her forehead.

The catcher gave Hoshiko the sign.

Curveball

Hoshiko nodded her head. She stood to her full height and set herself up. She took one more breath before she began her action.

She released the pitch.

The batter smiled.

He began his swing. The ball began to move.

The ball began to fall as the bat reached its full swing.

The eyes of the batter widened.

"Strike!"

The ball was thrown back.

The catcher called the next pitch. Hoshiko nodded her head.

Slider

She began her windup and pitched the ball.

The ball was aimed at the top inside corner of the zone. The batter began to swing, this time he was determined.

Like last time as the batter swung, that was when the pitch moved. As it did this, he tried to adjust his swing but ended up popping up the ball.

The first-year catcher called the ball and easily caught the pop-up.

The batter stood there shocked before he looked to the girl.

'What the hell?'

The batter thought to himself as he made his way back to the dugout.

"What the hell was that?" the batter asked.

"What do you expect? She's a girl, she'd be the slowest pitcher here." A teammate told the batter.

"No, it wasn't that." The boy said.

"Huh?"

"Her pitch, it was like...I don't know how to explain it."

"It moved after you swung at the ball." Someone else spoke up in the dugout.

The batter looked at his teammate.

"Y-yeah, it was like, it only moved after you began your swing." He continued.

"That makes no sense." The first guy said.

"Don't underestimate her." The batter warned his teammate.

The teammate merely rolled his eyes at the warning.

"Whatever."

The boy went to go and get ready to bat as he was up next.

The second batter managed to get a hit off the girl and made it to first on a missed throw by the third basemen.