|9| Karma is a Bitch / First Match Part. 2
Who the fuck does he think he is?!
Hoshiko was no longer a nervous wreck standing in right field.
She was now a flaming ball of anger.
She was going to show what she could do and what girls could do.
"That bastard will pay." She seethed through her teeth.
A deadly look rested upon her usually angelic features.
She set herself up back in position. She had a newfound determination coursing through her veins.
"Screw this, I'm going to kick that boy in the nuts after this is all over with." She muttered to herself.
The third batter came up and hit the ball to centre-right field. She ran after the ball.
"Ball!" she called, normally the other fielder would back off but not this time. The centre fielder ignored Hoshiko's call and purposely bumped the girl causing her to fall onto her back.
He picked up the ball and threw it back in. After doing so he turned to the girl on the ground.
"I told you to stay the fuck out of my way!" He said before stomping back to his spot.
Hoshiko clenched her teeth and wanted to give that boy a piece of her mind but she decided to just keep her mouth shut. She got up from the ground and dusted herself off.
Coach watched the whole interaction from Home plate. He made sure to make a mental note to speak with that boy after the game.
The next batter came up and hit the ball into leftfield. All Hoshiko could do this time was to stand there and watch it.
After nearly 20 minutes of play, only one out was made.
They were already 4-0 down.
The next batter came up into the batter's box.
The pitcher had already been switched out after he couldn't even record an out.
There was a runner on first and third.
The pitcher did his windup and the batter swung. The ball was heading straight for the right-field fence. Hoshiko began to run back towards the ball. She could see the centre fielder in the corner of her eye.
'Oh no you're not'
She thought to herself. The trajectory of the ball made it easy to see that it was going to go over the fence. Because of this, all runners took off.
As the wall got closer, Hoshiko braced to jump the wall, she jumped and grabbed onto the top of the wall she reached over as far as she could. She felt the ball land into her glove, and she squeezed her glove hard.
Once she jumped down from the wall, she fired the ball into first base.
"OUT!" The Coach called. It was now three outs, so that meant that the first years could now go and sit down.
Hoshiko sat down on the bench and grabbed her drink bottle and took a big gulp of water. The first batter for the first years stepped up to the box. However, it didn't last very long and he struck out.
The same happened with the second batter.
And the third batter.
And within 5 minutes, the first years were back out on the field.
Everyone in the dugout groaned. Hoshiko let out a deep sigh as she pulled herself up from the bench and made her way out the dugout.
As she stepped out, she tripped over a bat. She fell to the ground and landed face first in the dirt.
She groaned, she looked up from the dirt and saw two players one holding a baseball bat. They were both snickering.
"You two." The Coaches' voice rumbled. The two players froze.
The grown man stood behind them.
"If you can't treat your teammates with respect. You don't deserve to be on the team." The Coach said with a deadly tone.
The two boys turned around, shit now present in their pants.
"I want you two off my field."
"B-but s-sir!" they sputtered out.
"No buts, if you can't treat her with respects you will never play on my team. Now get off my field." The two were about to protest again but after the look coach gave them, they shut their mouths.
They went into the dugout, grabbed their stuff and left the field.
When the two boys left the field, they were met with two angry first-string players and one raging older brother.
Those two were dead meat now.
Back on the field, it was pretty much the same outcome as the first inning. Except for this time, they scored a lot more runs this time.
The first years were already feeling defeated knowing that they could not win this game. After a long second inning, they finally got three outs.
They all trudged to the dugout again.
Since the two boys got kicked off, the line-up changed slightly. Two other players got put into the line-up.
However, it didn't do much as the same outcome of the first inning happened in the second.
Within minutes they were back out on the field.
Some fielding changes were made but Hoshiko remained at right field.
The same outcome was happening. Run after run, the third years scored. After 20 minutes they managed to get two outs.
A new batter came up to bat. The guy hit a home run last at-bat, so he was already feeling cocky.
So much so that he swung his tits off at the first pitch he saw. He miss-hit the ball and it was sent down the right-field line. Hoshiko ran towards the ball, she kept her eyes on the ball the whole time.
As she neared the fence, she stuck her glove out. She caught the ball but as she did, she collided with the fence and flipped over it.
She hit the other side of the ground hard. Everyone stood still as they waited to see what happened.
After a few seconds passed, a glove stuck itself up in the air.
"OUT!"
All the boys cheered as Hoshiko stood up from the ground. She hopped over the fence and as she jumped down, she looked up and saw a bunch of her teammates surrounding her.
"My god Hoshiko, that play was amazing!"
"Are you ok? That was quite a collision."
Suddenly her team was actually talking to her. This was different, this was new. She wasn't used to this.
"I-I'm ok." She said with a small smile. They all started to run towards the dugout.
It was almost Hoshiko's turn to bat, so she got ready. She was about to put on a helmet but stopped herself.
"Hey Coach, do you know if there are any helmet with a cage on them?" Hoshiko asked the assistant coach. The man thought for a bit before shaking his head.
"Sorry Hoshiko, all we have are the ones with the extended faceguard." He replied. She shook her head.
She was a little nervous now. She never played a game without a one. She grabbed the helmet and took a gulp.
"Okay, it will be okay." She whispered to herself. She placed the helmet on and then put the arm guard on.
She grabbed her bat and made her way to the on-deck circle.
She took one swing and then stretched her arms. After that, she took a deep breath and then she swung in time as the pitcher threw the ball.
However, she didn't get many swings as the batter in front of her struck out. As the boy made his way back to the dugout, she made her way to the left batter's box.
She already knew she was going to hear something from the other team.
So, she did what she normally did. She drowned everyone out. She focused on her breathing, her heartbeat. She focused on the pitcher's expression, the way he stood and the way he delivered the ball.
The pitcher smirked as he got into his pitching stance. He started his action and delivered the pitch.
It went straight down the middle.
Fastball.
They were trying to scare her.
She didn't swing at the pitch. She wanted to see the pace of the ball and try and get her timing. She took one step out of the box. Took a breath before setting herself back up.
The boy started his action again and delivered the pitch.
Another fastball.
This time she reacted.
She was too late.
Foul ball.
The girl 'tsked'. She could hear the snickers of the battery.
She took one step out of the box again and took another breath. She stepped back in, the boy started his windup and delivered.
Another fastball.
Foul ball.
It just seemed like they were just trying to blow the girl away with pure speed.
Because of this, the outfield came in and they were practically standing behind the infielders.
Hoshiko took one final step out of the box, took a breath and then reset herself in the back of the box. The catcher just smirked.
The boy signalled the same pitch, thinking they were going to get her.
As the pitcher began his acting. Hoshiko got herself ready, as the boy began his windup to the point of release.
Once he released the ball, Hoshiko moved forward in the box. This seemed to catch everyone off guard. She swung her bat and made contact. She pulled the ball into right field.
Because the outfielders were in, the ball easily got passed them. After making contact with the ball, Hoshiko took off down the line. She kept her head down and ran as fast as she could.
The right fielder took off after the ball however, by the time the ball made contact with the right-field corner, Hoshiko was already rounding second and heading for third.
She looked up to her third base coach. He was giving her the signal to go.
She touched third base and began the final sprint home.
Her team's dugout was up at the fence all cheering for her to score.
The ball reached the cut off as Hoshiko was halfway down the line.
She was pretty much booking it at this moment to make it home.
The ball was now being thrown to the catcher, Hoshiko prepared herself to do a fadeaway slide. She began to turn her body to get it far away as possible from the catcher.
She stuck her left hand out as far as she could reach.
The catcher received the ball and was now trying to tag the girl.
Everything seemed to slow down from that moment.
Hoshiko made contact with the home plate and a split second later, the catcher tagged the girl.
A cloud of dirt flew up, obscuring the view for a bit. As the dust settled, everyone held their breath to see the final outcome.
"SAFE!"
The first-year bench erupted into cheers while the third base bench grumbled and groaned.
They had finally scored. Able to get themselves on the board.
A newfound determination erupted in the team.
However, that wouldn't last too long.